Ash and or spruce sources

Stmcglynn

Curious about Wooden Canoes
Hello all,

Does anyone have a good source for 17’ lengths of ash or spruce? It will be for gunwale stock so should be 5/4.

I know Condon lumber in NY has spruce, but maybe not ash.

Thank you in advance!
 
Where are you located? If you are here in NYS I can PM you a contact for someone in the Western NY/Finger Lakes area. His mill can cut that length. I'm not sure if he has any ash but it's available.
The challenge is that most commercial loggers cut to 16 feet and many smaller operations have mills that lack the extension to get to 17/18 feet.
How about cherry?
 
I’m in south eastern PA, Condon is 2 hours away so it’s not that bad. It’s closer than the Pennsylvania options I know about, but finger lakes would be too far.

cherry could work perhaps, do you know of a source closer?
 
Ash borer is killing all of the ash trees...it should not be to difficult to find someone that can cut some for you.
I'm not sure what you can find in PA. When I was looking for wood I did find several operations down that way but they were never responsive. Selling a few boards is not interesting to the bigger operations. Craigslist is a good place to start looking.
 
I’m in south eastern PA, Condon is 2 hours away so it’s not that bad. It’s closer than the Pennsylvania options I know about, but finger lakes would be too far.

cherry could work perhaps, do you know of a source closer?

you might try Irion Lumber in Wellsboro. They have cherry and their website says they occasionally have ash: https://irionlumber.com/species/ . Just bought a piece of mahogany from them and they were happy to sell a single board.
 
I always try my local sawmills. Most of these guys are a great help. My local sawmill will cut spruce for me and he'll try to pick over it to avoid the knots. I usually splice my outwales after I bend the ends on so 10 footers work fine . Done with a long splice and a fastener through it I've never had a problem. And it nice to only stick 4 feet or so of it in the steam box.
 
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