Wood of the Month: Ash Wood

Debbie I love a nice piece of ash! I was able to take some trees (maybe a dozen or two) out of a grove coming down a few years back. Trimmed out upper story of house with it, wood ceiling, and some small projects. Dries nice, easy to work, takes stain well, love it. Just used some for ledge in basement last week, looked real nice.

for me, it makes a project so much more wonderful when it is from wood that i have salvaged.
I bet the house looks wonderful

Very tough flexible wood. Great for tillers on sailboats!

Don’t know a thing about sailboats, but I will second the tough and flexible. Max bats, just down the road from me uses ash in many of there bats.

The stuff I get here is not very straight grained so laminating is the way to go. Makes one of the strongest woods that way.

—Madts.

Lots of people say it’s Better then oak. Not sure if this is true or not but where I’m from it’s a bit cheaper then oak and is just as a durable as oak. I’m actually like the grain more in ash then oak, but that’s just my opinion. I used mostly ash for the rifle cabinet I built.

I like the look of straight grained ash, it is a nice contrast to darker woods. The typical plainsaw ash though..meh…

I agree with those above about its utility and work-ability. My only concern is when working with staining Ash. It tends to “blotch” unevenly, so you have to be aware of this characteristic and use appropriate seals to minimize the blotching.

Although, this blotching characteristic, when used correctly, can really add a 3D quality to large boards/surfaces. Just my 2-cents…

ash is alright. The last experience was 9 years ago, built a set of kitchen cabinet doors. Probably 30 or so doors.