white ash

open main page for all woods open page 2 for articles

NOTE: there is rarely any "standard" or "typical" look for a wood so take what's in this table with a grain of salt
the REST of the pictures on this page will give you a better overall feel for this wood

white ash / Fraxinus americana
5" x 5" flat cut, 5" x 5" quartersawn, 1" wide end grain, and a 1/4" x 1/4" end grain closeup.

Ring porous with a slight transition phase from 3 or so rows of large pores starting the earlywood to a row or two of somewhat smaller pores before dropping off to almost no pores showing as the latewood starts and then increasing density of small latewood pores until sparse but noticeable confulent parenchyma occurs towards the end of the latewood. Rays are present but barely visible with a 10X loupe. Ray flakes on quartersawn surfaces are small to nonexistent.

The literature always advises pre-drilling ash for screws and boy howdy is that not a joke. The one time I tried to screw into American white ash, I very carefully pre-drilled with the recommended size for the screw I was using and it was impossible to get the screw to go in. Eventually I applied so much force the head snapped off and this was a steel screw.

Also, baseball bats and ax handles are made from white ash (hickory is the preferred wood for ax handles but ash works just fine)

A NOTE ABOUT ASH SPECIES IN THE USA

Fraxinus americana of the family Oleaceae, the Olive family. There are a couple of other Franxinus species that have "white ash" as all or part of one or more of their common names (most notably Fraxinus pennsylvanica), but they are generally called by other common names and it is my intent that the pics on this page all be of Fraxinus americana.

There are also several unrelated species that have "white ash" as all or part of one or more of their common names, most particularly a couple of Eucalyptus species in Australia, and also service berry/service tree is sometimes called white ash in Europe.

Several specialty figures of American white ash have been broken out and put in their own page because this page was getting to be just too crowded. These are on the page ash, white special and include:

angel step
blistered
crotch
karelian grained
olive grained
tamo grained

my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank of cathedral grain American white ash / Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. This piece has particularly tight cathedral grain because of the particularly high ring count in the area where the flat cut was made.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of old growth American white ash / Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. This piece has 50+ growth rings/inch.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.The white in the pores is fine dust from my 1200 grit sanding.

both sides of a sample plank of quartersawn old growth American white ash / Fraxinus --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both side of a sample plank sold to me as white ash / Fraxinus americana --- there is a slight green tint to these pics that is not in the wood, which is a silver/tan color

end grain and end grain closeup of the sample plank directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of old growth American white ash / Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The color difference from one face to the other is correct; the second side was sanded and the first side was not and still has a bit of an age patina.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of white ash / Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of "brown heart" American white ash / Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The reason for Mark's having designated this as "brown heart" is obvious. There are some "bear claw" marks on one face but they are so light that they cannot be seen on the pics unless you know exactly what to look for and where to look.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

first face and the end grain of a sample of white ash / Fraxinus americana. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION A

the second face, before and after sanding, showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.

end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.

first face and the end grain of a sample of white ash / Fraxinus americana --- This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION G

the second face, before and after sanding it down a bit, showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.

end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above

NOT A RAW WOOD COLOR --- both faces of this sample have a light coat of clear paste wax
both sides of a sample plank of quartersawn American white ash / Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of quartersawn American white ash / Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Mark did not have this one labeled as curly but it obviously is.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

white ash plank sent to me for ID verification. The owner thought that the oddly spaced grain meant that it had interlocked grain but I explained that it just mean that the tree had twisted for some reason and that this was likely just tension wood, not interlocked grain.

end grain and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above. The update was only done to 400 grit (I normally do 1200) but as you can see in the enlargements, I got lucky and 400 grip shows the anatomy just fine.

both sides of a sample plank of curly white ash / Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The curl is there, sort of, but VERY weak. Take a look at my veneer pics down below to see some actual curly ash

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of curly American white ash / Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The French label says "wavy ash", but this is curly not wavy and Fraxinus americana is more properly designated as white ash or American white ash, not just "ash". Also, the unusually orangish color is correct.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of quartersawn curly American white ash / Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The first face is freshly sanded, the second face not and in amidst the dirt, you can see that the second face has a slight age patina.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of quartersawn fiddleback American white ash / Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

all 4 faces of each of two sticks of curly American ash / Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. These were loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grains of the two pieces directly above

white ash plank and end grain

end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above

white ash plank and end grain

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

white ash plank and end grain

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of indented grain American white ash / Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The grain indentations are weak but more present than you would think from just these pics.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of "indented grain" American white ash / Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Mark's designation of this as "indented grain" is understandable but I have to point out that this is NOT what is normally mean by indented grain, which is where there is an indentation in the growth ring pattern. Here there is an indentation but it is across the grain as is shown in the side view directly below.

