ash wood furniture - any good?

[JTsyo]

Was shopping for furniture for the new house and saw a bedroom set that the sales person said was ash wood. Does ash wood make for good furniture? What are the chances it is solid ash wood or just a veneer?

 

[edro]

I would stay away from ash!
You might wake up one morning and your furniture is gone!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_ash_borer

jk... ash is hard as hell.

I think they make baseball bats out of ash.

 

[Vette73]

Ash is a very underrated wood and on a more serious note edro's link is a hugh mess going on now about losing so much ash wood to that little bug. It should not affect you once the wood is dried and made to spec. But it is driving the prices of ash up and some places will not carry it as they are worried about the ash bug.

I love working with ash and the quartersawn ash looks great, cuts well, and takes a stain well.
Ash is a hardwood and should hold up very well.


It could be a veneer but without seeing it not sure. Look at all sides to see if you see ply or a good solid wood where the grain lines match up.

 

[waggy]

ash is fine. i perfer oak myself.

but nothing wrong with ash. not sure the price diffrence. just dont see as much ash furniture out there now.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Ash is a very underrated wood and on a more serious note edro's link is a hugh mess going on now about losing so much ash wood to that little bug. It should not affect you once the wood is dried and made to spec. But it is driving the prices of ash up and some places will not carry it as they are worried about the ash bug.

I love working with ash and the quartersawn ash looks great, cuts well, and takes a stain well.
Ash is a hardwood and should hold up very well.

Yep Ash is a great wood.

And as edro stated, baseball bats are made out of them. That's a wood that can take a pretty hard ball traveling at often over 90mph, and slam it hundreds of feet, on many many many occasions. They splinter sometimes after repeated stress or bad swings where the ball strikes on a thinner part of the bat.

And because of that little bug, sadly ash has become either expensive or hard to find. I believe many baseball bats are now being made out of pine(?) since the volume of required bats cannot be made exclusively with ash these days. I believe pine is the replacement, might be wrong...

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Ash is a very underrated wood and on a more serious note edro's link is a hugh mess going on now about losing so much ash wood to that little bug. It should not affect you once the wood is dried and made to spec. But it is driving the prices of ash up and some places will not carry it as they are worried about the ash bug.

I love working with ash and the quartersawn ash looks great, cuts well, and takes a stain well.
Ash is a hardwood and should hold up very well.

Yep Ash is a great wood.

And as edro stated, baseball bats are made out of them. That's a wood that can take a pretty hard ball traveling at often over 90mph, and slam it hundreds of feet, on many many many occasions. They splinter sometimes after repeated stress or bad swings where the ball strikes on a thinner part of the bat.

And because of that little bug, sadly ash has become either expensive or hard to find. I believe many baseball bats are now being made out of pine(?) since the volume of required bats cannot be made exclusively with ash these days. I believe pine is the replacement, might be wrong...

Pine? maybe you are thinking of maple? Pine would be to soft, at least if you even want to get it past the infield. Let alone would crack easy.
Buyt I am sure someone has tried it at least once.

 

[spidey07]

I'm pretty sure Ash's strong points are that is is very strong and also pretty light. It has a very unique wood structure with tiny lines everywhere, really pretty. You can generally tell the quality of the furniture by knocking on it, lifting it, inspecting the joints, etc.

 

[alkemyst]

Ashwood is also a company

 

[JTsyo]

thanks for the input guys.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Ash is a very underrated wood and on a more serious note edro's link is a hugh mess going on now about losing so much ash wood to that little bug. It should not affect you once the wood is dried and made to spec. But it is driving the prices of ash up and some places will not carry it as they are worried about the ash bug.

I love working with ash and the quartersawn ash looks great, cuts well, and takes a stain well.
Ash is a hardwood and should hold up very well.

Yep Ash is a great wood.

And as edro stated, baseball bats are made out of them. That's a wood that can take a pretty hard ball traveling at often over 90mph, and slam it hundreds of feet, on many many many occasions. They splinter sometimes after repeated stress or bad swings where the ball strikes on a thinner part of the bat.

And because of that little bug, sadly ash has become either expensive or hard to find. I believe many baseball bats are now being made out of pine(?) since the volume of required bats cannot be made exclusively with ash these days. I believe pine is the replacement, might be wrong...

