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| Plain sliced American Ash |
Sometimes the best place to find what you are looking for is to look in your own backyard. Today lets take a look at a local and ashamedly underutilized North American Hardwood - Ash. When speaking in terms of green woods, we often think of Bamboo and other rapidly renewable sources, but this however overlooks the most important aspect to green design - locality! Buying local reduces the carbon footprint size and additionally it helps the local economy to grow (which we could all use these days). The first step is to look at what is around you, and see how you can benefit from the resources closest to you.
Ash Wood can be found in plethora in Northeastern USA, making it a great wood for the Philly building community. Many times it grows in moist and swampy areas and flowers in the spring time. Ash is a very strong, flexible, durable, and heavy wood. It comes in 3 basic varieties: Black, Green (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) and White Ash. Ash is a wood most notably known for being used in baseball bats, because of it's shock absorption and high strength-to-weight ratio. If you are not familiar with Ash, it has the basic look and durability of Oak and is typically an inexpensive hardwood. Ash has a lighter graining than Oak and comes plain sliced, quarter sawn or rift cut; each of which will render very different looks, from traditional to modern.
Ash wood is also available in FSC and thermally modified (great for decking). Here are some good links for the Ash-lover in you!
http://www.hardwoodinfo.com/species_guide/index.php
http://www.lewislp.com/woodchar.asp#Basswood
http://www.thewoodbox.com/data/wood/ashinfo.htm
