Pretty sure this is ash. pics

[JP11]

Doubting myself just a bit.

symmetric leaves.
Logs are lighter than oak
splits super easy.

log and leaf pictured here.

Two trees gave me about a half a cord. All split and put on pallets. I THOUGHT about splitting by hand because it was so easy... but it's HOT today.

JP

 

[woodsmaster]

yes ash.

 

[Locust Post]

Looks like ash from here.

 

[DexterDay]

Yep... I will 3rd the motion.. Ash

 

[JP11]

Yep... I will 3rd the motion.. Ash

Great.. thanks. I got it all split up small and palleted up. I've got about 13 cord or so on hand of what I call "this years" wood. About a third of that is hemlock.. so I think I'll end up using all of what I have. 6k sf house and garage to heat.

I'll soon be putting wood into a different area for following years. I do have almost 3 cords of nothing but red oak. That's for 13/14 at the earliest.

So... this ash is on the bubble for getting used in early '13. Ready by then?

 

[woodsmaster]

Yea, it should be dry enough for this fall even if it was live. I've been burning ash the last three years. I still have a few years worth of dead ash trees to process and around 8 cord of white oak drying to burn sometime. I also have a cord of the prized cottenwood to try.

 

[onetracker]

hmmm.....

ash is white all the way thru and that trunk has a dark heartwood. i can't really tell from the photo but if that's a compound leaf from that trunk then my guess is its some kind of nut tree...hickory....pignut, mockernut...one of the ones i never see cuz mostly here is shagbark.

OT

 

[bogydave]

Leaves & darker center remind me of pignut hickory, but the bark don't look right for that.
Hard to tell though.
Leaves on an ash tree are similar. Bark looks like ash.
I'll say ash & guess pignut hickory

 

[CTBurner]

It's not ash imho, bark says yes dark center says no no no

 

[richg]

I'm conflicted on this one. The leaves and bark say ash to me. The darker center does not look like ash, at least the stuff we have around here. The ash I cut has consisent color all the way through. One thing is for certain, you did not get the dreaded tulip poplar....I say "dreaded", because the bark looks like ash, but it has far less BTU's.

 

[JP11]

Ok.. so moving on then..

Assuming it's ash.. When my lot was cut, about 7 years ago... I took much of the BIG oaks for veneer. I did very well then. I wasn't burning wood.. so I just sold everything off. The comment that the logger had was.. Cut anything you want, just leave the Oak and Ash alone. He said he would be back in 10 or 15 years and I could cut it again with similar results.

Now.. I've been leaving the big oaks and the ash alone. These two I decided to cut because they were all clustered together. 4 trees sharing 2 trunks. So my question is... I didn't think ash was that valuable. EAB hasn't hit our ash up here yet. I imagine it's coming. So what was his reasoning?

I've got a lot of oak. I have some areas and trails I want to clear. I imagine I won't have to cut any desirable wood. I will plan to have the logger cut me 20 cord of logs or so next time he's back.

JP

 

[Flamestead]

I'd guess those were the two most valuable species he saw on your land. Ash generally isn't in the price range of Red Oak or Sugar Maple, but it is much better than a twisted piece of Red Maple. We don't have EAB here yet, but it is just a matter of a summer or two, and I expect the local makets will become glutted with the Ash.

One US mill, last week:

Ash prime, 14"+, 3 clear faces, $500/MBF.
Ash, #1, 3 clear faces, 12/13", $375/MBF.
Ash, #2, 10"+, 2 clear faces, $310/MBF
Ash pallet grade $150/MBF.

Soft maple (Red), Prime, 14"+ , 3 clear faces, $475
Soft maple #1, 3 clear faces, 12/13", $450/MBF
Soft maple #2, 2 clear faces, 10+, $400/MBF

Cherry, Prime, 14", 3 clear faces, $800/MBF (we can dream, right?)

 

[JP11]

Thanks for the insight. Frankly.. at this moment I value the ash firewood more than saw logs 5 years from now. I'm geared up pretty good to log the front third of my land pretty easy. There's a couple years worth of wood easily accessible to the driveway, IF I cut a bit of the ash.

I'm torn at the moment. I'm not going to buy a RTV until the cab tractor is paid for.... a couple years.

I'm faced with spending a thousand bucks on a nice dual axle trailer for my dad's ATV.. that will give me access to about 85% of my land. OR.. I spend a thousand bucks on a bit of gravel and another culvert that will give me tractor access to about 70% of my land. OR.. I spend `1200 bucks on 10 cords of logs to get ahead another complete year and not sweat gathering this summer at all. That would let me wait till winter to use the snowmobile and sled I already have.

Interesting problem. All methods will work. Thoughts?

FYI.. I had some MONSTER veneer oak come out of the lot last time. I have an uncle that buys high end stuff. He would buy only bigger than 16' on the small end. Slicer logs. They weren't as prevalent.. but I had quite a few 50 to 60 year old oaks that came out clear. If I remember right... the price I got for them was 3X what the smaller rotisserie veneer logs got me. I really appreciate looking at those big oaks where you can see 3 or 4 logs before the first branch. Money in the bank.

JP

 

[firefighterjake]

Random thoughts . . .

95% positive it's ash. Maine has shagbark hickory, but while it may be found state-wide it's highest concentration is in southern Maine. I have yet to find any in the woods where I have cut and played . . .

Give the ash a year and you'll be happy . . . give it more than a year and you'll be positively giddy when it comes time to burn.

Why leave the ash and oak . . . as mentioned . . . probably the most valuable wood on the lot. Oak is obviously great for flooring, cabinetry, etc. and ash is quite useful for use in dowels, hand tools, some furniture, etc. . . . at least more valuable than say poplar, birch, etc.

Here for example is one place that uses ash: (broken link removed to http://www.windsorchair.com/chairs/hoopback_side.htm)

And of course we cannot forget the fine folks at Peavey Manufacturing who use white ash for their tools.

 

[smokinj]

The rings tells me its ash and not hickory.

 

[richg]

If I was only able to burn one species for the rest of my life, it would be ash. Mind you, I've never burned locust Ash splits easily, seasons quickly and has good (but not great) heat output. It is sometimes referred to as the firewood of kings.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

hmmm.....

ash is white all the way thru and that trunk has a dark heartwood. i can't really tell from the photo but if that's a compound leaf from that trunk then my guess is its some kind of nut tree...hickory....pignut, mockernut...one of the ones i never see cuz mostly here is shagbark.

OT

Notice the stacks of ash below. Not all ash are white all the way through.