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Hi all, first post

I just dropped a big black (swamp) ash yesterday, too good for firewood.

I plan on air drying it to use for an electric guitar body or two (or three)

I'm not sure how to proceed, buck the tree into 2ft rounds? Then what? I'll be burning all the scrap so getting fewer but higher quality blanks is more important. The logs are wide enough to make a body without gluing two halves together, is this a good idea? How about using a maul to split along the grain instead of sawing? Any advantage to preserving thginsin this way when air drying?

I've done plenty of guitar repairs over the years but coming at it from the other end - starting with green wood, has me stumped.

Stumped?

An intentional pun, I assume. Look for signs on the outside of the log for both desirable and undesirable grain issues, such as crotches, burls, and unusual stress stuff. For me these are the areas of interest, but if you like straight grain these are areas to avoid. After cross cutting the log, I like to center rip the pith out to help stabalize the wood before drying. If the wood is great looking I will do almost anything to get to the best appearing wood. Otherwise, I will quartersaw for vertical grain as seen at the end of the board.

I have an 18" band saw, so I'm limited in the size I can accomodate, but there is probably a band-saw mill that would cut full length (8' or so) logs. Always allow for waste and as much variance in drying as possible. In other words don't cut too close to your final dimensions. Be careful in drying!

Danny R. Little

The first thing you should do is get some melted wax,paint etc. on the end grain to help prevent checking...!

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