Ash

[Nim-rod]

Ok so I have been VERY busy gearing up for bulilding bows. Built a shave horse, cut some trees, got some nice thick linen for backing and actually finished one bow (another topic to follow) and read two TBB (1&4 with 2&3 on the way) plus Paul Comstocks "The Bent Stick". I have gained much knowledge in a short time and much more is to be gained the more I carve away. I hope to hook up with Jawge (you all know him) and maybe boost my confidence with yet more knowlege.
So what I cut the other day is what I believe to be some kind of Ash but too hard to tell with no leaves. The picture shows just under the bark which came off very easy. I love the looks of the bumpy kinda grain but this layer seems to be pretty thick compared to the regular growth rings whick are pretty close together. Should this thicker layer come off? I did try to chase to see if it was too pourous but it seems to be at least fairly solid but maybe not as solid as the late wood rings. I'd love to leave this unbacked to show off this texture but not sure. Any thoughts?
 

[John Scifres]

Looks like ash to me.  That would be my back.

[CaptainJ]

I have some young elm that looks just like that.
Can you show us some heart wood?
Maybe the end cut?
If the bark came off easy the cambium probably came off with it and that is the outer ring right there. Give it some time to dry and it will harden up fine. No need to find a deeper ring.

CJ

[Nim-rod]

Rings are small and they kinda fade off into this top layer which almost looks like the porous early growth but this is a almost 1/4" thick. And yea all the bark came right off. Heartwood is just a little darker than the sapwood. Split real easy so I dont think it's elm. Bark really looks like ash pictures i've seen.
 
 

[CaptainJ]

Yes, that's not elm for sure. Must be ash.
Looks nice and straight grained though!

CJ

[Nim-rod]

I took a small piece I had and roughed out a limb section to see what I was dealing with on this stuff. As you can see by the results of the test it was a failure and I thing the rest of it will be firewood. The top layer is thick and VERY porous and broke with little effort while the "good" wood under it held fine. Maybe this is a green ash or another wood entirely I don't know but the wood just under the bark on this stuff looks great but won't hold up to make a bow. Anyone seen this beofore? maybe it's like this only in the spring and this layer is to be the bark later this summer?
 
 

[GREG IN MALAD]

Work the back down to a thicker ring and it will be fine.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I was thinking the same thing Greg. If you have enough Ash around it may be worth looking for a better specimen rather than whittling down to a solid ring? Your call

[Nim-rod]

Yea I figured I'd experiment a little bit and chase a ring on one stave and see what happens. I've never chased a ring so it was an experience I tell yea. I think I need some osage now! Should be easy after doing this thin ring whatever stuff. That thick top layer was REAL crunchy going through with the draw knife. It was worth it jsut for the learning experience if noththing else. I wonder if I have some kinda wood that usually does need chasing? I hope someone is able to chime in and let me know what this stuff is. If not that soon there will be leaves out and I will bring my Audubon field guide out there and see what I have here.

[okie64]

It looks like some kind of ash but I dont know how to tell the ash trees apart. Usually white ash grows in mountain ranges with other big timber like red oaks and maples. Green ash can grow about anywhere but is typically found in more lowland swampy areas. Ash is really hard wood but its usually pretty bad about having a lot of pithy early wood in it.

[yukon chuck]

Looks very much like White Ash. I've built a few bows from White Ash and had similar results in my initial tests to the breakage that you experienced. I removed the outer thicker layer/layers, down to a good thick ring. I found the wood to produce a pretty nice bow. Fairly easy to chase rings. Pretty darn straight and relatively easy to work with. The resulting bows were nice shooters that developed only moderate string follow and were a pleasure to shoot.

[Nim-rod]

Thanks Yukon chuck. I hope my results are similar. I plan to flip the tips so string follow is minimal and back it with Linen just to be safe.

[Mike Vines]

Whis I could help, but I don't know my ash from a hole in the ground.