Doug Miller wrote:
In article , Alun Saunders wrote:

I was turning a biggish ash bowl the other day and had a bit of trouble
with slight tearout on the end grain. When sanding I thought why not use
a technique I'd used on other woods of dampening the end grain areas to
raise the grain a little. All I got for my trouble was a nasty pinkish
red stain which went deep enough that I had to resort to scraping again
to get rid of it.

So, is this a peculiarity of ash, or do other woods do it as well? And
what is exactly happening here?

Minerals in your water? Just guessing, but I wonder if the same thing happens
if you use distilled water.

We've got the softest water imaginable here (Co. Wicklow, Ireland), so I
don't think that's it. It could be a little acidic though since it
percolates through the peat of the Wicklow Mountains and has a very
slight brownish tinge. Thing is I've not noticed this effect on other
woods, only Ash (so far).

--
Alun Saunders