A cord of Ash

I just had to take down some small ash trees that might have threatened my overhead cable to barn.

Just on the off-chance it's any good to someone there's a lovely straight piece of 7-8" diameter trunk about 3-4 ft long - you'ld have to collect (about 12 miles west of welshpool) otherwise it'll get logged up for the fire.

Free of course

pgk

Edited By pgk pgk on 08/10/2019 15:21:11

Much too good for the fire !

While I agree I seem to remember from my boy scout days (60 years ago) that Ash is the ideal wood for fires, kindling, starting and providing heat.

JA

Ronnie Barker could make four candles out of it. - rough it out green, wrap in newspaper and stick in the garage for a year - 18mths before finishing off. Or leave as is for 5-6 yrs...

I have plenty of timber on the property but these had to come down pre-winter and i;d corded it beore it struck me how nice that one piece was (or I'd have left it longer).

Ash is the one wood that'll happily burn green.

pgk

Straight grained Ash of UK origin rather than American Ash, is quite sought after for making the wooden 'stays' for bellringing installations in most UK Churches that have 'full circle ringing' and 'rings' of bells.

So I would refrain from burning the Ash log!

Cheers,

Julian

Except that this small diameter will likely involve heart wood in any decent sized slice. That may make a difference to the value for straight planks, but probably not for turning?

I know of one local ringer who makes their new stays out of ash trees he cut down some years ago.

We're currently paying about £20 per blank, but they're Hastings stays on big bells.

Not having much of a clue about bell stays and ash sizes I googled it: **LINK**

I'll try to take some pics and pull the two best bits into the barn to get the rain dried off. My saw table can't plank this diameter.

Anyone here actuallt into making such things?

pgk

Two logs. One is over 3'6" but a couple fo inches, the other is over 4' by a couple of inches. The thinner one is 6" diameter the fatter one 6.5" (with a small longitudinal split on one edge as it fell). thin ends are both still near enough 6".

If somone can really use them then I can probably transport part-way on the motorway network 'cos of my free electrons and it's quite fun to drive my car... last call. (so long as it;s raining and I can't do any outdoor work here)

Edited By pgk pgk on 11/10/2019 12:33:50

Although it is said that ash can be burned without seasoning that doesn't make it a good idea. The moisture content is still high and evaporating it takes half your heat away.

I've not heard of a cord being used for an individual log before, only as a unit of volume. Is this common usage in some part of the uk?

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Hi All

for what it's worth a cord is a volume 4' x 4' x 8' or 128 ft3. I have seen reference to it in British books about coppicing.

Regards

Dave

Cord of wood as local usage out here in the sticks is used as a reference to a handleable length as opposed to 'ringing it up' use as cut to splittable lengths for the woodburner. Sorry if that caused confusion. It's probably meant as 'cording it up' to be assembled into proper cords.

We rural leek crunchers is simple folk

pgk

In my rural idyll we refer to 'cord wood'. By this is meant a piece of timber that would be included in a cord volume and as such would be approximately 4' long. After stacking that would be cut for 4 fire sized logs - or fewer if you had the Lord of the Manor's fire to feed!