[Terry, NJ]

If your'e dealing with Ash, which I strongly advise you to do. Although I have no idea what the availability of Ash is on the west coast. It is the prefered wood of car builders going back to to the earliest mod. T s, up to the most modern of the small builders, Morgan, of the UK.
Why is that? You ask. Well, Ash doesnt' swell with moisture. It's fairly light next to it's closest competitor, Oak. It breaks fairly sharp. in an accident, Oak will splinter into a lot of tiny little spears to impale you. Henry used mainly Ash and AFAIK the wood was never much of a problem. Get your Ash now before the Chinese donated, Emerald Ash Borer eats them all up. Ash trees are going the way of the American Chestnut!
Terry