Illustrations of ASH include Plates 35-38.

A very beautiful and prolific wood, attainable so easily throughout the greater part of the country, is now growing in daily favor for the interior of houses and other buildings, its susceptibility of high finish making it desirable as well as handsome, and probably when well grained it presents more attractiveness than any of the other woods.

Grainers, therefore, should become skilled as far as possible in the imitation of this brilliant and durable wood, and it seems our duty to call especial attention to our illustrations of this wood while endeavoring to impress upon the minds of our readers its adaptability for the purposes herein cited. The ground-work of ash is produced by using a little chrome or Rochelle yellow, together with the least possible tint of red, to which add a trifle of Vandyke brown. But little of this must be used or the ground-work will be too gray. The color when mixed must compare with the lightest shade found in the wood itself. The ground-work must be left with the egg-shell gloss, spoken of in our former chapters. Ash being a very porous wood, the pores, therefore, must, in no case, be left out in the graining, otherwise the work will be incomplete, and for the purpose of producing those take one-half raw umber, one-fourth raw sienna, and one-eighth Vandyke brown; grind all in ale, etc., and apply the same, using it very thin, and whipping it thoroughly, as instructed in directions pertaining to rosewood, etc.

For the second coat, or oil-graining, use the same colors in about the same quantities, ground in oil, turpentine, wax, etc., as mentioned in graining other woods. The same rules as to graining black walnut—darkening the centre a little, and having the grains lose themselves at the sides or ends—are applicable in the graining of ash, and the same tools should also be used in the graining of this wood as are used in that of black walnut; the hand should run the same as in graining walnut, and the grains should run with equal regularity. In shading, the same colors may be used, adding a little more Vandyke brown, and grainers, particularly in shading, should study to imitate nature itself in each particular. Of course the colors should be so mixed and strained as to avoid the possibility of their containing harsh or lumpy substances, so that the work will prove to be clean, smooth, and free from any cloudy or impure appearance.

It can be finished in varnish, or in oil, the same as other woods heretofore named.