I call BS on ash!

[Steve NW WI]

The fact remains that fresh cut green Ash has much less moisture content than just about any other fresh cut green wood. So if you are desperate and have only fresh cut green wood to burn Ash is best.

Not true, according to the U of NE firewood chart I have, and a little math applied to figure green moisture content. Hedge, Doug Fir, and Red Cedar are lowest, under 30% moisture by weight green, Green Ash (the only ash variety on the chart) is pretty middle of the road at 45%, and some of the sponges are Cottonwood, Buckeye, and Basswood at over 60%.

If someone wants to see it, I'll post the sheet I made up to figure this out.

 

[angelo c]

If someone wants to see it, I'll post the sheet I made up to figure this out.

I would like to see more pics of the lady in your avatar....I have a pretty good idea what she does to my moisture content.....:msp_scared::msp_scared:

 

[mga]

Ash wet or Ash dry A king shall warm his slippers by! Hah, I posted a few weeks ago about a major wood score, About 70 or 80 nice ash trees that I got paid to clear and got all the poles. Anyway I didn't plan on using any or selling any this year but I was spitting some this evening and it's beautiful, not punky at all. Anyway I spilt a few extra small pieces and grabbed a few bigger ones and tried starting a fire in my outside fire ring WITH PROPANE TORCH! and it took about a half hour to get it going! This stuff has been standing dead for almost two years. So for all those that say you can burn green ash I'm calling BS

you're right...ash it terrible!!

pack them logs up and get rid of them right away!

send them to me and i'll put them thru my personal recycling machine.

 

[Whitespider]

…according to the U of NE firewood chart I have, and a little math applied to figure green moisture content. Hedge, Doug Fir, and Red Cedar are lowest, under 30% moisture by weight green…

Not tryin’ to be argumentative, because moisture content by weight is the standard… I’m just pointing something out.
In other words… I’m just sayin’.

According to one chart that popped up from a “Google” search (and I don’t automatically believe anything from Google, just using it as an example) a ft[sup]3[/sup] of green White Ash weighs 48[sup]#[/sup] and contains 33% moisture; a ft[sup]3[/sup] of green Hedge weighs 64[sup]#[/sup] and contains 29% moisture. If ya’ do the math, a ft[sup]3[/sup] of green White Ash contains 15.8[sup]#[/sup] water (1.9 gallons); a ft[sup]3[/sup] of green Hedge contains 18.5[sup]#[/sup] water (2.2 gallons). So even though Hedge has a lower percentage of moisture by weight, the total amount of water is still greater. Basically, comparing volume-to-volume, Hedge at 29% moisture contains 15% more water than White Ash at 33% moisture.

Again… just sayin’. And I sure ain't advocating the burning of unseasoned wood... ash or any other.

 

[Arbonaut]

Ash wet or Ash dry A king shall warm his slippers by! BS

Well was you able to warm your loafers? ...Err slippers?

Yup. Why do you think they call it Ash? I burn 150 LB chunks in the Heatmor.
Makes a difference. Always consider the dynamics.

Burning a straight species of wood is the least efficient way to burn wood. I was on the borderline of discussing this with Hedgerow the other day. I said I burn Osage Orange, (Hedge) and it burns really fast when you burn straight hedge. Which it does. He said I needed to control the airflow in the appliance. I ain't bothering with that. I'm burning smoke, not wood. The more air, the better in my case. What you'll find is that a blend of woods produces a more complex gas (smoke) in an outdoor boiler. That's what I meant by considering dynamics. There is lots of air in a fire ring. By the time your wood reaches stage three in the burn cycle, it is quickly toast in a outdoor pit, no doubt. There are many wive's tales, "The Pioneers Friend," however trancends pure myth. If it don't suit you for burning, make baseball bats out of it. The most sought after ball bat blanks in the world come from upstate Pennsylvania.

Starting fire with a torch desparate, too. A watched pot never boils. Let it breathe. Ash is some of the best all around for wood workers and burners.

Desperate? I wasn't trying to heat my home man. I was splitting some wood and grabbed a torch from my truck and started a
fire in an outside fire ring just to see if the old tale was true. Just screwing around.

I was thinkin' you said you held a torch on it for a half hour. My bad.

WITH PROPANE TORCH! and it took about a half hour to get it going!

 

[Arbonaut]

You got something besides Ash then.

Are you serious? You don't know your ash from a hole in the ground! I've cut thousands over the years.

[video=youtube;yipSklgYJKw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yipSklgYJKw[/video]

 

[Wolfen]

I'll just say this about burning green ash, its possible to burn anything , advisable is another story, when I was a kid we cut down the following trees for firewood, White Oak, Black Oar, Red Oak Walnut, Birch Maple Ash, locust, Mulberry, Gum, and we would fell the trees cut them into 18" lengths, roll them onto the trailer, take em home, and start splitting, stacking and we always had a tag for which wood was what level of seasoning, red meant no, yellow meant possible green meant go, and every stack of wood had to have the green tag BEFORE my dad would allow it in the house for heat . Now I have burnt green ash and all the other wood before outside in a pile, but we threw a little gas on the pile and it was usually on top of a felled Cedar tree, and once those things light off, you better run, cause everything in that pile is gonna burn

 

[Steve NW WI]

Not tryin’ to be argumentative, because moisture content by weight is the standard… I’m just pointing something out.
In other words… I’m just sayin’.

