using ash

Status
Not open for further replies.

Keye

Keye
Corporate Member
Just bought 120 bf of ash for $1.50 bf, kiln dry. I bought it with the intent of using it as secondary wood, drawer bottoms, drawer backs, interior structural support.... In the 120 bf I found two knots looking at both sides of each board. As far as quality this is the best wood I have bought in a long time.

I like the grain and apperance of the wood. I just read somewhere that ash is being used in place of white oak. I wet an area and it did not have much color change. Has anyone used ash for furniture? What can I expect with regard to color, over time, if I use a clear finish? Would a seal coat, shellac, be good idea before staining? Would gel stain be the best choice.
 

nelsone

New User
Ed
Here are some drawers that I made. The drawer faces are ash, filled with brown grain filler, dyed brown, orange shellac with brown dyed and topped with poly. I thought it was good to work with.

IMG_03351.JPG
 
M

McRabbet

Ash is a straight grained and durable wood. It has been used for tool handles and baseball bats. I've used it for the legs on my outfeed table because it has that strength -- I mortised each leg to accept tenons from the aprons and it is as solid as a rock. It can be used wherever you want, and if you have interesting grain, go ahead and celebrate it! I used a clear finish on mine. I prefer the look of White Oak as a furniture wood, but Ash can be a less costly substitute.
 

Cliff

New User
Cliff
I'm building a desk and I'm using Ash for the legs. I had a color combination in mind (oak and walnut), but the price of walnut was going to break my little budget. I bought ash and used Minwax 'Dark Walnut' stain #2716. I joined with pocket holes, and filled the holes with Kreg's little walnut plugs. I've got one set of legs done; here's how it turned out:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43214095@N00/2286232475/

I planed and sawed the ash to size... it was easy to work. I really like grain, and the way it stained too. Highly recommended. Sounds like you got a great price on it... for 120bf, it's $2.55/bf at the Hardwood Store in Gibsonville.

Have fun!
 

Botanist

New User
Ron
Ash works a lot like oak. you can stain it to match oak - either red or white. It will not have the quarter grain flecking pattern that white oak has as it does not have the wide rays that make up the flecking.

Our current dinning room table is an old kitchen table from the 20's or 30's. It has been painted several times in its life. When we bought it about 23 years ago it had been stripped and refinshed. For seveal years I was under the impression that it was an oak table. I believe that it was sold to us that way. I read an article in a magazine describing furniture from the Golden Oak period and how much of it was made of ash, and it provided some information on how to tell them apart. Sure enough my "oak" table is ash. Most people can't tell the difference.

Ron
 

MarkW

New User
Mark
I've used quite alot of it lately. As others have said it works relatively well though I noticed it being prone to splintering if my tools were not sharp. Other than that I was impressed, it takes a finish evenly and you already saw the price.

Here are a couple of items I've made from it.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Premier Sponsor

Our Sponsors

LATEST FOR SALE LISTINGS

Top