White Ash Lumber

[Paystar]

I have a bunch of perfect white ash logs I am bringing to the sawmill down the road. My neighbor has used it for interior walls in his cottage and it has beautiful grain.

But I'm wondering, would it be any good for exterior siding if I get it cut into 1-1/4 inch thick boards? What would be the best protectant to put on it that won't hide all the grain or change the color? I like the light natural color.

 

[big bubba]

sounds like a gold mine. if it's furniture grade i'd be using it for cabinets, trim work, furniture. yes, you can use a semi transparent stain for grain, but it has less protective qualities (uv, etc) than solid stain. for exterior, my experience is that lumber loses it's luster before long regardless of protection (& never use polyethylene but you know that). it's a premium hardwood if clear, & is dense, tough & stable compared to most others.

unless you have access to a kiln, air dry & sticker the wood out of the weather.
for furniture use, it takes a stain real well.

 

[dstig1]

It isn't known as a great exterior wood. No real rot resistance. Price has gone up lately but used to be dirt cheap for a hardwood. I love using it for drawers. It dovetails nicely and is very sturdy and smooth and the white color (with some light tans) makes a nice drawer case. It may be getting more expensive due to ash borer, dunno. You may need to ask before you bring it anywhere as that is how the ash borer spreads so a lot of times you can't legally move it outside your local area, but I'd ask first to avoid problems. I just bought 250bf of it for drawers, so you should told me last week!

 

[yanmars]

A nice wood for inside. Does not weather well outside. I lost over 250 ash trees because of the ash disease. They are just rotting now except for some that went for firewood.

 

[square1]

Call Louisville Slugger! Ash isn't great for exterior use.

 

[tshep]

Or Fender

 

[Paystar]

The story is, it was already cut by a neighbor up the road and he has no use for it and it's too nice to go to waste. So I'm going to use it for something. Maybe I'll use it inside the house if it's not going to be great for exterior.
Too bad I don't have the talent to make cupboards and drawers, LOL

 

[nyone]

White ash is going to be like the American chestnut in a few decades. Just stack it up and keep it dry.

I have a large pile stickered and stacked in my shed attic. I may do a accent wall in a cabin I'm building but other than that its dry and waiting for the day its needed.

 

[2manyrocks]

The story is, it was already cut by a neighbor up the road and he has no use for it and it's too nice to go to waste. So I'm going to use it for something. Maybe I'll use it inside the house if it's not going to be great for exterior.
Too bad I don't have the talent to make cupboards and drawers, LOL

The difficulty with working with unfinished lumber is planing it smooth to a uniform dimension and then getting square edges on it. Sometimes takes me quite a long time just to get a board to where I can start to make anything useful.

 

[big bubba]

old school rule of thumb: 1" per year to air dry. ironic that i have 100 acres of primo hardwood timber incl white & red oak, ash, some black walnut & cherry, etc. last logged in the '50's. but access down a few benches makes tough access. plus loggers want 50-60% with a whole lot of mess left behind. ain't doing that.
envy the OP, ash is one of my favorites. were he close by, i have an industrial 20" planer & 8" jointer (Grizzly both spiral head) he could use in trade for some lumber. & yes, the emerald borer is devastating... good luck