# finish for ash



## pete honeyman (13 Mar 2009)

Hi folks

i'm working with some very nice figured ash at the moment, and am wondering if anyone has a good idea for a finish that won't change the colour too much - ideally I'd like it to look as if there's no finish, but it will need protecting. I've found in the past polish and oil can make ash look dirty.

regards

Pete II


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## wizer (13 Mar 2009)

*NOT DANISH OIL!!!*

ahem, sorry, I feel strongly about that. 

I have not tried any yet. But waterbased finishes would be better on Ash. Oil tends to make it go a horrible yellow colour which you really don't want.

Try something like a water based lacquer


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## penman (13 Mar 2009)

Hi Pete

Try this
http://www.stilesandbates.co.uk/CMS/pro ... e%20Finish
Chestnut foodsafe oil I use it on all types of wood and find there is virtually no colour change in most timbers. It also has the added bonus of being completely foodsafe and looks as if there is no finish at all.

Malcolm

P.S. I think it is based on liquid parrafin


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## boysie39 (13 Mar 2009)

HI Pete, I think licqued parrifin is a very safe product and wont change timber colour. I read on a a turners site ,whom I cant remember at the moment, that he uses nothing else. REgards Boysie.


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## wizer (13 Mar 2009)

I'm going to try that as I have some liquid paraffin. Make sure you test it first as I thought all oils eventually tainted Ash.


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## Doug B (13 Mar 2009)

Acrylic lacquer is also not supposed to "yellow" on Ash.


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## TEP (13 Mar 2009)

I can't say I have ever used liquid paraffin on wood. Does it dry? Or is it one of these oils you have to keep re-coating every so often?


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## cornucopia (13 Mar 2009)

lemon oil will protect it but you wont know its there- the first 48 hours after application it will look diffrent but then it will fade back to (virtually) its original colour.
the only downside being about every 12 months it needs topping up with another coat.


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## pete honeyman (13 Mar 2009)

Many thanks anyone - quite limited for suppliers here, so I tried some spirit sanding sealer on a bit of scrap, and it looks OK so far. With my stupid hat on, what exactly is lemon oil? Is it actually derived from lemons?


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## cornucopia (13 Mar 2009)

derived from lemon grass i belive- chestnut sell it.


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## PowerTool (13 Mar 2009)

I've always found that foodsafe oil darkens timber - acrylic lacquer less so.As George said,lemon oil will darken it,but soon fades back to almost the natural colour.
Haven't had any noticeable yellowing of ash with any of the above finishes.

Andrew


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## Bodrighy (13 Mar 2009)

I think that food safe oil is basically liquid paraffin (sounds real tasty I know) and as said doesn't really make any difference to the colour of the woods that I have used it on 

Pete


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## tekno.mage (14 Mar 2009)

I've found that sanding sealer followed by an application of Chestnut Woodwax 22 leaves ash looking almost as pale as when it had no finish. Woodwax 22 isn't very durable on items that get handled a lot like boxes, but I've used it satisfactoriliy on small ornamental bowls (not food bowls).

I've also used pure Tung oil on ash which does darken it slightly - but not offensively like Danish oil!

As has already been mentioned, acrylic laquer will not darken ash but as it's water-based it will raise the grain.

tekno.mage


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## Richard Findley (14 Mar 2009)

Hi all,

I think it's all pretty much been said now but my "rule of thumb" is that if a finish is a dark colour it will probably darken the timber, so lemon oil and FS finish are both clear and don't colour the wood much, Chestnut finishing oil is slightly darker oil and does slightly darken timber. Something like Teak oil is very dark and so on and so on......







This little maple bowl was finished (recently) with lemon oil and the colour is pretty good still.






This Sycamore bowl has a couple of coats of Finishing oil and also retained it's colour pretty well.

Cheers,

Richard


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## parvum (15 Mar 2009)

Hi , I've been a Lurker for some time,but now I've taken the plunge. I have found Liberon finishing oil good on ash, it does not seem to darken the colour much if at all and soon dries to a handleable finish. I use it for all my tool handles. I hope this helpsjavascript:emoticon('')


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## Paul.J (15 Mar 2009)

Hello *Pavrum *and welcome  

On the few Ash pieces i've turned i've just used sanding sealer and Woodwax 22.They still look good  
Try experimenting with different finishes that you have to hand already.


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## pete honeyman (15 Mar 2009)

thanks to all

I must get some lemon oil next time i'm somewhere where they sell it, but I've gone with a couple of coats of sanding sealer, which is looking fine, and has a nice matt sheen.

Pete II


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