Finishing Ash

[Blackswanwood]

Other than just using wax are there any other ways of finishing ash and avoiding that horrible yellow colour?

 

[marcros]

What is the item?

A water based lacquer would keep the colour natural.

 

[Blackswanwood]

The question came to mind as I had some off cuts and have used them to make a small box for all the odds and ends that accumulate on my bench. I really like working with Ash but don’t that much as my perception (which may be wrong) is that it is awkward to finish other than with wax.

 

[MikeG.]

What is the item?

A water based lacquer would keep the colour natural.

Sort of. It's the best approach, I reckon, but even so the underlying wood will yellow. It's just that the finish doesn't also yellow, especially compared with oils and varnishes.

 

[marcros]

Ah I see.
Anything with an oil is going to yellow it to some degree, linseed oil being one of the worst. With some osmo products, this effect may be minimal, I haven't used them though.

You could try a sanding sealer finish or a lacquer (rattle can or brush on). I used tung oil on a light timber, but I don't recall whether it was sycamore or ash, or even what it was. It didn't yellow too badly though and I made a mental note to use it in the future.

It is a nice timber and worth a play.

 

[Deadeye]

https://www.woodworkerssource.com/blog/ ... echniques/

 

[El Barto]

I've used Osmo a lot on ash chairs and stools and it's worked well, keeping the colour light but not yellowing it very much at all. The chairs are now starting to darken nicely after about 18 months worth of use.

 

[Mrs C]

I use Osmo raw followed by a coat of osmo satin which I find maintains the original colour.

Ash varies tremendously between very dark and white, so you might want to experiment a bit. I sometimes use two coats of raw I want to even out the colour.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I usually go with Danish oil, not so yellowing as linseed. But then, I don't want the stark white look. It does not take long for the colour to settle to a rich tea biscuit sort of tone which I like.

I'm uneasy with osmo raw, as if I understand it, it is basically staining the wood white, rather than preserving the natural colour.

 

[Lons]

I used Osmo raw on this little kitchen unit I made for my son and daughter in law, she wanted it light colour and now 2 years down the line it's darkened only slightly and stood up very well to daily use plus abuse from a 7 year old.

 

[MikeG.]

I usually go with Danish oil, not so yellowing as linseed. ........

That's a very marginal difference.

 

[Blackswanwood]

Thanks for the answers.

I am going to do some experimenting. Interesting though they are I’ll leave the woodworkerssource ideas alone as I’d like the results to still resemble Ash.

Cheers

 

[Droogs]

If you intend to have a hard finish on the ash then this is a pretty good product to use as a sealer first

https://www.krylon.com/products/uvresis ... r-coating/