finishing ash

[Phil Mazey]

Starting some desks and bookshelves using recycled quarter sawn ash. Has varnish or similar on it now, so have to get rid of that. The natural timber is pretty ordinary in terms of figure - basically there is none. Looks dry. Would like to darken it up a bit and get looking as good as possible though. Have read the thread on finishing tassie oak and wonder how much of what was said there could be applied to this stuff.

Would greatly appreciate any advice on offer.

[Eastie]

Haven't read that thread. Hopefully somewhere you can find the details from Shane or Neil on stripping old finishes.
I've had good luck of late with some similar 80+ year old bedside tables that were looking ordinary before sanding - looked like perfect firewood after sanding. After a shellac sanding sealer I tried some shellac on the underside of the top - still lifeless. I tried a cabots stain in 'golden maple' rubbed on with a rag - two coats did the trick. It gave a lot of life back to some pretty old looking timber. I might post some photo's of the results next week.

Good luck with it.

[Shane Watson]

you can basically apply any method to any type of timber, obviously results will vary greatly though.

[behindblueeyes]

I agree with Eastie. get rid of the rubbish on there now, use a sanding sealer then a good quality stain - 1 or 2 coats depending on the colour that you want to achieve. Then 2 or more coats of a clear finish.

I prefer solvent based stains. Water based stains seem to still be a bit off the mark.

[Phil Mazey]

thank you all. If there's anything worth reporting as I try this and that I'll letcher know.