There is a guy near me that advertises small bundles of firewood on Craigslist. I don't think he sells very many of them. Seems to me that the only people that make money doing that are near campgrounds where they can setup a self-service area and is visible to people passing by.

 

Yah that makes sense. I was thinking the logistics might be a challenge, we get a crazy amount of holiday and camp traffic on our main roads around here. Our area is a destination in Ontario. But we live off the beaten track on a side road. So that’s tricky. And to have to be at home all the time for people to come by and buy a $10 bag of wood won’t really work either.

 

Sorry to hear you’re experiencing ash borers. I have a huge white ash on my property and keep an eye on for signs of them. I’m in So. Maine.
When did you first discover them?

 

I’d say in the last 12 months they have really infested this area, about 2 hours north of Toronto in Ontario. Other parts of the province I believe have been dealing with them a few years now. We have one large ash that this past spring an arborist friend looked at and said it looked ok so far. By this fall it was ravaged and we plan to take it down in next couple weeks. Couple pictures below that don’t even do the damage justice. It’s crazy how fast and hungry these things are. The swamps around us have a lot of ash in them and most are full of holes and dying. Funny we travelled to New Brunswick this summer and we were near the Maine border a few times. My wife and I both noticed the ash trees there didn’t appear impacted yet. So that is good news for now maybe ?

 

We cut down a couple ash trees at my parents place last weekend. I know. A few guys that have wood boilers. Offered the wood to more than one if they would come help us cut them down. Didn’t get any interest in the wood as most if not all of them are getting free wood delivered to them from tree service companies as they have to pay to dump it off a the land

Folks do buy fire wood and pay a lot for it,but they are mostly paying to have it processed and delivered. The wood itself isnt worth much if anything.

Most of the ash trees in ne Wi seem to be drying. Oak wilt seems to be an issue too.

 

We cut down a couple ash trees at my parents place last weekend. I know. A few guys that have wood boilers. Offered the wood to more than one if they would come help us cut them down. Didn’t get any interest in the wood as most if not all of them are getting free wood delivered to them from tree service companies as they have to pay to dump it off a the land

Folks do buy fire wood and pay a lot for it,but they are mostly paying to have it processed and delivered. The wood itself isnt worth much if anything.

Most of the ash trees in ne Wi seem to be drying. Oak wilt seems to be an issue too.

I was wondering the same thing. There is just so much ash wood around here now too. Logs on the roadsides getting hauled out of almost every bush on every country road. And very few people seem to heat with wood anymore so it’s a tough sell in bulk. Most people I know with the boilers are farmers, and they are overrun with ash coming out of their own forests on farm. So I was thinking the only niche to bring any value out of it was to the city folks and tourist who just don’t have access to wood or the equipment to process it. But even that may be a stretch it seems.

 

I'm in Mass and we're getting slammed between the Asian Longhorn Beetle, the Emerald Ash Borer and Beech Leaf Disease. I have a friend that ended up having 15 large Beech trees taken down on his horse property on Saturday. And they are coming back to take down another 7 or 8 they they identified as infected.

 

Makes a great wood for cabinets. We have a complete bathroom in ash.

rob

 

Ash is my favorite wood to burn. Unfortunately there has been an abundance of it due to ash borers.

 

We've been burning ash for a couple years. There is so much there's little value to it. The 2 trees we has died on our property were burnt. We found a guy that wanted us to cut some ash trees in his woods because he has s many they will rot.
It's not the hottest burning wood, for the price it's worth using for heat.

 

Two things about ash
1) ash will rot,,, REALLY fast,, do not expect it to remain solid very long setting outside.

2) many people consider it irresponsible to move ash wood that is borer infested.
You are moving the infestation. Some locations have made moving the wood illegal.

I had an ash beam that was 3X16 inches, left at my home to be the mantle, when I bought the home.
The beam twisted, so, it was useless as a mantle.

I used the beam as a mailbox post,, treated and painted before installing.
6 months to the day, the mailbox fell over,, rotted right through.