According to one chart that popped up from a “Google” search (and I don’t automatically believe anything from Google, just using it as an example) a ft[sup]3[/sup] of green White Ash weighs 48[sup]#[/sup] and contains 33% moisture; a ft[sup]3[/sup] of green Hedge weighs 64[sup]#[/sup] and contains 29% moisture. If ya’ do the math, a ft[sup]3[/sup] of green White Ash contains 15.8[sup]#[/sup] water (1.9 gallons); a ft[sup]3[/sup] of green Hedge contains 18.5[sup]#[/sup] water (2.2 gallons). So even though Hedge has a lower percentage of moisture by weight, the total amount of water is still greater. Basically, comparing volume-to-volume, Hedge at 29% moisture contains 15% more water than White Ash at 33% moisture.

Again… just sayin’. And I sure ain't advocating the burning of unseasoned wood... ash or any other.

I'll post that chart when I get it reworked a little, but it looks to me like it's saying that Hedge is about 1335# of water per cord green, and Green Ash is 1880# green. Again, this is using a chart from U of NE - Lincoln for my numbers. I ain't saying the numbers are right, but I'll believe a University document over a random page.

Gotta go cut some wood, be back later to arg...err, discuss!

 

[Steve NW WI]

I was going to post my chart, but looking for the UNE-Lincoln chart I used, I came across another chart from them that's more complete. It shows White Ash as well, with much different numbers from Green Ash. Total water weight per cord of white is only 1174# per cord vs green ash at 1880, also shows White ash at 600#/cord heavier dry weight.

This gives green White Ash (confusing, right?) a 29.7% moisture content, surely very useable in old stoves, real borderline in a newer stove, but I don't have hands on experience with one of them myself...yet.

Math guy out for now, I'll try to make those new numbers into a chart again before the weekend is out.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I was going to post my chart, but looking for the UNE-Lincoln chart I used, I came across another chart from them that's more complete. It shows White Ash as well, with much different numbers from Green Ash. Total water weight per cord of white is only 1174# per cord vs green ash at 1880, also shows White ash at 600#/cord heavier dry weight.

This gives green White Ash (confusing, right?) a 29.7% moisture content, surely very useable in old stoves, real borderline in a newer stove, but I don't have hands on experience with one of them myself...yet.

Math guy out for now, I'll try to make those new numbers into a chart again before the weekend is out.

All OP has to do is move to Nebraska and cut ash right here. Drought and a parched summer dried wood out three times as fast this year. Everything I cut in January is dead dry right now, split or unsplit. Only rounds over 15" dia. have any significant moisture in the heartwood.

Even some elm logs cut in early June are dry today after splitting. The 2012 drought has been deplorable in Nebraska.

 

[sachsmo]

I burn Ash,

It gives great heat, splits easily and lights off real nice.

Back in the day, Women folk preferred it for it's ease of splitting and quick light off in their wood fired cook stoves.

 

[sachsmo]

Sweep's Library - Firewood BTU Comparison Charts

Right up there with Red Oak.

It seasons a lot faster too, not bad stuff eh?

 

[Cambium]

I thought I was the only one. I tried "seasoned" Ash in my stove and I wasnt fond of it. All that talk of Ash being good I think is overestimating it. Maybe its better for a fireplace?

 

[no tree to big]

Ive burned white and green ash that were both as alive as could be, that I cut the same day. the secret is start the fire with something else and switch over to the ash... problem solved

 

[Wolfen]

I anybody on here in this area don't want ash bring it on over, I'll take it
I'll burn the heck out of it too, people around here hate gum ....mainly cause they are too lazy to split it me, I love it, burns good, burns hot gives me plenty of heat, could be a little easier to split but what the heck builds character in the kids right?
I think my 10 ton will split ash, so I'll take as much as I have room for

 

[Wood Doctor]

Bad Ash in CT?

I thought I was the only one. I tried "seasoned" Ash in my stove and I wasn't fond of it. All that talk of Ash being good I think is overestimating it. Maybe its better for a fireplace?

I used to live in CT years ago. He77, I couldn't even find much ash. Lots of brown birch and sassafras everywhere, however. How do you rate that "ash" that you found in CT, whatever it is, against sassafras and brown birch? Any Pics available? :rolleyes2:

 

[Cambium]

I used to live in CT years ago. He77, I couldn't even find much ash. Lots of brown birch and sassafras everywhere, however. How do you rate that "ash" that you found in CT, whatever it is, against sassafras and brown birch? Any Pics available? :rolleyes2:

Have to see if I have some pics..Last load of Ash I got was in 2010.. I'm near the coast more than inland. I do see plenty of Ash trees around. Not many Birch. Usual Oaks and Maples and Im starting to notice a lot of Sweet Gum. I cant wait to burn the gum but I have to wait another year.

There is one tree I seriously wish we had more of around here..... CHERRY! Its my all time favorite wood to burn. I wish people would plant more of those.

Dont get me wrong, Ash was ok but not on my Top 5 list for heat. The flames were lower than other woods too.

Elm
Cherry
Oak
Hickory
Red Maple
Ash

I havent tried Chestnut yet either, have it split but not seasoned.