Ash (White)
Strong hardwood with excellent shock resistance — the reason it is used for tool handles, sports equipment and anything that has to absorb a repeated impact rather than resist a steady load.
Properties
- Family
- Wood
- Category
- wood
- Species
- Fraxinus americana
- Density
- 0.67 g/cm³ · 670 kg/m³
Densityhow ash (white) compares
Wood propertiesUSDA clear-wood values at 12% moisture content
- Species measured
- White ash (Fraxinus americana)
- Specific gravity
- 0.6
- Janka side hardness
- 1,320 lbf · 5,872 N
- Modulus of rupture
- 15,000 psi · 103.4 MPa
- Modulus of elasticity
- 1.74 ×10⁶ psi · 12.00 GPa
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 4.9% radial · 7.8% tangential · 13.3% volumetric
Source: USDA Forest Service, Wood Handbook — Wood as an Engineering Material (FPL-GTR-190, 2010), Table 5–3b, for clear straight-grained specimens at 12% moisture content. The grey figures are converted at 1 lbf = 4.448 N, 1 psi = 6.895 kPa and 1 GPa = 145,038 psi; the inch-pound numbers are the published ones. Specific gravity is oven-dry mass over volume at 12% moisture content, so it sits about 12% below the working density at the top of this page (0.6 × 1.12 ≈ 0.67 g/cm³). The two come from different sampling programmes, so a few species differ by more than that.
Applicationswhere ash (white) is normally specified
Appearance & workabilitytrade experience, not measured values
- Origin
- Eastern North America
- Appearance
- Light brown to greyish, with a bold open grain similar to oak but without the rays
- Working
- Strong, shock-resistant and bends well with steam. The open grain takes stain unevenly unless a filler is used.
Unlike the USDA figures above, these lines are not measurements: they carry no units and no single source. They describe how the timber is generally found to behave rather than what it is guaranteed to do — read them as the consensus of the trade, not as a specification.
Practical notes
- Density is for air-dried stock at about 12% moisture content
- Outstanding impact strength relative to its weight
Lumber sizeswhat ash (white) weighs in each nominal size
Lumber size databaseDressed sizes are the same for every species — a 2x4 is 1-1/2 x 3-1/2 in in oak as much as in spruce. What changes is the weight, and that is derived here from ash (white)'s density of 0.67 g/cm³.
Tools used on itmatched on the wood family, not on this page
All toolsWhich tools work a material is a property of the family (Wood), not of the individual species — so this list is the same on every wood page, and changes when the tool data changes rather than when this paragraph does.
Frequently asked questionsthe questions this page answers about Ash (White)
How hard is Ash (White)?
Janka hardness is 1,320 lbf — the force needed to push a steel ball halfway into the wood. Higher is harder; this is the number quoted when a wood is specified for floors, worktops or butcher blocks.
How dense is Ash (White)?
Density is 0.67 g/cm³, and the USDA table gives a specific gravity of 0.6.
How much does Ash (White) move when it dries?
Green to oven-dry it shrinks 13.3% by volume — 4.9% radially and 7.8% tangentially. Movement across the grain is what opens joints, so a species that moves a lot wants room to move.
What is Ash (White) used for?
Typical uses are Tool handles, Sports equipment, Furniture and Flooring.
How does Ash (White) work with hand and machine tools?
Strong, shock-resistant and bends well with steam. The open grain takes stain unevenly unless a filler is used.