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?
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?
Alun,
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September 11, 2001 - Never Forget
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.
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