good ash

[yewbow]

I have some pals that wish to try bow making and need some good ash to have a go with. They don't want to spend a lot as it may go all paer shaped so
were would be a good place to start looking ?. I looked at one bow maker but at ?40 for one ash stave and ?18 p&p seems a lot to me well thats what his email says that he sent. His web site says TWIN LAMINETS from ?35 and ?13 p&p so not sure how a single ash stave can be ?40 and the p&p ?18 but thats not the point of this thread. Any help to find a good stash of ash would be most welcome
Thank you all
ptimist:

 

[alanesq]

Your best bet may be to find a local woodyard which stocks kiln dried ash?
the problem is that whilst a bit of ash may only cost ?20 from a wood yard you can easily spend a couple of hours going through all the wood there to find a bit suitable for making a self bow
(the owners of the woodyard will most likely have no idea why the bit you choose is any different to the others and think you very odd ;-)

 

[Deleted member 7654]

I would say it's worth trying asking golf clubs, parks departments/nature reserves etc to see if they are felling or thinning any Ash, it often gets planted as thick plantations which need thinning, and it's this time of year they may be doing it. (Or even local people selling fire wood by the lorry load or tree surgons...you never know, a few phone calls doesn't cost much and may reap rewards)
On the subject of Ash, The younger (smooth barked) stuff, say upto 8" dia seems much whiter and coarser grained (wider growth rings) than the more mature (more Oaky looking bark). Anyone got any comments on this observation???
I've been working some older Ash into kids bows for the club and I found it had a layer of much closer grained wood for about 1/4" on the outside of the tree, this didn't look as sound as the coarser ringed inner wood so I cut it back. I shall make one up using the finer outer wood to see if there is a noticable difference.
BTW Making 20 pound kids bows isn't much fun .
Still I got two great Yew logs yesterday 6" and 4" dia, so that's my Yew stash topped up for the next couple of years .
Del