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?
--
Alun Saunders

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.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

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

In article , Alun Saunders wrote:
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).

The ions that cause water hardness (principally Ca and Mg) are only a small
subset of the minerals that may be present in water, so softness by itself is
no guarantee of low mineral content. Whatever's causing that "very slight
brownish tinge" may be reacting with something in the wood to cause the
pinkish discoloration. See what happens if you put a little steam-distilled
water on the same board.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

On Thu, 03 Mar 2005 12:14:04 +0000, 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.

Alun,

Count your fingers!

*# ; )


--
Chuck *#:^)
chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply.


September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

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Don't know if it's related but when you fell ash it always shows a pinkish
tinge on the cut surface. This soon disappears on exposure to air.

--
Mark Hancock
http://www.markhancock.co.uk

In message , Mark Hancock
writes
Don't know if it's related but when you fell ash it always shows a pinkish
tinge on the cut surface. This soon disappears on exposure to air.

A few years ago I took down a 60yr old ash tree in my garden, I had the
lumberjacks cut it into manageable lumps so I could store it in my
garage. It is now 4 years and I am turning the ash and I find that the
pink (and other natural colours) which appears is quite a selling point
when I make large items like table lamps and bowls.

Bob `S`
--
Robert Strudwick

Mark Hancock wrote:
Don't know if it's related but when you fell ash it always shows a pinkish
tinge on the cut surface. This soon disappears on exposure to air.

I noticed that too ... some form of oxidisation maybe? Anyway I'm still
confused as I took a small bit of ash (admittedly not from the same
blank) and sprayed it with water and ... nothing. This was a small
spindle though rather than the exposed end grain I had the problem with
on the bowl. Also, the discoloration I noticed didn't disappear, at
least not over a period of a day or two.
--
Alun Saunders