Sourcing Ash Wood in Canada a Problem

[Martivs]

I am having great difficulty sourcing some ash wood in Canada (Ontario). I guess that there are some fairly tight restrictions due to the emerald ash borer. I'm sure that there is probably quite a bit growing around where I live but as it is not on my property I just can't go and cut a tree. Others must have run into this problem - any solutions?

[agrimensor]

For what are you thinking of using the ash??
A Hardwarestore might help, most farmequipment like spades and shovels use ash. So the hardware or agricultural stores most have spare parts to.
Good hunting

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Not so easy to source ash here in the UK either.
A lumber merchant may help, but the longer poles needed for some dories or spears are not
likely to be sourced from the agricultural suppliers either. (at least I am not having any luck)
One timber merchant informed me I would need to order quantities by the truckload....
:-?

[Quintius Clavus]

One of the other problems is that a hardwood dealer may not really know if a pole is ash or oak or some other hardwood. I have run into that here in the USA. My understanding is that in ancient times (at least in some instances) they grew ash trees in special groves "coppiced" with intent that they would grow straight and be cut when grown to the appropriate girth to make a spear. Thus one had the whole tree for the shaft. That is not done these days and again, unless one knows for sure the tree from which the pole was made... it might not be ash.

[M. Demetrius]

Two questions occur to me,
How long of a pole do you need?
Why must it be ash?

[Martivs]

For what are you thinking of using the ash??
A Hardwarestore might help, most farmequipment like spades and shovels use ash. So the hardware or agricultural stores most have spare parts to.
Good hunting

It was my understanding that the most common (and more importantly, historically accurate) wood for use in pilum shafts, along with handles for such items as the furca, ax and dolabra - is ash. Due to the tight trade restrictions as a result of the emerald ash borer (an invasive asian beetle larvae), all of the implements in hardware stores are made of either maple or hickory. Restrictions have loosened up a little in the last year whereby you can now import it, but the cost of the necessary paperwork for anything other than a large shipment is prohibitive. There is also legislation in place to prevent transporting ash out of areas of known infestation without some official documentation (more cost). I have found a supplier of blanks for making ash baseball bats in the United States, but he is unwilling to export due to the burden of the required paperwork.
The area that I live in has not yet been declared as infested. My hopes are to find a Canadian distributor that is either local or in a similarly uninfested area so that I may order a sufficient amount of material for all my future reconstruction projects. Hopefully before my area is declared infested and it becomes almost impossible.
If anyone can provide information regarding alternative species of wood that are entirely acceptable as authentic, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Primvs Pavlvs]

Get a shovel handle from the hardware store or a wheelbarrow handle.

[dengland]

I had the same problem here in Ohio,USA. The authorities declared my county and surrounding ones as infected and began wholesale cutting of the infected and uninfected trees.(it's not been too effective) If you can wait,pretty soon you will have your pick of wood for free.

[jkaler48]

http://stores.ebay.com/Northeast-Hardwoo...7675.l2563

Try and see if they have what you need.

[Neuraleanus]

I've been buying ash for pila, about 5 foot lengths, from Owl Lumber. They have several stores around Chicago, IL:

Owl Lumber