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Aging Ash Without Cracking..


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I have some friends who run a wood shop and make custom furniture. One of them had some cherry cut and curing for making a fancy headboard. He showed me the wood and I noticed that the pieces with the gnarliest grain were splitting and cracking all over the place. This started only about 1 week after cutting. For that type of wood I guess it would be better to let it dry while still in log form. But who knows whats inside half the time? I guess thats why all the wood with the really interesting grain and figuring is the most expensive one way while the stuff with the straightest grain is expensive the other way. :D

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Cherry can produce some really wild figure, but it also usually results in unsound wood. Whatever causes the grain to go crazy also causes the growth rings to separate when it dries. Letting it dry in log form will actually make this worse. Cherry crotches are also notorious for splitting down the middle.

Allstellar, you likely have a mix of white, red, green, and black ash. They are all pretty similar, the white having less or no dark heartwood. The "swamp ash" used in guitars is either red or green ash, the same species as the northern trees, but growing in the southern coastal swamps and bayous, the wood is much different. These trees actually grow in the water, and the base of the trunk gets much wider than further up. This is the part the guitar wood comes from.

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No-one has mentioned the presevation of wood species either. Most wood now comes from managed forests where for every tree that is cut down, new ones are planted to replenish the loss.

I just thought it was prudent to remind everyone of this as I think its important for any wood industry to preserve the long term availability of materials we use on a daily basis and the thought of just tearing down a forest makes me a little uneasy.

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Actually, a woodlot like allstellar is describing can be managed in a manner that requires no planting of new seedlings, which is much better ecologically than clear cutting and replanting. Good point, though, and partly why I mentioned the Forestry Service. :D

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Yeah, the Forestry Service comes in and advises us what trees to take out and where to let the older growth have room when we clear our old farmland. They also tell us if any of our timber has a market value beyond what we excpected as "pallet or tie" wood. They are a fabulous asset! We put in about 100 momosa and maple trees in the low areas per year but they don't equal what we cut. I said maple, I meant poplar. The maples replant themselves in the bottoms. The Forestry people are great to work with because they think so long-term.

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Yeah, the Forestry Service comes in and advises us what trees to take out and where to let the older growth have room when we clear our old farmland. They also tell us if any of our timber has a market value beyond what we excpected as "pallet or tie" wood. They are a fabulous asset! We put in about 100 momosa and maple trees in the low areas per year but they don't equal what we cut. I said maple, I meant poplar. The maples replant themselves in the bottoms. The Forestry people are great to work with because they think so long-term.

I do want to preserve the natural aspect of my new home.. that's why I drive 50 minuted everyday to get to the city... I've come to love nature and want nothing but the best for my trees :D

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