ASH

Recently, if you have ever gone to look for furniture, you must have been introduced about ash furniture by salesman a few times. Ash is one of the imported wood lines which has won the hearts of many Vietnamese customers. With its superior properties, ash wood is becoming more and more popular and playing an important role as a raw material in the wood industry of Vietnam. ‘Is ash good or not?’ or ‘Is ash wood attacked by termites?’ are questions that a lot of consumers care about. To resolve these questions, let’s find out in the following article.

Harvesting ash wood at Prospiva logging yard

BRIEF

Ash, whose scientific name is Fraxinus, is a light-loving flowering woody plant species in the olive family ( Oleaceae ). This plant grows widely in areas that have a continental temperate climate. Full-grown ash can reach 20-30m high with a diameter up to 80cm-1m. The leaves fall seasonally and have an extensive canopy. They are opposite with coarsely serrated margins and elliptic to narrowly elliptic shapes.

Ash wood surface and ash log cross-section

You can find this plant in the lowlands along the coastal plains of European and American countries, and ash is also grown abundantly in the forests of Russia. The colder the climate, the better the wood and the wood grain quality. A quite interesting fact about this genus is that ash rarely grows naturally but is bred and cultivated according to scientific regulations. This type of wood is protected by the strict legal system of the countries where they are grown and harvested.

Ash is classified into various types of wood, based on diverse areas where they are cultivated. Some specific kinds of ash can be mentioned: White ash (Fraxinus Americana), Green ash (Fraxinus Pennsylvanica), yellow ash (Fraxinus Profunda), Carolina ash (Fraxinus Caroliniana), and more.

Ash wood after sawing, edging and length sorting at Prospiva factory

Parameter of European Ash wood

PROS AND CONS

PROS

Physical characteristics : The hardness of European ash is 1480 lbf and 1320 lbf with American white ash (Janka). Despite having lightweight ( about 675 - 680kg/m3), ash wood has the incredible bearing capacity and compressive strength. This wood line is hard to deform under strong impact or drying, but it can easily be bent in hot steam. Ash can stick well with nails, screws, and glue with good mechanical resistance, making it suitable for manufacturing furniture products according to modern trends. Ash wood products also have good durability and minor warping with a lifespan of up to decades.

Aesthetics : Ash sapwood is pale yellow which is close to white. The heartwood of ash has a variety of colors, from gray brown to light brown or pale yellow with brown stripes. Ash grains are concentric ellipses. There are many reviews that ash is the wood line with the most beautiful and brightest wood grain. With a surface that can stick smoothly to paint and be covered with various colors, it fits entirely with modern housing spaces such as townhouses, apartments, and high-class apartments.

Price : Compared with domestic and imported natural wood lines, the price of Ash wood is highly affordable. With high aesthetics, long durability, and a friendly budget, ash wood productions have become the first choice of many Vietnamese families.

Furniture made by ash wood

CONS

One of the cons of Ash wood is that the heartwood is susceptible to termites if it is not processed according to a specific standard. When using ash wood furniture, users need to pay attention to the installation location and preservation process to avoid termites. Compred to industrial wood lines, Ash wood has a higher price.

SUMMARY

We cannot deny many advantages and outstanding features that Ash wood brings to our furniture manufacturing industry. If you are interested in imported wood materials for production projects, don’t forget that Ash is always one of the top picks.