Fraxinus spp. of the family Oleaceae, the Olive family. There are hundres of species from dozens of genera that have the word ash as all or part of one or more of their common names but it is my intent that the woods on this page be from the genus Fraxinus (about 50 of which use ash as all or part of one or more of their common names) unless specifically stated with a sample.
As this wood has been in use for thousands of years this name also crops up in the names of completely unrelated woods (the same is the case with “oak”, “pine” and “cedar”). Not to be confused with sen, which looks a little like ash, but is something else entirely and which I had mistakenly included in this ash section until I realized my mistake.
There are numerous species of ash, including ones that are separated in the USA by the common names white ash, black ash, red ash, blue ash, and several others. I will expand on this at some point when I am sufficiently stocked up on headache medicine. EDIT on 11/5/2011: I've now broken out white ash, black ash, olive ash, and tamo ash with their own pages.
my samples:
sample plank and end grain sold to me as Oregon ash / Fraxinus oregona
both sides of a sample plank of Carolina ash / Fraxinus Caroliniana --- 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
both sides of a plank of pumpkin ash / Fraxinus profunda
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above --- the one above was cut with a sharp circular saw and this is that surface sanded down to 1200 grit. This one looks more fuzzy in this view because the pores are clogged with the very fine powder from the fine sanding, but if you check the 2nd enlargement in particular you will see that this one shows more fine detail.
both sides of a sample plank of European mountain ash / Sorbus aucuparia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. In addition to Europe, this species also grows in America where it is often called American mountain ash. BUT ... as you can clearly see from the fact that the pores are almost non-existent, this wood has a very different internal structure than the Fraxinus species.
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
these sheets are typical of a form of ash that is commonly sold as a burl. It does not have the swirls and eyes that one normally associates with burls, but its designation as a burl is so widespread that I have to believe that it really does come from a burl formation on the trees. Its appearance is that of a really high-grain flat cut variety. For the first pic, the color is slightly too white and the next two are just a little too golden (should be slightly more white). The last one is quite accurate in color. This is probably white ash, but I don't know that for sure.
burl veneer, probably white ash --- these pics have a greenish tint that is not in the wood
ash burl veneer bookmatched pair with an interesting design that is easily interpreted as a fiendishly smiling face. I suspect that wood is less golden in color than the pic, and I believe that this is olive ash burl veneer, although it was designated as just ash burl veneer.
flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
Biltmore ash (Fraxinus biltmoreana) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for all 3 views
flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
swamp ash burl (Fraxinus sambucifolia, listed as black ash) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for all 3 views
flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
blue ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for all 3 views
flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
fringe flowered ash (Fraxinus dipetala) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for all 3 views
flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
gray ash (Fraxinus pubescens, also listed as red ash) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for all 3 views
flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
green ash (Fraxinus lanceolata) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for all 3 views
flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
hoop ash (Fraxinus sambucifolia, also listed as black ash) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for all 3 views
flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
leatherleaf ash (Fraxinus velutina) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for all 3 views
flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
Oregon ash (Fraxinus oregona) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for all 3 views
flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
water ash (Fraxinus caroliniana) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for all 3 views
web pics
brown ash log cross section
flat cut, quartersawn, and end grain
quartersawn plank listed as ash / Fraxinus excelsior and with wet and dry sections
ash end grain
planks identified only as ash --- some of the colors are unlikely
crotch area ash plank pic submitted by David Ing, whom I thank; extreme enlargements are present.
ash plank with wet and dry areas, but unlikely pink color
quartersawn ash plank
plank listed as brown ash
curly ash crotch planks that I believe must have been moistened for the pics
both sides of each of 3 curly ash planks, all from the same vendor and all of which appear to have been moistened for the pics
bat blanks and bowl turning blank
ash veneer
flat cut ash veneer
ash veneer, all from the same vendor --- this is probably white ash
ash veneer sheet closeups with both levels of enlargement. These are all from the same vendor as the set directly above.
two sections of the same long ash veneer sheet. Notice how one end has a heavy curl and the other has almost no curl
listed as "brownheart ash veneer", but that just means that there is some heartwood along with the sapwood. Ash heartwood is small and the sapwood is large, so most ash is sapwood. Actually, I'm not entirely clear on this --- I do know that the sap-wood-appearing outer part is normallyh quite large in ash, but I don't think it can all be sapwood in the literal sense because the sap normally runs in just the outer part of the tree. This is what I call "two-tone" ash.
curly ash veneer --- this is probably white ash
"fiddleback" ash veneer --- as you can see, ash has a weak fiddleback figure and it's common for the curl in "curly" and "fiddleback" ash to NOT run the width of the sheet and, technically, this invalidates the "fiddleback" designation, which is used by many vendors simply to indicate a tight curl even if it doesn't run the full width. Most of this if not all of it is likely to be white ash.
listed as "American" ash veneer --- probably white ash
angel step veneer, quarter matched
"bird's eye" ash veneer --- to the extent that there even IS a bird's eye figure here, it is so faint as to be meaningless. I think this lable was just a marketing ploy
ash plank
flat cut planks, the 2nd one labeled "Southern White Ash"
quilted ash plank, oiled to show grain better
quartersawn ash veneer and a quartersawn "European" ash plank
figured ash plank
figured ash veneer --- most if not all of this is probably white ash
figured French ash veneer
european white ash veneer
European white ash burl veneer
European ash veneer, all from the same vendor
European ash veneer sheet closeups with both levels of enlargement. All of these are from the same vendor as the set directly above. The first of these is obviously curly but was not labled as such.
European ash veneer, quartersawn and with a strong curly figure
wormy ash plank
swamp ash plank
All of the images above are of "swamp ash" from the same vendor. See the note in the comments at the top of the page about the name "swamp ash"
planks, all from the same vendor, listed as swamp ash / Fraxinus profunda
guitar back sets listed as swamp ash / Fraxinus profunda
plank listed as Hawaiian ash
ash flooring
burls
solid ash burl
ash burl veneer
ash burl veneer
end burls
brown ash veneer
listed as Australian ash veneer --- I'm not sure about these and will do more research
spalted ash
pen blanks of spalted ash
spalted ash bowl blank
bowls
bowl listed as red ash. There are numerous ash species that have "red" as one of their common names.
thin wood for a guitar back and a solid guitar blank
ash table and closeup --- sent in by a correspondent who asked me to help identify the wood, which had been mistakenly identifed as oak.
ash guitar
bowls made from ash semi-crotch areas
hollow forms
bowls
curly ash bowl
curly ash bowl
bowls by Bryan Nelson (NelsonWood). Bryan fine-polishes his bowls with 1200 or even higher grit sandpaper while they are spinning at high speed on the lathe and then finishes them there with a friction polish of his own devising, thus achieving a shine and color vibrancy that is beautiful to behold.
urn and 2 vases
pot made from spalted ash
vase listed as Welsh ash
crotch-area platter by David Ing. Not sure what finish this has, but it's not raw wood; extreme enlargements are present.
braclet of spalted ash
guitar body from a bookmatched pair of spalted as planks --- WOW !
bookmatched pair of end grain spalted ash pistol grips
spalted crotch bowl of English ash by Steve Earis; extreme enlargements are present on the first pic. Two views and I forgot to ask Steve which color is more correct.
spalted ash bowls
spalted ash hollow form
hollow forms listed as spalted, but clearly this is white rot
segmented bowl listed as American white ash, which makes me think it is PROBABLY Fraxinus americana (white ash, and it belongs on the white ash page) but it might be Fraxinus pennsylvanica (American ash)
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