Beware of Ash!

[OzarkMtnDaredevil]

If you're new to cutting your own wood, here's a Warning.
My parents recently had a large Ash tree felled and offered me the wood. I gladly accepted as Ash is a very hard, slow-burning wood. It would have been better used to make tool handles, I think.
My Dad and I rented a 20 Ton vertical splitter and it put a strain on that machine that usually splits Oak like it was cold butter. Axe, maul and wedge were useless. Not only is it harder than heck, once we managed to split it, we still had to deal with 'strings' between the split pieces. Like trying to split a cotton-ball with a hatchet.
I don't think I ever want to split another Ash. *>:(

[Drawbar]

Are you sure it was Ash or was it Elm?

Ash generally is very easy to split and it quite light in weight. Its often the preferred wood for late Spring or fall cut wood when its going to be burned "green". Its one of the few hardwoods that has such a low water content that it can be burned cut right off the stump.

Now I don't have Green Ash here, just White and Brown Ash. The BTU content of Ash is a little lower then other woods, but generally speaking Ash is considered a high quality firewood.

Here is a link to my website for the firewood burners on here. It has some good info on it.

http://www.railroadmachinist.com/Wood-Firewood.html

[walls0stone]

that sounds right...Elm is a hard split. Had a ton of it last year, dry and solid. Burned like a barn! ;D

[DaleK]

Hmmmm maybe I shouldn't mention the east third of my tiestall barn was made in the 50s entirely out of elm... can't drive a nail in it anywhere without getting the drill out.

Ash is actually my favourite wood to burn Got some fencelines on the new farm I bought to take out this fall... probably got 25-30 cords of ash in them along with a lot of maple, oak and elm. Good times ahead.

[OzarkMtnDaredevil]

Are you sure it was Ash or was it Elm?

Here is a link to my website for the firewood burners on here. It has some good info on it.

http://www.railroadmachinist.com/Wood-Firewood.html
Hey Drawbar, nice site! I bookmarked it for further study as I haven't used wood since I was a kid.
As for being an Elm? No. I know the leaves of those too well. The guys that cut it down told my Dad that it was Ash. When I went back for the last trailer-load this morning, I picked up a branch and ID'd the leaves on a website. If it's not Ash, it sure looks close to it.
It didn't weep at all while splitting so the water content was really low and it is NOT light-weight. My back will attest to that! But, boy, was it ever a pain. Maybe we just got a worn-out splitter?

[MadTripper]

I like to see ash in the wood pile. Easy splitting and pretty light. Like others said, it will burn just fine green as well and puts some decent amount of heat. I'm not sure I ever put an ash log on the splitter. It does split easier when seasoned but typically easy. Straight grained which is probably a quality that helped it in the baseball bat industry.

Tripper

[JBinKC]

I am on your side it must be something about the Ozarks. I scored some straight grained white ash limbs from a neighbor this winter after the ice storm at a spilttable diameter and found it was harder to split than red maple which I deem medium toughness. No its not elm or sweetgum but certainly more challenging than the predominant black walnut, oaks or hickories.

Speaking of ash it looks like the emerald ash borer has hit a southeast Missouri park. It probably will be only a matter of time the state will be under quarantines.