 

The ash borer leaves a D shaped hole when the larvae emerges to turn into the adult. When you see the holes it is too late to save the tree. By 2007 the ash borer was all over mid Michigan and almost all of the ash trees were dead in a couple of years. Around 2014 trees were starting to fall over and the woods looked like a pickup sticks game, except with trees. I do see some ash trees around (very few) that were too small or weren't killed by the borer. If your trees are just getting infested you will have dead ash trees around for a long time.

I don't think ash makes a good fence post. In the ground it will rot, but I have cut ash for firewood that has been on the ground for a few years and not rotted yet.

 

Same story here. we're just west of the GTA.
... yes - here is a story of live-edge processing of ash.

The 1st ash tree that died here was probably 4 years go. The last one in my back yard died just this past year.
I burn them as well in the fireplace - but the bigger ones I cut to lumber.....

I had one that died in 2019... it was tall, straight, and 20-22" in diameter. it stood dead for 1 year and I finally cut it down in the fall of 2020 and cut it into 10.5' and 8.5' logs... I had 2 of each... yes close to 40 feet of clean straight ash log!
Had a guy come in with a portable sawmill, and I had it cut into live edge boards, 1.5 and 2.5" thick.
It cost me $400 cash to get it cut - more than I should have paid... 1st time i've done that, so chalk it up to lack of experience. It should have cost about $250 to do that.

The boards sat in my garage stacked (ends sealed) and spaced, drying for 2.5 years. Then late 2022 and into 2023, I used this wood to make:
1. Two double beds w. live edge headboards: 1 for my son and 1 for my daughter
2. A king size bed with live edge headboard for the guest room
3. Several night-stand cabinets (including a stand for my 3D printer)
4. A high-top dining table (bar height), and 6 stools
5. Two coffee tables
6. Two bench-seats to go with the coffee tables
In each case, it was 100% ash wood. for all parts - both structural, and finishes & decorative parts.
I also gave away a few boards and 1 thick slab to a buddy of mine - he made some shelves for his finished-basement project.

Ash behaves very much like oak when woodworking with it. It's quite strong and quite hard. Not as strong as hard as oak, but close.
Any wood need to sit for minimum 2 years to properly dry. Otherwise it will twist and bend and crack or rot as noted in other posts. All depends where and how you store it. It is not as resilient against rot in outdoor environments like white oak, or cedar. I wouldn't use it in perpetually humid or wet environments.

I know what you're thinking: "pics or it didn't happen".... so here goes.....

Sawmill ops in driveway:

One of the benches below. Note the Ash-Borer tracks in the edge of the wood... I really gives it character!
note: all the stuff is the same color - like the bench below... some of the other photo's look like a different stain - but it's just the LED lighting.

Bar height table. It looks smaller but it is 7.5ft long, and 3.5ft wide. The stools are 22" wide.

The lumber did develop some cracks, so I epoxied them and reinforced with butterfly joints. The table slab is just over 2.25" thick - again you can see the tracks from the beetle. The table is actually 2 slabs - not epoxied to each other... there is a gap in between, but it's not big... this is so when I have to move the table, I can unscrew the leg structure and have the 2 separate slabs.... easier for handling. Each slab weighs probably 100lbs.

The stool top (bottom left) even has some bark still on it as well.
2" diameter iron black-pipe for table legs

I've done woodwork before, but not like this....
This had me learn a lot through a whole bunch of "firsts".... 1st sawmill operation... 1st live-edge slab work... 1st butterfly joint... 1st epoxy filled slab... 1st chair / stool leg-set (structural yet not "too thick" that can support my weight reliably without breaking) etc etc...

 

Thanks! Awesome work on that furniture that is super impressive. Got the wheels turning in my mind here on what is possible we love that look of furniture and have similar pieces in our home already

 

Ash makes great lumber for woodworking, and live edge tables is a great place to use it, provided it is dry and stable. My dining room table is made from 2 bookmatched slabs of ash I had to hand plane from rough lumber because they were too wide to fit in my planer. Live edge slabs are popular and there are plenty of mills around that can cut them but it needs to be cut and dried properly or it will warp and split. Certainly not a DYI job on trees this large.

As for firewood, absolute deadstop no. Campgrounds restrict firewood from being brought in. They only allow certified suppliers wood to be used. The reason is to prevent any trees that might carry ash borers and your wood probably does. I would look to give it away or burn it quickly to prevent further infestation.

