Green Ash planks - help please

[Oaktree11]

Hi all, I just had a great stroke of luck. The guy that sells me firewood and I got talking and I mentioned that I would really like some planks. He has been cutting up a lot of ash and today he brought these for me All about 50mm thick.
I have read up quite a bit but I would welcome any advice about how I should treat and eventually process it. I have got a decent planer thicknesser and a reasonable workshop. No idea what am going to make with it yet but I am surei will find something!
thanks
john

 

[gog64]

Coat the end grain pronto. I use anchorseal, others swear by wax. Anything is better than nothing, even old paint or PVA. Sticker it up under cover. Ash can be a beggar for cupping so sometimes people ratchet strap it down (I do). There’s at least one member on here with a sawmill, so hopefully they will be along with better advice, but that’s the basics.

 

[MARK.B.]

As above +1 , 2" thick will take around 2+ years to Air dry so you will need patience as well as a place to stow it away preferably without having to shift it about. Keep your stickers in neat vertical lines and make sure they are all the same thickness chuck a load of weight evenly on top, then sit back and wait .
Will just add I watched a vid on utube the other day and the fella used a couple of notched bits of timber and what looked like fencing wire tightened up to keep the boards strapped down .might be an option if no ratchet straps available and you don't lose the use of a set of straps for 2+ years

 

[recipio]

I'd bandsaw off the bark to allow better drying. You will be surprised at how little wood you get unless you are happy to cut it down to 1" thickness while wet. Despite it's abundance in history it was rarely used for fine furniture due to it's pronounced grain which was difficult to finish. However it lends itself to simple rustic or contemporary furniture.

 

[TheTiddles]

If they’re just felled, I hope you aren’t in a hurry.

2 & 5 look like firewood unless there’s something I can’t see. Is that some rot on 3 & 4?

Maybe coat the ends, stack up with stickers out of the rain and at least you’ve got something to learn on for free.

I’ve always found the better workers could get the most out of a board.

 

[Mike-W]

I have about 10 cubic feet of Ash that was felled in March but took until September to get milled. It was stored in stick at the yard (and in the open) before i could get it back home a month later.
One thing to be aware of is that the moisture content of Ash is a lot lower than some other timber species and i think depending on when it was felled and given the right drying conditions the one year per inch rule of thumb may not apply to Ash.
I checked the moisture content before putting it back in stick in my timber store and it was reading 26% - Checking some other timber that was also felled last winter and milled at the same time I had readings of 30~40%.
My Ash is a mix of 58mm and 32mm thick boards and i would consider being able to start using it from late summer if i need to-
So what i would be doing in that case is to rough size it before bring it into the house for 4~6 weeks, stack it in stick and keep checking the weight of a sample piece until it stops loosing weight (moisture).
I've worked with Air dried sawn Ash in the past and i find this works well for me.

One other thing I have noticed, the most significant defects- splits appear very soon after milling so while i once use to seal (paint) the board ends, i don't bother these days.

 

[Mike-W]

I would agree with removing the bark (recipio) above. A drawknife also works well if you have one.

 

[Oaktree11]

Thanks guys, lots of good advice there. I only got it this morning. I will check it’s moisture level tomorrow. I am thinking of storing it in the loft and forgetting it for a while, absolutely no room in the workshop and I would prefer to keep it indoors.

 

[Jones]

Put the piece that's all bark back on the firewood pile, you'll never make anything worthwhile from it and any moisture change will cause it to move.

 

[TheTiddles]

The loft can work well… but if there’s worm or similar in that wood, you will be introducing it to whatever else is in your loft

 

[Oaktree11]

The loft can work well… but if there’s worm or similar in that wood, you will be introducing it to whatever else is in your loft

Ah. Good point. I hadn’t thought of that. However, I am a bit stuck for options. I suppose I could store it carefully outside under a good cover? John

 

[Adam W.]

Stick it outside under cover, but don't point the ends into the wind as they'll dry out really fast and make the whole thing split badly.

 

[Oaktree11]

Ok, thanks again everyone. I will store it outside, well covered and forget it for a year. I appreciate all the help. John

 

[Sean Hellman]

Some lovely wood. Ash is an easy wood, I have lots of 'rotten' ash that I make small stuff out of, hearts and other ornaments. The lump in pic 5 has some amazing figure and once polished up will do you proud, not not throw this away!!!! I would use this for box lids etc or other small work that needs a bit of figure wood to make it pop. I would dry as is and then resaw, plane and sand to size when needed for whatever project. Not all of us need grade A timber and we look for rot, figure and other mishaps in our timber.

 

[Mark Karacsonyi]

If you have a big enough steaming cabinet great, you can roughly size/thickness it. Avoid a planer, planer thicknesser, if the wood is green this is a no no. Else your going to be stacking it for a long time. Remove the bark seal the ends, as others here have said.