Ash, as stove wood - does it season faster than other hardwoods?

[homefront]

I was told by a friend, who has heated his house with wood for years, that ash wood can almost be burned as soon as it's split. Is there truth to this?

Thanks.

 

[Gibbonboy]

Some, I guess. I once read an article about this subject, all I remember is that Ash was on top of the list, followed very closely by Locust. Still in no way a safe or good idea to plan on burning green Ash all winter, even a couple months improves things immensely. You will be seeing creosote, no doubt. I'd clean my flue at least once a month burning wood that wet and green, beside the fact that you're wasting the resource by getting less heat out of it than you could.

 

[Kilted]

I have Modesto Ash around me. It's true as long as you split in April stack where the temp reachs 90F-100F in the summer, you can burn it in December.

A friend of mine gets his oak delivered in March splits any extra that's needed spreads the oak out 1 stick deep on his black-top driveway stacks it at the end of summer and burns it starting in November. The black-top will reach 90F+ every day during the summer.

-- Brandy

 

[backpack09]

I have Modesto Ash around me. It's true as long as you split in April stack where the temp reachs 90F-100F in the summer, you can burn it in December.

A friend of mine gets his oak delivered in March splits any extra that's needed spreads the oak out 1 stick deep on his black-top driveway stacks it at the end of summer and burns it starting in November. The black-top will reach 90F+ every day during the summer.

-- Brandy

Then where does he park his car?

 

[derbygreg]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/10703/

We have covered this one before. Excellent wood. Watch out for the Emerald Ash Borer

http://www.ashborer.com/

an evil little bug

 

[derbygreg]

And the approximate moisture content of freshly cut ash is around 17%. I believe we consider wood seasoned if it is under 20%.

 

[homefront]

Thanks DerbyGreg, that's what I wanted to know (and hear!).

 

[Backwoods Savage]

One winter due to some health problems we hadn't been cutting wood ahead and we burned all green white ash all winter. We had no unusual problems with creosote and were warm all winter. Still, I let it season a year at least. We're burning white ash this winter that was cut 2 years ago.

 

[DiscoInferno]

And the approximate moisture content of freshly cut ash is around 17%. I believe we consider wood seasoned if it is under 20%.

I believe that 17% was in excess of 20%, i.e. it's green moisture content is 37%. At least that's what the table I pointed to a little while ago said. Some of those tables also indicate that green ash is wetter than white ash.

My cheapo meter says the ash I bucked recently was 24%. Don't know how long that tree was dead or how long it was on the ground, though. Or how accurate the meter is at that end of its scale.

 

[Quercus]

Green ash got its common name about 200 years ago because one can burn it green.

 

[mikeathens]

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke.
Apple wood will scent your room
With an incense like perfume.
Oaken logs, if dry and old,
Keep away the winter's cold.
But an ash wet or ash dry
A king shall warm his slippers by.

-Anonymous

 

[Arlo]

Ive got a chord of ASh from a tree that cme down across the street this summer. It had been dead for 2 years and the town took it down and left the wood. I'm using oak and hard mix first and saving the Ash for the cold weather (January /Febuary). It burns beutifully, hot and slow.

 

[VTrider]

This is my first season buring Ash also, I was a little nervous considering it looks like it was split yesterday. I believe it was split 6 or 7 months ago. Most of my anxiety is gone after the first couple fires in the stove - burns real nice. I think i'll probably check my chimney for creosote a little sooner than usual though this year.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Ive got a chord of ASh from a tree that cme down across the street this summer. It had been dead for 2 years and the town took it down and left the wood. I'm using oak and hard mix first and saving the Ash for the cold weather (January /Febuary). It burns beutifully, hot and slow.

I can speak only for white ash, but as good as it is, do not expect it to outperform oak. I burn a lot of ash and will continue to do so but if I were to save something for the really cold weather it would be the oak. You might want to rethink your plan a bit.

 

[jpl1nh]

Green ash got its common name about 200 years ago because one can burn it green.

Quercus?? not Fraxinus?? :cheese:

 

[Hiram Maxim]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/10703/

We have covered this one before. Excellent wood. Watch out for the Emerald Ash Borer

http://www.ashborer.com/

an evil little bug

Here in suburban Detroit we have no Ash trees left...............Emerald Ash Bore. (stomach uneasy)

I have a stack of wood 70 ft long 8 ft wide and 5 ft tall do to those little buggers.

My 1 1/2 acre yard use to look like a park. I had to remove almost 10 trees, the smallest of them was 4 ft in diameter. We gave half of the wood away to friends that Burn 24/7

The split wood still looks unseasoned even after 3 years!!

This is great info........as I was pretty nervous about it being seasoned.( I just bought an Englander 30)

Thank you, Hiram Maxim

 

[Arlo]

I can speak only for white ash, but as good as it is, do not expect it to outperform oak. I burn a lot of ash and will continue to do so but if I were to save something for the really cold weather it would be the oak. You might want to rethink your plan a bit.

It's actually Red Ash or Fraxinus pennsylvanica. I am burning Oak right now and it burns great but when I get a fire going with the ash, it seems to burn longer and hotter. Maybe I'm just favoring the Ash, I don't know, this is my first year burning for heat. Thanks for input anyway, I will do some further research to make sure me plan is effecient mate.