There is so much dutch elm, oak and ash available do to infestation and diseases tree services struggle with what to do with all of it.

 

I process a fair amount of firewood every year, it is my exercise and pastime during the Winter.

Marketing to the backyard campfire crowd is much easier and this segment prefers wood in smaller quantities. I made the 2' x 3' metal racks that hold 8 cubic feet, these sell for $25. People get a better deal and get high quality firewood compared to the convenience store bundles. (5 racks = one face cord).

 

@wally2q , Yes you had the right idea.

With all the Ash trees dying off there is a glut of it on the woodworking market. It's cheap due to quantity. But in a few years it's going to be scares as hen teeth. I have a saw mill and when I get a good log and cut it, I stack and store it for future sale. When the supply goes way down the price will go way up. So I'm saving the prime cuts. In order to save it and keep insects off I treat it with borax. It doesn't affect the wood at all but is poison to bugs and not humans or other animals.

You did a beautiful job on that furniture.

Steve

 

Wally2q - really nice looking projects!
I planted an Ash in back yard, it did pretty well for maybe a decade. I tried to keep an eye on it, but like they said above, when you see the bug, it's already too late. It had doubled it's size in 10 years to maybe 16' or 18' tall, was a really nice shape.

I doubt there's much Ash left in northern Illinois

 

Ash here in Minnesota is highly regulated. You cannot transport it out of quarantined areas which are growing rapidly. Currently, the southeast 1/3 of the state is quarantined (including the entire metro areas) along with the Duluth area and a few other spots statewide. One thing I would like to point out is how dangerous ash removal is once the trees are heavily infected until dead. I just took out 20+ huge ash on my property. Once dead, ash deteriorates very quickly and becomes extremely brittle and unsafe. Tree companies around here are very careful and selective in how they will remove dead ash trees for this reason. One local tree cutter (works for a the local power company) told me they won’t touch ash that’s dead after 1 year without using lifts and taking them down starting at the top. They will not climb them or cut from the bottom because of widow makers dropping on the cutter. Just saying…be very careful. The trees I took down were solid on the bottom but many were very sketchy on top. I got pricing but have many years of tree cutting experience so I rented a lift and saved a buttload of money. I burn here a bit but there was way too much for me to deal with. Ash once cut will also deteriorate fast and not be worth processing for firewood after a few years. It's pretty good BTU wise, burns clean but again, after sitting a few years, not worth the effort. I posted mine on CL and FB Marketplace for free. Had a local guy come out with a mini ex with a thumb and he took 90% of it off my hands in a weekend. The brush I'm stuck burning but thats simple enough. Just be careful if cutting it....it's very dangerous and unpredictable.

 

They will not climb them or cut from the bottom because of widow makers dropping on the cutter. Just saying…be very careful. The trees I took down were solid on the bottom but many were very sketchy on top.

100% spot on. Seen it myself. Depending on the size, gotta be really diligent, and have a safety observer looking up for anything sketchy happening.....

 

I’ve taken down close to 175 mature dead ash in my 2 acres of woods. I cut it all up and gave it to a local landscape business that heats all of his outbuildings with an outdoor furnace. He gives me gravel and mulch as a thank you payment. Our 2300 acre wildlife area across the road looks like a giant dominos game with dead ash logs and widow makers throughout. The first 2 years, they lost all their bark, then started falling down. The majority are still standing. Local authorities have posted caution signs not to enter due to randomly falling trees. We had one double trunk giant over 24” dia on each trunk die. One side fell the day after we walked past it and the other side the following year. That was when I started cutting down the other dead ones. I still have a couple dozen to do. If they fall onto surrounding trees, I pull the widow makers down with the tractor and a logging chain hooked onto the bottoms. I’m seeing new growth of burr oaks and sugar maples which are much better. Based on how they rot and become brittle, it’s best to cut them down shortly after they stop producing leaves. Once the bark starts falling off, it’s safer to let them fall down on their own.

To the op, you could bundle the split wood and sell it by the road in front of your house. A neighbor of ours has been selling produce that way for years during the summer. They use the honor system with a slotted lockbox chained to a tree and a sign with payment instructions.

