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"off the stump" moisture content

4/22/18       
Carl

In reviewing the "off the stump" moisture
content of common hardwoods, ash shows,
by far, having the lowest initial MC.

Was wondering if there is a generic explanation
for what controls the MC within a tree, and
particularly, why does white ash have such
a low fresh cut MC ?

The source I found lists the species below
and their respective fresh-cut MC

Moisture Content (%)

Species Heartwood Sapwood
------------------------------------------

Ash (White) 46 44

Basswood 81 133

Beech 55 72

Cherry 58 --

Cottonwood 160 145

Elm (American) 95 92

Hackberry 61 65

Hickory 51 49

Maple (Silver) 58 97

Maple (Sugar) 65 72

Oak (Rod) 80 69

Oak (White) 64 78

Sweetgum 79 137

Sycamore 114 130

Blackgum (Tupelo) 87 115

Walnut 90 73

Yellow-Poplar 83 106
-----------------------------------------

4/23/18       #2: "off the stump" moisture ...
Gene Wengert-WoodDoc

I just looked at Table 2.1 in Drying Hardwood Lumber. The values for white ash are quite different...95 and 113. Note that in this Table 2.1, the sap and heart headings are reversed. I am curious where you got your numbers.

4/23/18       #3: "off the stump" moisture ...
Carl

Interesting - my source was publication:

FNR-37 - MARKETING AND UTILIZATION
Purdue University
Cooperative Extension Service
West Lafayette, IN 47907

The link to the source is below

Thanks for the response, Gene - it appears
it was likely a misprint, as the rest of the species
seem to match your table 2.1

Finally - any insights on what makes ash dry
so quickly compared to other hardwoods?
There are many folks out there that tout the
firewood adage that ash can be burned green

Link to purdue article

4/23/18       #4: "off the stump" moisture ...
Scott

I looked in the dry kiln operator manual and it's showing the same MC as the original poster, 46% & 44% for white ash. While I don't have an explanation as to why it is low, I can tell you I dried quite a bit of ash over the years and I rarely had a MC over 50%. They were consistently in the 40% range.

4/23/18       #5: "off the stump" moisture ...
Gene Wengert-WoodDoc

This is indeed interesting. Black ash seems to have a much higher green MC and green ash is a bit higher. When I see a white ash not affected by insect damage, I will try and get a MC sample.

4/30/18       #6: "off the stump" moisture ...
Don Lewis

While I was at Nyle, we did dozens of kilns that dried ash. Tool handles. baseball bats, flooring, oars, paneling and trim, furniture, etc. I don't think we ever saw 50% green. Almost always 40-45% dead green. I noticed the difference in the tables and asked customers what they found and I checked some myself. They usually said they were drying Black Ash. I could not confirm what exact species but I used 45% for 35 years and had good luck


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