Out of all the trees in the world, the ash is the most closely bound up with who we are: the tree we have made the greatest and most varied use of over the course of human history. This is the story of how Robert Penn cut down an ash tree to see how many things could be made from it. Journeying from Wales across England and Ireland to the USA in his quest, Robert finds that the ancient traditions, skills and knowledge of the properties of ash, developed over millennia making wheels and arrows, tools and bowls, furniture and baseball bats, are far from dead. He reveals how the people working with this wood every day have a particular and intimate understanding of the physical world, preserving unique expertise handed down through generations. This exuberant tale of nature, human ingenuity and the pleasure of making things by hand chronicles how our urge to understand and appreciate trees still runs through us all like grain through wood.