Pine? maybe you are thinking of maple? Pine would be to soft, at least if you even want to get it past the infield. Let alone would crack easy.
Buyt I am sure someone has tried it at least once.

Ooops, yes I meant maple. Maple wood bats.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

lol we just cut down 2 ash trees today 1600$ for the both - while on the job

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
lol we just cut down 2 ash trees today 1600$ for the both - while on the job

Makes great firewood as well. Burns long and hot.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Love the Husky 570 and my MS200T Stihl. Old lady wanted them down. The would of eventually gotten the Emerald Ash bug and died out so it was a smart move on her part. You sweat B*lls off trimmin trees in this weather... Ash is good. Locust is decent. Mulberry can die in hell. Pines suck - total dirt tree then the wood if for shit...

 

[JTsyo]

Where in NJ would you find good bedroom furniture? Turns out the place we went wasn't solid wood. It was maple with a veneer. Looking for something for the master bedroom.

 

[EGGO]

What kind/style of furniture are you looking for? Also what's your budget? I know of a place in north Jersey that I got my furniture from. No, it's not the Ikea in Elizabeth.

 

[Modelworks]

Ash is seriously hard. When I lived in SC there was a furniture company near me that sold the scraps, $50 per pickup truck load. Made great firewood. Burned forever.

When buying furniture like a table, don't be afraid to get on the floor and look under it. It is usually very revealing. What looks like high quality on the outside can be sawdust + glue on the bottom.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: JTsyo
Where in NJ would you find good bedroom furniture? Turns out the place we went wasn't solid wood. It was maple with a veneer. Looking for something for the master bedroom.

There's nothing wrong with veneer. Most of the best furniture is veneered, because it's impossible to get a large slab figured as well as veneer. Maple is an excellent material for furniture.

Never mistake veneer for inferior. It's not always so by any means.

 

[JTsyo]

Originally posted by: EGGO
What kind/style of furniture are you looking for? Also what's your budget? I know of a place in north Jersey that I got my furniture from. No, it's not the Ikea in Elizabeth.

We liked this before we realized that Ashely's was a step down in quality from what we wanted. Around 6K for the bed, dresser/mirror and 2 side pieces would be our budget.

 

[JTsyo]

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider

Originally posted by: JTsyo
Where in NJ would you find good bedroom furniture? Turns out the place we went wasn't solid wood. It was maple with a veneer. Looking for something for the master bedroom.

There's nothing wrong with veneer. Most of the best furniture is veneered, because it's impossible to get a large slab figured as well as veneer. Maple is an excellent material for furniture.

Never mistake veneer for inferior. It's not always so by any means.

It wasn't the veneer that threw us but the fact that it was maple. I wasn't under the impression it was that good. Though I'm no expert on wood.

 

[JTsyo]

Where's a good place to read up on wood and different types used in furniture?

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: JTsyo
Where's a good place to read up on wood and different types used in furniture?

By all means, let us google that for ya...

http://home.howstuffworks.com/...furniture-woods-ga.htm

http://www.wood-furniture-manu....com/type-of-wood.html

http://www.homeimprovementsdep...fferent-types-of-wood/

from that link:
http://www.antiqueclockspriceguide.com/woodidguide.php

A quick google search on "types of wood for furniture" will provide lots more good info.

BYW, maple is an excellent wood for furniture. Curly Maple and Birds-Eye Maple are highly sought after...and usually expensive as hell.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: JTsyo

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider

Originally posted by: JTsyo
Where in NJ would you find good bedroom furniture? Turns out the place we went wasn't solid wood. It was maple with a veneer. Looking for something for the master bedroom.

There's nothing wrong with veneer. Most of the best furniture is veneered, because it's impossible to get a large slab figured as well as veneer. Maple is an excellent material for furniture.

Never mistake veneer for inferior. It's not always so by any means.

It wasn't the veneer that threw us but the fact that it was maple. I wasn't under the impression it was that good. Though I'm no expert on wood.

The veneer was maple, or it was maple under the veneer? Maple is a fine wood - it's one of the harder domestic woods, harder than oak and harder than ash.

http://www.woodfloorsonline.com/techtalk/hardns.html

My floors and kitchen cabinets are both maple. We chose it for its attractive grain, and the hardness was an added bonus.

 

[McCarthy]

You will long enjoy a nice piece of ash

Someone had to.