Where I live, there is lots of White Ash stands. Also White ash works not too bad and is is quite strong. However I'm not able to find a lot of information on it or the design values in the tables. Does anyone have any data for this species of wood.
Thanks
New member,
Thane O'Dell

Hi Thane

No hard "data" to offer, but ash is very even and predictible, which is why native people made baskets w/ it.

Ash also steam bends wonderfully (snowshoe frames), and ash was traditional for canoe paddles b/c it is light yet strong and resilient. It also resists rot fairly well.

As a woodworker, I can say it works easily and takes a good finish, too. Grows nice and straight, as you must know...good saw logs! Would make a nice timber frame.

It seems to dry fairly fast, so shrinkage may be a concern in timber joinery. Anyone else have thoughts on that?

I have a 26'x8"x12" ash beam as a bottom cord in a multi king post truss over my spill way into my mill. This is the only stick of ash I have worked and I recall no problems working it, it is stable as well, and no major checks, unlike some of the spruce used in the same truss.

Tim

When it came time to build my own house a few years ago I selectively logged off all the larger ash and hemlock I had and got it all milled up on site with a Woodmiser sawmill. Ash is a beautiful wood to work with and looks great for my 3" x 6" braces and 4" x 6" floor joists. However, I have some 8" x 8" ash posts where the radial shrinkage has been huge -- I have some very, very large cracks in these timbers that I don't have in the hemlock a few feet away.

So my advice would be -- Ash is great for smaller timbers, but use something else for the larger stuff.

I'm guessing Tim's positive experience with large diameter ash is because his timber is outside over a spillway (high humidity) whereas mine is inside a low humidity wood heated house.

Thanks guys for sharing your experiences with me.
Michael, I visited your site and was impressed. I hope that one day I could build like that.
I quess that there is not much data on the design values for Ash that I could use for engineering. Would the strength of ash be similar to White Oak so I could use those numbers.
When get as much experience as you guys I won't have to do the math anymore or as much.
Thane

Ash posts, natural arch, and lower half of scarfed beam. Upper half is Hickory. Braces and floor joists are Red Oak.
The Purlins in this frame are Ash also. Frame is 13 yrs. old now and no problems with shrinkage. Initially some checks opened up during the winter, but after a couple years they settled down as the timbers dried out.

Did some quick googling and came up w/ this table on species properties:


It appears ash and white oak are very similar, which surprised me. I thought white oak would be noticeably stronger. But as you can see the two are nearly identical.



Ash, White: 0.60---1.74---43---7,410---1,160---1,910

Oak, White: 0.68---1.78---37---7,440---1,070---2,000


Complete table here (U.S. Forest Products Laboratory):

http://www.woodbin.com/ref/wood/strength_table.htm

(I'd still put my money on the oak in a stress test ).

It's tough stuff. I built side boards for the dump truck out of it. Has stood up to a lot of abuse, with no damagee.

I'd put my money on the ash if the stress test was how long the wood would last as an axe handle.

A couple of years ago the company I was working for advised a client not to use ash for his frame. He insisted on ash so it went ahead. One of the king posts almost split along its length over a period of a couple of days. Other shakes developed elsewhere in the frame. I wouldnt recommend ash