 

You can start making and selling axe handles.

 

And baseball bats. A heck of a lot better than aluminum.

 

The ash borers decmiated the baseball bat production in the USA.

I still wonder what the real benefit is of quarantines and transport restrictions when it comes to invasives like this.

They simply don't work, no matter how stringent they are.

I'm presuming they are just feel good/noise to cover up the real issues behind the importation/detection of invasives and the only effective solution which is pesticides.

And of course no one is going to bring back close inspection of things coming into the US that can carry invasives nor are are they going to crank up the DDT machine.

 

Nothing really works. I know of people who transport firewood to thier cabins and campsites up north from their homs here in the cities. Here in Minnesota, Dutch Elm disease really ramped up in the 60s-70s in Minneapolis where I'm originally from. All kinds of laws were (still are) attached to elms...no transporting, de-bark and bury, burn immediately....blah, blah,blah. Now I'm nearly 65 and have lived in the rural southwest twin cities suburbs for 25 years. Dead elms are all over the place standing with no bark just waiting to be finally blown over or rotting till they drop. Thousands of them laying dead all around me. None of those get "handled" or processed according to state regulations and they simply spread DED everywhere. Same now with the ash borer. I only own about 5 acres but I border thousands of acres of woods privately and publicaly owned. Not one ash will survive unless it's treated in time...it's really too bad. I was out walking in the woods a while ago and every ash tree I see has ash borer damage. Thats the other thing. The state has a nifty little map showing the infestation areas and qurantine boundaries...I don't think the little green ash borer bugs read maps too well!

 

Treatment is another story. A friend had his treated and it cost as much as getting it cut down. Worse still, he said it’s supposed to be treated every year. Typical tree services around here charge $1000 per mature tree and I’ve taken down 175 of mine. Uffda

 

At one time , in not so long ago history, Wormy Ash sold for a premium in cabinet making .

 

I do have 6 nice ash trees around the house that I do want to keep as long as I can or until I sell. As such I have it treated by a professional. They tag the tree and treatment is only required every other year. The cost last year was about $600 or $100 per tree - they base the price on diameter and mine are fully mature. I also build wood furniture and like using ASH for various projects and the cut logs I'll burn in the fireplace though I mix it with seasoned Oak to get better heating, my go to for woodworking is red oak and I have a lot of Walnut and bird eye maple slabs that I'll soon be working with. Though it seems my time is now spent on getting rid of buck thorn (one more invasive species).

 

So, much less than I was told by others for treatment. But still, if I had saved my 200+ ash trees, my treatment cost could be $10,000 per year. Only affordable if you have just a few trees to protect.

 

Got the largest Ash tree down this weekend. Only straight good section was an approx 6’ long log about 15” across. There is a small time mill guy local that would saw it up into live edge boards for not much money. So I’m thinking I’d do that and then make some cutting boards, charcuterie boards and a coat rack, maybe some other smaller time projects. Also there are a bunch of rounds I was wondering about cutting into cookies and maybe doing coasters and cutting boards etc as well from those. I like the idea of repurposing some of this wood. It would be cool to have a couple pieces in our home made of wood from our property and also to use as gifts. I have a bit of woodworking experience but using raw wood will be new to me. Tree was stressed and pretty dry already, but some are saying the wood would have to sit 2 years still to dry properly does that sound about right? Lots of character in the edges of this wood, I think it will make some great projects.

There is also still a ton of firewood. We chipped all the brush and smaller stuff to reuse in our mulch beds. I don’t think it’s worth the trouble to sell the firewood the end. Mostly because of the risk someone transports it into a provincial park etc and any trouble comes up out of that. Not worth the risk. I can share it with neighbours and local friends rather than waste it.

 

I have had a similar issue. I had about twenty Ash trees on property and all have died. The only thing that I have found is that Ash is valued as a craft wood. I even found that some nerdy/hippie/pagan people prefer Ash wood for it's traditional value for wands and walking sticks and such. I guess what I am saying is that the only use I have found for it is arts and crafts. I gave most of mine to neighbors for firewood in the end.