What Is Ash Hardwood Used For
In fact it s often used as a replacement for oak and is sometimes called golden oak like oak cherry and maple tree wood ash is considered a hardwood tree.
What is ash hardwood used for. Ash machines well is good in nailing screwing and gluing and can be stained to a very good finish. This goes back a very long time in american furniture making. Black ash trees are also a big part of the natural ecosystem. The seeds branches and leaves are used as food by a number of birds and animals.
For example since ash is a hardwood it is important not to sand it with too fine a grit of sandpaper before staining. Since the late 1990s ash has been under attack from an invasive insect from asia. It is used traditionally by gardeners as a good source of potash. Ash wood has a similar density and grain to oak.
In fact the most popular use for ash lumber commercially is to impersonate oak a task that ash does quite well. The emerald ash borer has been decimating the species. Oregon ash has a janka rating of 1 160 and pumpkin ash rates 990. It dries fairly easily with minimal degrade and there is little movement in performance.
I ve always had the impression that ash is the rodney dangerfield of the hardwood lumber world. The lowest janka rating for an ash wood is black ash at 850. Ash has a hardness rating of 1200 most scales generally agree but sometimes they may be slightly different in number. It just doesn t get any respect.
A cord of hardwood produces roughly 5 8 gallons of wood ash so that means we have around 30 40 gallons of wood ash in the spring. Green ash and black ash trees are preferentially attacked by the insects followed by white ash and blue ash. Wood ash is the residue powder left after the combustion of wood such as burning wood in a home fireplace or an industrial power plant. This variety of ash is popular for use in basket weaving electric guitars flooring boxes baseball bats and other tool handles.
White ash is used extensively in sporting goods bats oars pool cues tool handles cabinet work high class joinery plywood paneling and veneer. White ash is rated at 1 320 and green ash at 1 200. White ash has excellent shock resistance and along with hickory carya spp it is one of the most commonly used hardwoods for tool handles in north america particularly in shovels and hammers where toughness and impact resistance. The specific gravity of ash woods ranges from 0 60 for white ash to 0 49 for black ash.
Frequently ash is used as a substitute for red oak.