Ash is getting scarce
Ash wood is becoming increasingly scarce due to the devastating impact of the Emerald Ash Borer, with many domestic trees destroyed and limited supply forcing sellers to consider European ash as an alternative.
Ash (Fraxinus americana), also known as white ash and American white ash, is losing its battle to the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). Sellers interviewed by Woodshop News say sourcing the domestic hardwood is difficult, if they can still get any at all.
Michael Johnson of Johnson Creek Hardwoods in Mount Carroll, Ill., says there’s a good market for ash but availability is a problem.
“In our area, northwest Illinois, I’d say within 100 miles, the Emerald Ash Borer has killed every single tree. So, I cannot get any decent ash logs. I planted about 2,000 ash trees over the years in my timber, and they’re all dead, and all the yard trees that I used to get — the big ones that people wanted to get rid of — they're all gone,” says Johnson.
“The only good thing about it, if there is a silver lining, is that so many trees have been destroyed that a lot of people think the Emerald Ash Borer might completely leave the area and allow some of the sprouts to grow into decent sized trees. We have no way of knowing yet if that’s going to happen. But there isn’t an ash (tree) that I know of that’s alive around me right now.”
The EAB is an invasive wood-boring beetle from Asia that’s responsible for the death and decline of tens of millions of ash trees in North America, according to the USDA Animal and Plant Inspection Service. EAB infestations have been detected in 36 states.
“It’s always been one of our top five, top seven sellers,” says Clint Dillon of Steve Wall Lumber in Mayodan, N.C. “We move a lot of 12/4 ash and everything I’m hearing with the big thick stuff is that production on that is probably going to cease pretty quickly.
“I hope they figure something out about it because it’s always one of our top movers. It stains well, it takes any stain, it works better than oaks in my opinion, and it’s just really popular.”
The news isn’t much better on the veneer side.
“The EAB has made the availability on the domestic side somewhat less and restricted,” says Dan Carroll of Certainly Wood in East Aurora, N.Y., which offers European ash as a substitute. "For all intents and purposes, there isn’t much difference between the two aesthetically, if we’re picking good quarters. The main distinction is that the European is a little bit brighter, a little less yellow, but it affords us bigger, straighter material.”
Select 4/4 ash lumber was quoted at $4 to $4.95/bf.
This article was originally published in the October 2024 issue.
