CL Score today - You bet your Ash....

I check local CL Free Stuff listings 2-3 times weekly.Not much on there lately,but the blizzard last Wed/Thurs did some damage across the metro area & scattered state wide.Seen a half dozen or so listings since then,not too promising because of too much brush,having to carry it a long distance to the street and/or lift it over a fence or two also.But last night I seen this & called the guy this morning.

http://desmoines.craigslist.org/zip/3504933625.html

This one was about 19" diameter & easily 60' tall.it was a blowdown from the 12" of heavy wet snow & 50+MPH gusts.Went right across the street in a older residential area,in a low traffic area.Infact as I was standing near the 6ft long uprooted stump taking a break from carrying the 20 ft to the truck - I heard some slight noise,looked over & seen the stump start to move upward.It moved less than a foot,then stopped.


The FIRST Ash I've had in 10 yrs.(last one was 15" diameter x 40' tall Green Ash with storm damage that I dropped & removed for next door neighbor) Quite a bit White & Green around here on residential/commercial properties,city-owned grassy curbside strips & other planted areas.Not much in pure,wild stands however,most of them are further north & northeast of me.

Picked up the big stuff before noon,all but the smallest pieces are already bucked,stacked & split.Roughed out 2 small slabs & 2 thick billets with chainsaw & bandsaw too.About an equal amount of smaller (3"-9") poles left.Run out of time,so I'll grab the remainder either tommorow afternoon or sometime Sunday/Monday,then will be done.With about 15 cord of dead mostly Red/White/Bur Oak,some Hickory,Mulberry,Norway/Silver Maple in my stash,this Ash wont be needed for 3-4 yrs easily.Couldnt resist grabbing a easy score.

Now its time for a couple Naproxen & a stiff drink,these old muscles are sure tired.

Thistle- is that ash any good for milling? Are you into that?

Its good for that sure.I'll get a few short blocks for future woodturning,nothing of any size was over 2' long though.So no long planks or slabs this time.No big deal,I'm running out of storage space anyway! I take what I can get.Doing more smaller projects as I get older it seems.

Some of this had good color contrast between heart/sapwood & a slight curl/ripple to the grain. One reason it was stubborn splitting with the X25 inspite of the 26 degree temps.Had to use 20lb sledge/5 lb wedges to bust open a couple gnarly ones...

Nice haul. My daughter lost a tree in the storm also. Couldn't tell what it was from the pictures she sent though.

I am trying to work on a biz deal that will involve removing a large amount of storm damage trees from a corp property in order to promote recycle and green living. Some other issues in play too. Either way, if the job is a go, there will be a mobile mill purchased for the work. I have tons of ash on the ground to take at my leisure. I am also in no need of additional firewood (wow, that sucked to type, and was awesome at the same time), so I am thinking of taking it all at lumber length for milling. Don't know what to do after that though?? Use and all. What would be a logical wood thickness for ash lumber?

Most hardwoods for furniture/cabinets/millwork etc are rough sawn green 1" or 1 1/4" thick,to be planed to 3/4" or 13/16" once they're thoroughly dried.Some is 2" or 2 1/2" rough sawn for other uses,some even 3" to 5" in shorter lengths for woodturning,bowl blanks,carving/sculpture etc.Proper stacking/storage is an absolute must,when dealing with thinner pieces over 4'-5' long.Short thick blocks/slabs can be more forgiven,they may crack a little on the ends,but are less prone to warp/cup/twist than 'normal' sized lumber.

Good days work.
Working in the snow slows you down a bit but if you pace it right you don't overheat.
Muscles will be tired today & sore tomorrow, good sore though.
Free workout

Nice pics

you gotta love CL...

Great find Thistle. I'm sure you will make good use of that wood.

Thistle, craigslist is a wonderful asset to have available to us. Nice score man!

Nice, easy(?) score!
I'm guessing that's Green Ash then? Never saw that darker core on the White I cut around here...

nice score

Lumber is sawn into 4/4-16/4 thicknesses(say four quarter or sixteen quarter) I have sawn ash for orders at 4,5,6,8,10,and 12/4 thicknesses. the most common thickness sawn today is 4/4 the mill would set their target thickness at 1-1/8". 4-7/4 lumber is sawn 1/8"heavy, lumber 8/4 and thicker is sawn 3/16" heavy. Thicker lumber shrinks proportionally more as it dries. If you are sawing for your own use saw whatever thickness you would have a need for. If you have plans on selling it..... there is kind of a glut of ash on the market and it is not a real sought after commodity. It is a beatiful wood and has many uses! I probably averaged sawing about 400,000 bd ft. of ash per year at my mill.

Don't want to stray to far off topic, but what is your opinion of the Norwood mx34?

Great score!

Nice catch! Those pictures..... there goes my knees and heart again!

Went over there this morning,grabbed the rest of it.Tree service guy who placed the ad even cut the 4ft long stump into 3 pieces for me yesterday. One pic is 20"+ crotch piece on my knotty cedar chopping/sawing block - gonna put the hurt on that bad boy with the big Husky & 28" full skip chain in a few days or weeks...... Some nice grain & color in that,will be a couple turning blocks or something else.

It's been so long I've forgotten most of this. It would probably come back fast though but it is not going to happen!

Nice haul, Thistle! Don't know how I missed this thread the other day. Been a busy weekend. I love ash. It's probably one of the best, all-around firewoods. Seasons fast, lasts long, burns down to powder, and smells great when burning. The one ash tree job we did this summer had some nice, straight trunks. So I milled a couple of 3" x 2" slabs at 4' long, right at the jobsite, to make axe handles for some antique hand forged axes I have (one was dug near Fort Michelimackinac, it dates to the 1740's or so). Glad you got a good score, looks like a nice load of wood!

I believe its Green also.What little White I've seen around here is almost 100% off white,no matter how big/old the tree was.Dont think there's much difference in the properties between the two,though I've been wrong many times before...

As a normal rule I NEVER burn wood that's less than 6 months dried,minimum.Especially any 'green' scrounges.And most all the dead stuff (90% of my normal supply) sits for 12-18 months,with rare exceptions. But knowing Ash being a low moisture wood,I tossed a small split scrap piece on the coals late Friday night & was amazed to see it catch light immediately.

Dont worry,that wont happen again....

BTU numbers I've seen have the Green about like Elm or Cherry, and the White just a little below Red Oak...3+ difference. I've never burned the Green though, so what you've seen firsthand probably carries more weight than a BTU list, where you see vastly different numbers from list to list, for the same wood...

Nice score. i just put some ash in my pile this week to burn. Its been about 2 yrs in the waiting. Split like a dream in smaller chunks for my NC13.