The end of the Ash baseball bat?

They've known this for years

Dick Coers

that's why maple was brought into use a lot more. Then they had maple bats shattering, so testing and proof of straight grain is required on maple bat blanks.

Re: They've known this for years

Roger Chandler

I just think its a sad situation.We have the borer in our area, and are losing trees. My next door neighbor had two ash trees right on the property line.....one had to be cut down about 18 months ago. The other will probably come down in the next year or two.....more turning wood I guess.

I value our natural resources. Baseball, well that ain't bad either

Re: The end of the Ash baseball bat?

John K Jordan

Speaking of baseball bats, I got a yard-sale-ing friend to look out for old wooden bats for me. He usually got them for 50 cents or so. There is some nice spindle turning wood in an old bat. Good and dry, too...

JKJ

Re: The end of the Ash baseball bat?

Don Orr

OK-I've been thinking about this for a while now and could use some input/feedback. It's very sad that our global economy/environment has led to the introduction of so many invasive species. Unfortunately we have done this to ourselves to a large extent going back many, many years even to the earliest settlers here.

My question is about the Ash trees and usage. There are a lot of trees being cut or going to be cut in the near future. Is the wood/lumber from these trees useable? It is my limited understanding the EAB girdles the tree at the cambium layer but does not penetrate into the sap or heartwood. Is that Correct? Can the wood from these removed trees, once cut, milled and dried be further processed into finished goods without risk of spreading the bug? I think if I was a baseball bat manufacturer, I might be buying up every Ash tree I could find and processing them into blanks and stockpiling them for the future. Does this seem way off base (pun intended)?

Maple is now popular *LINK*

Bill Howatt

A Canadian outfit Sam Bats started making pro maple bats in 1996 and in 2015 75% of pro bats were maple.

Our turning club, based in Ottawa, was the beneficiary of their work since we could get maple blanks that were out-of-spec for a cheap price. The problem was that they were too heavy or had very small knots. I think the company has now been sold and now the reject blank prices are a lot higher.

On the site referenced there is also a list of the pros that use their maple bats.

Bill


Sam Bats - Maple Bats

Re: The end of the Ash baseball bat?

Roger Chandler

Don, one of the turners over on SMC just posted pics of some large ash bowls he made, and a discussion ensued about the borer and ash. His comments pretty much mirror yours about the borer and the cambium layer.

I am not sure, but perhaps the problem with the stockpiling of wood is that the federal/state regulations forbid transport of wood from one locality to another for fear of spreading the pest, and infecting new sections of forest. I know that some woods cannot be taken across state lines or some county lines, [even firewood] like the thing that happened in Henrico County, Virginia with the Walnut and thousand cankers disease........they forbade any transport out of Henrico county a couple of years ago.

Transportation of kiln dried ash

Dick Coers

No problem moving kiln dried ash lumber. One issue of course is that the infested logs can't be transported. So the mill and kiln has to be near where the timber was dropped. The economy of having tens of thousands of board feet of lumber just sitting around would drive a business to ruin.

Re: The end of the Ash baseball bat?

John K Jordan

>>> the federal/state regulations forbid transport of wood from one locality to another for fear of spreading the pest, and infecting new sections of forest.

When researching moving walnut, I found a web site that gave the quarantined areas/counties/states. Movement within those areas was not restricted. Perhaps there would be sawmills and kilns within similar areas that restricted movement of Ash. I understood kiln dried wood was not a problem.

Do regs allow irradiation to sterilize wood? Many years ago on a return trip from Hawaii any plant products could be taken out of the state after they were treated with radiation from a big x-ray machine in the airport. I have no idea if this is still practice or possible with wood.

A lot of dealers might still have Ash in stock. I called Jefferies near Knoxville and they have 4/4, 8/4, and 12/4 boards.

JKJ

The Ash trees here in central Kentucky have...

JamieDonaldson

... have been decimated for at least 2 yrs. and we are burning lots of Ash firewood. It is an excellent turning wood, heartwood should be sound if it has been standing rather than left on the ground.

Re: The Ash trees here in central Kentucky have...

Bill Blasic

I am pretty sure that the wood can be transported if the bark is removed. Yes bats are being made out of maple but those trees are under attack too by the Asian Longhorn Beetle. "The Asian longhorned beetle has the potential to destroy millions of acres of America's treasured hardwoods, including maple, birch, elm, willow, ash and poplar trees, and others. The beetle is slow to spread on its own during the early stages of an infestation, so early detection and reporting is critical to containing it. People can also help by not moving firewood, which can transport the beetle hidden inside to new areas."

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/newsroom/news/sa_by_date/newsroom-2016/sa-08/alb-tree-check-month