Auggie & I got 3 air dried ash boards from the Amish a couple years ago... 1 was edge grain, 1 was almost edge grain, like this/////, and the 3rd was good enuff to chase a ring on( and we did).. It was very flat backed from a large tree.We built them all to basic board bow specs.. 66" and 45#at 27"... The 2 edge grain were awesome shooters, and they only took 1/2-1" of set... The one with the chased ring took 5" of set(and i cooked the hell out of it) and was the slowest dog i ever built... If i had only known about trappin back then, lol... I guess my point is dont count ash out.. It shines when its edge grain!
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.... Brian