how hard is ash to work with?

I just finished a couple of nitestands out of it. Machines well and is generally like oak. It was my first time working with it and I was after an oak look. The material I had took color differently than I expected but was workable. Ash seems to vary by supplier so I expect to see some varied responses here.
 
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Ok ....I will go against what has been said here and say that that it does not machine well. It chips l out like crazy and has very sharp splinters... not like white oak.

The cure is extremely sharp tools and when forming take light passes. It is a great wood and has fallen unpopular which makes it cheap so by all means got for it...just know that it is not a "dream wood" to work with. (Personal experience)
 
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I've made quite a few pieces of furniture with Ash and think it's a pleasure to work with. Superior to the oaks for workability IMHO. Have never had the problems Dewey spoke of. Machines well and takes a great finish. Here's the stuff I have pictures of. The light parts are ash. I espically like quartersawn, no rays, but it has a nice quiet, straight grain that contrast well with other woods.
 

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I am building a table using flat sawn white ash and it has worked well so far. It machined well (not to soft & not to hard). I'm told that it is often used by furniture makers and is sold as oak.
 
I haven't made much with ash but, I will seeing as how I have 50 or so sawable trees with the emerald ash borer eating away. I just talked to a sawmill owner who said he got an order from a guy in California who "looked all over the country" but couldn't find any quarter sawed ash. My friend sawed him up some. It was for a vintage airplane restoration. I have found it machines well in my limited experience.
 
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I have not used it on furniture so cant speak for that. I did use a piece of curly ash for a gun stock. Never again. It did not finish and stain well.
 
I am familiar with the bug problems with stored lumber. I had some powder post beetles get into my birdseye maple stash once. You can enclose the infected wood in plastic and leave it out in the hot sun for a few days too kill them. otherwise I sometimes stack the lumber in the rafters of my barn and it gets plenty hot up there. If you stack it loose they tend to not bother it. The emerald ash borer only picks on live trees.
 
You can bet your sweet Ash it is no harder than any other woods, although it is an open pore wood and will require wood filler to accomplish a smooth surface finish.

Ash is commonly used as an Oak substitute in many a piece of furniture... in fact most of the "less expensive" OAK furniture is Ash, look for the "Flecks" of White Oak and it is not there, then it is Ash under the smock of an "Oak" piece. Most buyer can't tell the difference... We more brilliant WWers can of course recognize from across the room (yeah, right) I had some diningroom chairs (now my daughter has them) that had both Oak and Ash parts, without my "well trained" eye you couldn't tell the difference even down to the speckled on "worm holes" that some seem to think are so Cool... Stain and finish techniques can make any wood look great.
 
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