Ash belongs to the Olive family. It grows, on average, up to 30 meters in height, some specimens reach 50 meters. The trunk diameter reaches 100 cm. It has no taproot, but a very powerful root system. The bark is smooth, ash-colored. At the bottom of the trunk, the bark is slightly scaly. Grows in fertile, neutral and moist soils. The growth rate of ash is very high. Habitat of ash, Europe, Asia, North America. In Russia, ash grows mostly in the central regions. In the Volga region, Tver region, Central Black Earth region. The lifespan of ash, as a rule, is no more than 110 years. There are also long-livers among ash trees. Their age can reach 350 years. The more light an ash tree receives, the longer its lifespan. Ash trees quickly die in the shade. Adult ash trees tolerate frosts well, but young trees often suffer from cold, especially if the winter has little snow.
Description of the tree
Because ash is very similar in appearance to other deciduous trees, it is often confused with the deciduous ash maple. The arrangement of leaves on the stems of these trees is very similar. However, despite the external similarity, the trees belong to different families: ash belongs to the olive family, and maple belongs to the sapindaceae.
As mentioned above, ash is a relative of the olive family. This family is widespread throughout the central and southern regions of Russia. However, in the Caucasus you can find ash, which grows as a shrub. Basically, it grows like an ordinary deciduous tree. Its height can reach 10 m and above.
Ash foliage is leafy and can grow up to 30 centimeters in length. The trees bloom in late spring and retain their green color until October, and sometimes even until November.
With the end of summer, the tree throws out seeds. They are a bright green lionfish that grows among the leaves and grows together into small panicles. With the arrival of cold weather, instead of green, the seeds turn brown, and then, when they fall, they become excellent food for birds. Once on damp soil, the lionfish can grow into a new tree in a few years.
The ash root system is very wide, the main rod is absent. Sometimes you can see new shoots near an old tree - these are root shoots. They can grow even beyond the tree crown. In early spring, the ash tree begins to bloom. Its flowers look like purple bells. Pollination of ash occurs with the help of insects or wind.
Tips for care and use
To ensure that furniture does not lose its attractiveness, it needs to be properly cared for. The appearance largely depends on how well the wooden surface was processed by the manufacturer. In any case, you can extend the service life of products if you do not place them near heating devices, since high temperatures contribute to the deformation of the fibers. The best option is if the scale on the room thermometer does not rise above 25.
Characteristic features of wicker furniture made of wicker, its advantages
This type of wood is not afraid of mechanical stress, however, over time, scratches and chips may appear on the surface. To give the damaged areas their original appearance, they need to be sanded with fine abrasive sandpaper, and then covered with a thin layer of varnish. Minor damage can be repaired using a special wax pencil. If dirt appears on surfaces, use a soft, damp cloth or sponge. After treatment, the furniture must be wiped with a dry cloth. To combat greasy stains, special aerosols are used.
You can extend the life of furniture if you place it away from heating appliances
To clean furniture, it is better to use a soft, damp cloth or sponge.
You can remove greasy stains from furniture with special aerosols.
Geography of distribution
Due to the fact that ash is not very picky about external conditions, it is widespread in various regions of the country. However, to a greater extent he prefers the Mediterranean, Caucasian and Crimean lands due to the fact that the soil there is moist and fertile.
In Russia, it often chooses the middle climatic zone as its place of growth. Most ash trees can be seen in the forest or river valley. Ash bush is found in the southern territories of the country.
Unique physical, mechanical and chemical properties of ash wood
The deciduous ash tree has at least 70 species. Of these, only 4 grow in Russia. The climate of the Northern Hemisphere is suitable for ash. Its wood is very valuable and resembles oak. In the old days, ash was used to make weapons: clubs, bows, arrows. Now it is used in mechanical engineering, as well as in the creation of aircraft and in the production of furniture, and here it is valued on a par with mahogany.
Use of wood
Even in ancient times, ash wood was used in everyday life, as it has a special and unique texture. It was used to make rocker arms, wheels for carts, sleighs and other household items that were supposed to be wear-resistant. Due to its properties, ash wood is actively used in the manufacture of equipment for athletes (skis, parallel bars). Ash oars are strong, moisture resistant and durable.
Since ash wood contains vitamins and minerals, properly processed raw materials are also in demand in medicine. The fruits, bark and leaves of the tree have medicinal properties.
Parquet
Floors made from small planks of natural, strong ash can also last for centuries. The standard thickness of each parquet floor element should not exceed 15 millimeters. The width is usually standard and equal to 7 centimeters.
But the length ranges from 35 to 50 centimeters. Usually ash parquet is not painted with anything, but is only varnished. Proper installation eliminates the use of nails and screws.
The disadvantages of ash parquet include, at a high price, quite difficult maintenance. So that the color always remains pristine, it is necessary to carefully care for the parquet.
At the same time, the advantages of this gender are more than obvious:
- Durability.
- Fortress.
- Beauty.
- Environmental Safety.
- Originality.
