Wykabor this ash?

[Rhob the Log]

Have some lovely dark ash I cut into today. A big windblow severed at the base by Inonotus hispidis. White rot in the main trunk but brought home a wee crotch as a sampler to see if it was worth milling the other 6m. Plenty of shakes -ring shake in some but nice colour - olive ash is it?

 

Anyway, is the colour the result of the Inonotus? Should I buy & apply Wykabor/similar boron-based preserver to retain the hardness? Thanks

[Rhob the Log]

Milled the 1st major branch today. Looks lovely timber. 2" boards, good colour throughout. Should be nice on the main butt. Less shake. There's a few cracks down the pith already but should add character to whatever is made from it.

 

Plan now is to re-mill the boards on the bandsaw to take out the pith and create as close to quartersawn as possible on the centre boards. Probably just leave the outside boards weighted and hope for the best.

 

One other thing to note was the use of the 33" bar. Didn't need the winch, it chewed through the wood. So much nicer using a roller nose to hard nose, these things are great. Rob D still has them cheap, I think. Well worth it for logs this size as the power increase is phenomenal.

[nick1854]

Beautiful timber, if you hadn't said ash I would have thought walnut. A big ash near where I live was felled recently and it also had dark brown heartwood. In August it had a large yellow bracket fungus on it.

[Rhob the Log]

This one got taken out by the wind. Stump as follows. Hence the shake - the V of the branches came down sideways.

 

There's all sorts of colours in it. Purple, orange. Really quite pleased. Shame it's only 16" wide... Will definitely do the main butt now.

[northcountryboy]

What great looking timber.

[Rhob the Log]

Finished off the butt, bar 1 quarter today. Looks stunning but, unfortunately, full off shake. Took 2 through and through off the top with the crotch, then flipped to, what I thought, was the shakeless side of the tree. Turns out the quartersawn boards are horrendously shakey also. Shame really, but plenty of useable wood. Any ideas what shakes dry like? These are about 4mm wide at points - will they get larger as it shrinks?

 

There's a quarter left but I don't think I'm going to mill it. It's quite nice as is - rustic bench by a stream...in a sea of sawdust.

[Big Beech]

sweet colouration!!

what is this Wykabor you speak of? i did search the big "G" but there seemed many variants?

[Rhob the Log]

Wykabor is a pesticide for fungicide treatment Simon. There's a few threads kicking around - some spalted Norway maple for example. That's what made me think it may be necessary.

 

I've only ever seen small pockets of olive ash, never right through the whole trunk so would like some input from people who've milled it before. Did speak to a guy at a wood fair who said quantity varies. Seems hard but there's a thick, fungus smell coming off it, different to clean Ash.

Rhob

[agg221]

There are many variants of Wykabor, but they are all formulations of sodium octoborate/boric acid, with different additives to make them work better in particular applications.

 

That ash has a great colour, but I would treat it quickly. Browning is usually a sign of decay, which may not be structural so far but is certainly going to progress until it dries to a low enough moisture content to be halted. Getting Wykabor in it quickly will mean it is transported through the timber, killing the current fungi and reducing the rate of re-infestation (and with insects too). Otherwise it is a competition between whether it dries faster/rots faster!

 

If there is anything worth having out of the last quarter I would also be inclined to take that out now, as otherwise it will rot very fast - ash has very little durability anyway and will be further compromised now.

 

I'm afraid the shakes are only likely to get worse. Nothing you can do about it, just stack it up, dry it and see what is worth keeping, but with that colour to be honest if anything survives at all it will be worth it - never seen ash with that good a colour.

 

Alec

[Big Beech]

Thnx.

As mentioned there are many types of thiz product. Anyone have a link for the best Option? Ive got some splated beech to do.

Thx S