Side view of the piece directly above, showing the "indented grain" pattern that actually runs perpendicular to the normal indented grain pattern which shows up in the end grain, not the side grain.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

pen blanks of interestingly grained American white ash / Fraxinus american loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. There are two sets with two pics each, showing two contiguous sides of each pen blank. HUGE enlargements are present.

white ash slats

another small piece of white ash w/ end grain

white ash planks photographed at a lumber store

pics taken at a woodworking store of wood labeled just ash, which I believe to be American white ash

a nice set of air dried American white ash planks purchased from a local sawyer who planed them on both sides and bandsawed the edges straight. These are 7.5" wide and 9 feet long so the pics only show a portion of the length. HUGE enlargements are present.

another plank from the same batch as those directly above but this one had a small pith streak so I also got a closeup of the pith. This pith is VERY punky and is easily scooped out with a fingernail.

American white ash / Fraxinus americana --- a small piece cut from one of the planks directly above

end grain and a side grain closeup. the side grain is of a perfectly quartersawn surface and shows how tiny the ray flakes can be in this species (and they show up better in the enlargements). The horizontal white streaks on the side grain are groups of earlywood pores sliced in half longitudinally.

end grain and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above

extra end grain closeup of American white ash / Fraxinus americana done for the anatomy pages

both sides of a sample plank of spalted American white ash / Fraxinus Americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample "burl" American white ash / Fraxinus --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The vendor of this piece, Mark Peet, designated it a burl and while I'm not sure I would have called it that, the range of figure in what is generally considered a burl in white ash is quite large and Mark is a VERY honest vendor, so I'm going with his designation.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

An American white ash thin contributed to the site by Mark Peet because it has some kind of fungal growth that has attacked the earlywood pores and thus created what Mark reasonably calls a zebra strip pattern in this quartersawn piece. Unfortunately it was much too thin to get a meaningful end grain shot.

two white ash veneer samples with very accurate color, which I note to be much lighter than the planks. The first is flat cut and the second is quartersawn.

flat cut white ash veneer and closeup --- the web pics of then vendor's lot that these came from is directly below. My color is maybe a hair too light and his is definitely a bit too dark

the web pic posted by the vendor who sold me the veneer directly above

flat cut white ash veneer

flat cut veneer sheet and closeup --- the color on the distance pic is accurate but the closeup is too white

veneer sheet and closeup

quartersawn white ash veneer

flat cut figured American white ash veneer --- the figure is more noticeable in the enlargements, but even there the pics don't do justice to the curl

quartersawn figured American white ash veneer --- the 2nd pic shows curl that is about as strong as you can find in white ash

sold to me as fiddleback white ash veneer --- the fiddleback figure is actually stronger than what shows up in these pics and the pic on the right has just a shade too much red in it

sold to me as fiddleback white ash veneer

veneer sold to me as American white ash with some sapwood. I call this "two tone" ash veneer

American white ash veneer, probably all Fraxinus americana --- HUGE enlargements are present. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION D. The first sample is quartersawn sapwood from the new collection and the second is flat cut sapwood from the new collection and the third sample is quartersawn with heartwood from the old collection.

veneer sheets, all made from the burl of American white ash. As you can see, the burl is often just highly swirly grain rather than having eyes (see the first piece in particular), but sometimes does have eyes (the second piece, for example, has both). HUGE enlargements are present and worth looking at since the grain is MUCH more clear in the enlargements

The Wood Book pics

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
American white ash (Fraxinus americana) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are present for all 3 views

web pics:

American white ash slabs with wet and dry sections

white ash log end

white ash plaques

planks listed as American white ash

knotty American white ash planks all from the same vendor and all moistened for the pics --- both levels of enlargement are present

flat cut white ash planks

quartersawn white ash planks

misc white ash planks

American white ash slabs (or portions of slabs), all from the same vendor but showing a fair amount of variety

four misc pieces of white ash / Fraxinus americana, all from the same vendor

curly white ash

turning stock listed as American white ash

white ash turning stock --- shows up more clearly in the enlargement

white ash bowl blanks

curly white ash turning stock

white ash burls

flat cut white ash veneer

quartersawn white ash veneer

white ash veneer --- the green color on the 2nd one is not correct; I know this vendor and he doesn't make the time to color correct his pics.

figured white ash veneer

quartersawn fiddleback white ash veneer

quartersawn fiddleback white ash veneer and a closeup --- I'm confident that the green color is incorrect; I know this vendor and he doesn't make the time to color-correct his pics

curly white ash veneer

white ash burl veneer

bookmatched white ash burl veneer

white ash burl veneer with reasonable-looking grain but a color that is undoubtedly incorrectly photographed

end grain bookmatched pair of spalted white ash; the lighter areas are white rot, including the large areas inside the black lines and the smaller dots here and there

two views of a spalted white ash turning stick

spalted white ash bowl blanks

spalted scales

scales with white rot (which is spalting, just not with any black lines)

white ash veneer has the interesting attribute that the early growth in the grain lines is translucent and the late growth is much less so, which shows up very nicely in these ash ceiling light covers from a hotel in Jersey City, NJ. On the left is a pic using the flash to show the true color, and on the right is a different cover with no flash used so the back light comes through which distorts the color of the veneer.