Hardwood & Clear Grade Softwood Timber Suppliers

SPECIES



Smee Timber Ltd is established as one of Britain's leading and most comprehensive hardwood importing and manufacturing companies, offering an enormous choice of timber to manufacturers and users.

 

 

 

Products

 

Hardwoods:

Clear Grade Softwoods:

Machined Timber Profiles:

Flooring:

 

 

 

 

European Ash

TEMPERATE HARDWOOD

 European Ash Timber

Family:

 Oleaceae

Latin Name:

 Oleaceae

Distribution:

 Grows throughout Europe, North Africa and Western Asia.

Uses:

 Used for boat building, canoes, oars, tillers; deck beams and frames. Extensively used for cabinetmaking and furniture, chair making, agricultural implements, vehicle bodies, wheelwrighting, bentwork, fancy turnery and laminated articles. Corestock and plywood manufacture, and decorative veneers for furniture, panelling and marquetry. Ash also takes treatment as hardwood (silver grey) and in veneer form, the olive ash figure is highly decorative, especially in stumpwood and burr form.

General Description:
European Ash's heartwood is cream to pale tan coloured. In some logs, a dark brown to black heartwood is found which is strong and sound and sold as olive ash. The wood is tough, flexible and straight grained. The texture is coarse but even. The weight varies between 510-830 kg/m3 (32-51 lb/ft3), average 710 kg/m3 (44 lb/ft3); specific gravity .71.  

Mechanical Properties:
This tough, heavy, dense timber is fairly split resistant and has excellent steam bending properties, and with low stiffness and medium resistance to crushing and shock loads.  

Seasoning:
European Ash dries fairly rapidly and needs care to avoid surface checking and splitting, but this responds well to reconditioning kiln treatment; medium movement in service.  

Durability:
The timber is non-durable and perishable. It is susceptible to insect attack by both powder post and common furniture beetle. The heartwood is moderately resistant to preservative treatment but back heartwood is resistant.  

Other Names:

English, French, Polish, Slavonian, etc according to origin.