Is this FAS grade? or have I been completely misled.

[Cris]

Hello All.

The more I learn the less I know, but I try my best. :|

I was on hunt for furniture grade / FAS grade Ash hardwood for a small project of creating custom engraved plaques. (I believed this to look like the pictures I have included) A straight grain with little defects and minimal grain character. Smooth and light with a subtle grain

I found this grade really hard to find in the UK but thought I had lucked out with somewhere that sold it.

The first picture is what I had delivered!!

I did not expect a river of swirls all over the centre of the wood. This is almost unusable for my needs. I expected a much subtler grain.

have I missed or not understood something?
Does this look like FAS Grade ASH hardwood?
Have I been sold a lower grade or is this what I should have expected?


Thanks for anyone who chimes in. I feel a bit disappointed and stupid.
I thought i was buying what I can see in the other pictures.

 

[marcros]

I may be wrong here but isn't FAS an American grading system- this may be why you found it so difficult because only American Ash would be graded that way.

Personally I like this little guide, although I tend to try and have a look at a board and see whether it suits my need- obviously not practical for everybody or for remote purchases.

To be fair, I think you have been sold FAS if you look on here. http://www.ahec.org/hardwoods/pdfs/Illu ... gGuide.pdf

 

[Cris]

Thanks Marcros.

I did come across this guide in my travels actually.

I had presumed FAS grade (first and seconds) was the equivalent to A or A/B grade commonly used?

Various UK suppliers state they supply FAS grade. Which is then strange if its an American system.

Do you know what type of wood I am looking for is called in the UK?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It isn't so much the quality that's amiss, I don't think, so much as where that board is sawn from - you need near quarter sawn for your purposes. A bit of a communication breakdown, maybe?

 

[CHJ]

If you are after straight, tight grain pattern then I believe you will be looking for Quarter Sawn Planks, you should be able to forget about quality as they will be the most expensive cuts anyway and unlikely to be from inferior wood stock, any other orientation in the log will result in variations on the patterns similar to those you have received.

Quarter Sawn White Ash, Image taken from this site

Ahh, Phil beat me to it.

 

[Cris]

This is exactly whats going on here!

Thank you both for your expert knowledge. You hit the nail on the head.
I technically got exactly what I asked for!!

I will sit on the silly step for a while till I work out what to do with my 2.4m piece of ash. Hahah.

Thank you for all chipping in. Really appreciated.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Thank you and welcome.

 

[Tetsuaiga]

What you could perhaps do if you thought it worth the effort is take out the middle third then glue the outer sides together.

If you can its best to go and pick out pieces yourself, or buy from somewhere that lists individuals pieces to buy.

 

[Cris]

Thanks Tetsuaiga.

That's a really great suggestion. Thank you. However, wanted to avoid a glue-up job on this if I could help it.

I'm happy to admit this is a learning curve. DON'T buy wood online. Doh!
My mistake was thinking FAS = quarter sawn. Which is obviously not the case.

I live in central london with no car. So there was good reasons.

 

[marcros]

How large do you need the pieces?

You could try somebody like British hardwoods- show them what you want and they may well send it by courier, particularly if it is smaller pieces. They supply good timber, I have ordered without seeing it and been very happy with the quality.

 

[Jake]

Not all of the photos you have posted are QS - comparators 2 and 3 are QS but 1 and 4 are not. I don't know Ash very well (I don't like it particularly because it is often quite crude like the stuff you received) but the bit you have received looks like it is quick grown (so big thick rings of growth) and on the outside of the log (so as far away from QS orientation as possible). That's why you have those big "pools" right at the center, because the (thick) rings of the tree are being sliced at a really shallow angle so each ring gets a lot of width on the face of the cut.

Top of the stack or thereabouts, probably a poor one, basically