best finishing for ash

[cal thelen]

I am in the process of turning a pet urn for friend of mine. its out of ash. what is the best sequence to do finishing. usually i just shellac sand and Laquer but was thinking Blo first then shellac? would the extra step be worth it. he does want a high gloss finish thanks

[Prashun Patel]

Ash normally doesn't have a lot of figure that would benefit from the BLO. Besides it is my belief that the 'pop' of figure comes from the amber color of BLO - not the fact that it's an oil. So, you can accomplish the same pop using a slightly darker shade of shellac. But again, I think that's unnecessary with ash.

In fact, ash requires some grain filling to achieve a high gloss finish. So, I'd lay on the shellac thick, let it dry, then put the piece back on the lathe and sand it back. I'd do this several times until the pores are level. Then topcoat with either the lacquer or even just shellac, and buff.