I've Never understood the ( it makes a lot of ashes) thing. So what if a certain species makes more ashes than another, If I get 3 or 4 gallons of ashes per week burning a species that I like the burn characteristics of. I'm not going to squeak because of that. A weekly clean out is all that's required. Wether I get 1 gal or 4. Highknob; welcome to FHC ! White ash is Great firewood !
Ash is interesting as for some reason it is well liked on here, but for most firewood buyers actually buying their firewood, it is not tolerated well. They will take a cord or two in a 10 cord load, but not any more than that or they start complaining. It burns quicker, with lower BTU's, and does produce more ash. A discerning firewood buyer will want more Beech, Sugar Maple and Yellow birch as it has better BTU's and they get better heat per money spent per cord. On the commercial side of things, it is bought from everything from tool handles to smoking woods, though pulpwood and general lumber is where it is mostly ends up. They no longer accept it for Mat Logs as the wood just rots too quick. I am not a big fan of the wood myself, it's only redeeming quality being that if a person procrastinates on getting their firewood, God has given mankind Ash which has a low moisture content so it can be burned right off the stump. However, other than that, I am not a fan to say the least. I have used it in my house as flooring and really disliked it. It has a very boring grain to it, and smells horrific when felled, split or sawn into lumber. While we do not have the Emerald Ash Borer in Maine yet, all my foresters have suggested the same thing: cut as much Ash as possible and get rid of it while you can. Considering my disfavor of the wood, I took that too heart. Even there !@#$%^& Ash gets one last dig in...literally, it has a tap root that goes straight to hades with Lucifer strongly holding on I swear. That is a comical way of saying, Ash stumps are firmly rooted (like White Pine), and are REALLY hard to get out of the ground compared to other types of trees.
You must have green or black Ash or are confusing it with box elder? Ash- white Ash, which is really all we have around here has nearly the same or exactly the same btu as sugar maple, beech, and way more that the birch we have around here. It's also a great wood for wood working. It's strong , hard, planes well... I have used it for several projects over the years.
I'm not sure about the ash you have in Maine, but those aren't the characteristics of ash here. Hard, somewhat rot resistant(it's not locust), better btu's than birch except maybe black, and I like the way it smells. Recently I had a box of splitter scraps from a pile of ash I've been splitting in my Yukon. Anytime someone would get into my car they remarked how good it smelled. I left it in there for awhile just as an air freshener.
No, I am talking about White Ash. It is not rot hesitant at all!!! It is a very hard wood, but not rot resistant outside at all. I also double checked the BTU' levels, and other than Yellow Birch which is a bit lower, ash is pretty darn low on the BTU chart. Beech and sugar maple is a lot higher.
Sorry but I highly disagree about the rot characteristics of white ash. At least around here it is extremely rot resistant. We've left firewood that has been bucked lay in wet areas for a couple years and it did not harm that wood at all. No, we do not have ash that rots around these parts. Perhaps it grows differently in different areas but it is difficult for me to believe you have problems with it rotting. Also, around these parts, people that sell firewood love to get white ash and their customers also love it. I've had people come here looking for ash to cut for their customers. And, of course, we burn lots of it.
My BK on a diet of oak and locust can go about 6 weeks before needing to clean out for enough space for a decent load. On a diet of ash and locust i need to cleanout on a bi weekly basis. To me this is an issue as i despise the ash plug/trap and shovel out the front. More frequent cleanouts means more ash floating around t he house.... Hope that helps....
I can understand people having a favorite wood, but there is no disputing Ash is rots quickly. If you do an internet search for Rot Resistant Woods, Ash will not be on any of them. I can verify this through my own experience with a Ash Deck used from left over lumber from my flooring in my house. It decayed in 5 years time to the point of failure. This was backed up by Manufacturer and Builder who did tests on various woods by burying them 1 inch underground. Here is their test...from 1885! -- Birch and aspen decayed in 3 years -- Willow and horse chestnut in 4 years -- Maple and red beech in 5 years -- Elm, ash, hornbeam and Lombardy poplar in 7 years -- Oak, Scotch fir, Weymouth pine and silver fir decayed to a depth of half an inch in 7 years -- Larch, juniper and arborvitae were uninjured at the expiration of the 7 years. Source: Durability of Woods. [Manufacturer and builder / Volume 17, Issue 11, p.242, November 1885]
Without question, a woods odor is subjective, but "The Wood Data Base" concurs with me regarding smell. "Odor: Can have a distinct, moderately unpleasant smell when being worked". I am not saying "I say it smells, so it does", I am merely saying that in terms of BTU's, Rot Resistance and Smell, I am not alone in coming to these conclusions. It is a wood, just like any other wood type that God has given us, and it has its purpose on this Earth, but I am not overly fond of it, but then again I am not overly fond of any particular wood. Each has its place at the right time. Ash: when its March and the wood box is empty, yes I am glad its out in the wood lot.
Not bad but we generally do not bury our wood in the ground. That test reminds me of the vacuum sweeper salesman who was trying to sell a sweeper to a lady. He dumped some dirt on the floor so she could see how quickly it would clean up. Trouble is, the lady had no electric in the house. So the vacuum was probably pretty good but what about the circumstances?
After I left this thread it suddenly dawned on me. Before I was married I helped put up 3 or 4 new corn cribs. We would cut some small trees, plant them in the ground like fence posts (and did not treat them either). Then we'd wrap snow fence around them to make a corn crib. They worked like a charm and I never remember any of those posts rotting. They should not rot because, after all, they were white ash that we cut. In fact, I know that 2 or 3 years ago one of those corn cribs was still standing, albeit in very poor shape. But they should be in poor shape because I helped build that particular corn crib, somewhere around 1956 or 1957. Not bad for wood that rots fast, eh?
Blue ash is very resistant. The little green monster is known to attack blue ash, but, shall we say, it's the food of last choice. I have around 100 dead white ash on my land, yet all of the 8 or 10 blue ash are doing fine....so far.
White Ash 23.6 White Birch 20.0 Yellow Birch 21.8 Black Birch 26.8 Sugar Maple 24.0 Beech 24 Look, all these charts vary a little, but White Ash is like the universal constant of BTUs at 23.6. It's a solid B+ BTU student. It's low moisture. It splits easy. It's fairly common, and it's universally praised as a firewood. I don't think that we all mysteriously have the same personal favorite ...you just have a specific dislike for it.
Nice post Suburban wood snob - Mirrors what I have always known to be true and experienced. It is far more than shoulder season wood and I know an older gentleman who will burn nothing else. I have let a few ash trees lay in the woods for up to 3 yrs, propped as well as possible off the ground and at worst (which was a plus) used my wonderbar to de-bark prior to bucking and there was ZERO rot. I have unlimited access to hardwoods of my choosing but ash is a staple for when hoarding suffers for any # of reasons. With my shoulder re-construction and rehab almost complete and having not cut since Sept., I have plans to process 3-4 cord of ash before I move to other species. It is not my favorite but is a staple in my hoard and I personally prefer an ash/beech blend to all other burns. Further, I don't notice it exponentially producing more "ash" than most-esp when compared to walnut. Just my .02