Photo of ash wood parquet
Block parquet
Block parquet
Characteristics of wood
Ash hardwood has similar properties to oak wood. However, it is lighter and lacks pronounced medullary rays. Before use, wood must be subjected to thorough antiseptic treatment. The reason for this need is the fragility of wood in wet conditions, since moisture causes wormholes to appear on it.
Ash wood is highly valued because it is strong and flexible. Bent parts and products are made from thin ash boards. The wood can withstand strong impacts, is very difficult to cut, and when exposed to dry air, it can crack and rot if left untreated. After undergoing the steaming procedure, the wood bends very well, and after bleaching it acquires an unusual grayish tint.
The texture of ash wood is beautiful and has a brownish-yellow color. Due to its high physical and mechanical properties, the range of application of ash is very wide. It is used to make bent and carved furniture, cut propellers for light aircraft, parquet boards and railings, sides for car bodies, window frames, gun stocks, bows, both sporting and hunting, tennis rackets and more.
Furniture
In the production of furniture, ash wood is used for:
- Wood finishing of soft or cabinet elements.
- Frames for upholstered furniture.
- Creation of walls for kitchens, living rooms, hallways, offices, drawers, pencil cases and chests of drawers.
Using ash in any of the above options significantly increases the cost of furniture. Wood goes through several stages of processing, usually retaining its natural color. The furniture pieces are of the highest quality, stylish and beautiful.
Beds made of ash belong to the elite category. They can be made of solid wood not only with a frame and a back, but even with slats on which the mattress is placed. The cost of such a bed is at least 30,000 rubles. Reviews about the exterior and quality are always positive.
Ash bed
Oksana from the city of Konstantinovsk says: “I bought a Victoria bed made of ash. At first, there was even a kind of fresh forest smell in the bedroom. The optimal size of the sleeping place for my husband and me is 200/160 cm. The bed does not squeak, does not wobble, and looks very respectable. I'm happy with the purchase."
Any furniture walls are also made from ash. They are particularly durable. Thus, kitchens made of ash are practically not afraid of ordinary kitchen moisture and can last for several decades, however, provided that the countertop is made of stone, natural or artificial.
Ash wood is also used for cladding the staircase frame. For steps, the wood thickness is chosen from 3 centimeters. The finished product is usually not painted, but only varnished. Such a ladder should last quite a long time.
Evaluation of furniture and building products made from ash wood 5.
In the photo - furniture made of ash
Ash cabinet
Solid ash table
Ash furniture
Wood structure
Ash is classified as a core ring-vascular tree species. Due to the fact that the late and early wood of a tree differs in appearance, each annual layer is clearly visible on any section. On cross sections in the zone of the late annual layer, each small vessel is clearly visible. It looks like a separate light spot or a short winding line, which is located near the outer border of the wide annual layer. The core of ash has a light brown color. The sapwood of the tree is wide and yellowish-white in color. It gradually moves into the core. The rays of the core can only be examined by making a strictly radial section. They look like small shiny lines and dots.
The texture of ash is determined by the width of the annual layers, the difference in the color of the wood of the early and late periods, as well as the color of the sapwood and core. All this can be seen by making a longitudinal section of a tree trunk. The wood structure is also formed by cut vessels in the late and early wood zones. Only the core rays do not affect the wood texture. A photo of ash wood is presented above.
Furniture panel made of ash
Planed wooden blocks glued together are called furniture panels. For the highest grade of such products, the moisture content does not exceed 10%. This allows you to make furniture or cladding from the board, which under standard operating conditions will not change its shape. Typically, furniture panels are covered with a protective film and can be of a wide variety of colors.
There are two types of ash furniture panels:
- Whole. In this case, the manufacturer glues solid long bars (lamellas) along the width.
- Spliced. The shield elements are “fused” in length and width.
The price of such a product is lower than that of solid wood, on average 1,800 rubles per sheet, the dimensions of which are 125/250 centimeters. At the same time, manufacturers can offer shields with a maximum length of 5.5 meters. The thicker the shield, the a priori higher the quality of the product made from it.
At the same time, from ash furniture board you can make:
- chests of drawers;
- kitchen and living room walls;
- cabinets, shelves;
- steps for stairs.
The thickest panel, or, as it is also called, a joiner's slab, is used to cover the metal frame of a staircase. The thickness of the step should be at least 2 centimeters, but more often a 4 centimeter shield is used. But for bent parts of stairs or furniture elements, some manufacturers offer shields from 5 millimeters.
Ash furniture panels are considered an environmentally friendly material, widely used in construction and furniture production. It’s easy to work with them if you have the right tools, and the finished products will not require additional coating.
The photo shows examples of kitchens made of ash wood
Kitchen No. 1
Kitchen No. 2
Kitchen No. 3
Kitchen No. 4
Kitchen No. 5
Ash Density
The density of this wood is average. It is classified as a heavy and hard type of wood. Ash wood has very high elasticity. It is wear-resistant and tough. Treating the surface of wood is quite simple, since it is very well saturated with all kinds of stains. If the wood is not treated externally, it will not be sufficiently resistant to environmental influences and will deteriorate very quickly as a result of contact with the soil.
The density of ash wood is 680 kg/m3. It is characterized by significant inequality in density: late wood is almost 2-3 times denser than early wood.
Veneer
Due to its low water resistance, ash produces excellent wood derivatives. The light brown core of ash allows you to make veneer of the same color, and the white sapwood is yellow or pink. Veneer is a thin material, its thickness ranges from 0.55 to 1.5 millimeters. Ash wood for veneer is planed or peeled.
Sliced ash veneer is used to cover furniture parts made from inexpensive wood. And peeled wood is used to make plywood and wood plastic, as well as matchboxes.
Veneer production allows you to use ash wood without residue. Production is not labor-intensive, quite fast, and the material is of high quality.
https://youtu.be/vy4itgPN4nY
Wood moisture content for pellet granulation
Pellets and fuel briquettes are valued due to the low level of moisture in the fuel. Its moisture content is 8-12%. With such characteristics, a minimal amount of smoke is produced when burned.
The optimal level of wood moisture for pellet production is 12-14%. Hammer crushers also work with wood chips up to 65% humidity, but at such humidity it is impossible to crush the material to the required fraction, so grinding occurs in several stages. To bring crushed sawdust to the desired condition, complexes with drying drums are used.
Equilibrium humidity
When wood is exposed to the same air environment for a long time, without significant changes in air humidity and temperature, the material reaches equilibrium moisture content. This is a state when the process of drying or saturation with moisture under given conditions has stopped, and the percentage of humidity has become constant. It is worth noting that different types of wood under the same conditions achieve almost equal internal moisture levels.
Depending on different conditions of maintenance, there are 5 degrees of wood moisture content.
:
Wet
– humidity is more than 100%, this condition is achieved by long-term storage of wood in water.
Freshly cut
— moisture level from 50 to 100%.
Air dry
– from 15 to 20%. Such indicators are achieved when stored in air; they vary depending on temperature and precipitation.
Room dry
– from 8-10%. The moisture level is set during indoor storage.
Absolutely dry
– wood with 0% moisture content.
Free and bound moisture
There are 2 types of liquid in wood tissue:
Associated moisture
– located inside the cells of the tree.
Free moisture
- that which fills the pores and channels of tissues, but has not yet been absorbed by cells.
Wood fiber saturation point
Associated with these two concepts is the so-called fiber saturation point: that percentage of wood moisture content when all free moisture has been removed from it, but bound liquid remains in it.
For different types of wood, this degree is determined from 23 to 31%
.
Ash – 23%
Chestnut, Weymouth pine – 25%
Pine, Spruce, Linden – 29%
Beech, larch – 30%
Douglas fir, sequoia – 30.5 -31%
This value is important because the volumes and dimensions of wood change at moisture content from 0% to the saturation point. Once the cells are completely filled with water, the volume of the tree will not increase significantly.
Measuring wood moisture with a moisture meter
Physical properties
The physical indicators of ash are quite high. This classifies wood as durable and easy to work with. Expensive furniture and high-quality parquet are made from ash.
Strength
The tensile strength measured in tension along all fibers of any type of wood is on average 1300 kgf/cm2. But the strength of wood across the grain can be only 1/20 of the tensile strength along the grain. And this figure is 65 kgf/cm2.
But when compressed across the fibers, the wood becomes denser and its height decreases. After the mold is destroyed, its side parts peel off. This indicator for ash wood ranges from 90 to 99 kgf/cm2.
Thermal conductivity
Ash that has undergone heat treatment has the following thermal conductivity index - 0.18 Kcal/mxhx °C. It is 20% lower than that of untreated wood. Quite low thermal conductivity combined with high density allows us to speak of ash wood as a tree that can retain heat. Wood is suitable for creating warm floors.
Density
There is no average density for ash. Late wood has a density three times higher than early wood. Its level is also affected by the humidity of the tree. The optimal density of ash, whose moisture content is 12%, is measured from 680 kg/m3, and the maximum value is 750 kg/m3. This wood is a high density species.
Elastic modulus
The modulus of elasticity of type 1 ash wood under tension or compression along the fibers is practically the same. In ash, the ratio of these two indicators is 0.9. But the tensile modulus of elasticity will be different.
This indicator is from 7 to 14 times less for ash when stretched across the grain than along it. And with radial stretching it is 1.5 times higher than with tangential stretching. The model of elasticity during torsion of the second kind in ash is 16 times less than the modulus of elasticity of the first.
Natural humidity
The ratio of the mass of moisture contained in a specified volume of wood to the mass of the same but absolutely dry volume is called absolute humidity. When the drying process occurs (natural or artificial), the moisture from the cell membranes evaporates and the wood becomes dried out or dry.
Moisture absorption in ash is much lower than, say, in coniferous trees. This is due to its high density. Thus, a freshly felled common ash tree has a moisture content of 36%. But for Manchurian ash, the humidity reaches 78%. When dried, cracks may form on this wood. Although it is believed that when using drying and processing technology, ash is excellent for parquet production.
