Ash or oak?

Licensed to kill

Licensed to kill

Well-known member
I have to make the sill planks (for lack of a better description) for my DD and am pricing out wood. I'm of the understanding that either white oak or ash was used. White oak is double the price of ash. Is one better than the other. Which is preferred and why?. Thanks
 
In general woodworking terms, Ash is actually a bit harder than oak. I have more trouble getting it to stain well, and it has more of a tendency to move.
 
Use ash you will have a hard time putting nails or screws in oak.I just did a Fordor .got the wood from North Carolina Classic wood .the question is what kind of wood did Ford use ? He would get the pallets made a certain size so he could use the wood for his cars .There was some very hard wood and soft wood in my car .When the wood body was made it was done accurate,The the metal was just nailed on so the problem is that when you are doing wood you don’t have much to help you get it right
 
The ‘29 CCPU in my avatar is stretched 6-1/2” and I had to create the entire top wood from scratch. No issues with white oak. I did pre-drill some of the joints as well as using Gorilla glue. Too, I have shop with a small fortune invested in wood working tools.
 
Chris Haynes said:
Remember that originally the wood in the bed was painted.
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Unfortunately I think you are mistaken. I am pretty sure we are talking about a 130B bodystyle, --and if so, the bedwood was not painted.
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You are right about ask and oak. I have found both. Particularly Oak sills and ash uprights. One problem, among many, is when oak touches metal and slightest water/humidity, it starts an acid process with the metal.

But, you will be much happier working with hard maple. Less splintery and splitting. Easier on the cutters.


All IMHO
 
Licensed to kill said:
I have to make the sill planks (for lack of a better description) for my DD and am pricing out wood. I'm of the understanding that either white oak or ash was used. White oak is double the price of ash. Is one better than the other. Which is preferred and why?. Thanks
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Well, the print calls for clean Oak to be used on the A-35105-B, A-35106-B, A130033-B and *34-B Sills and the floor cross Sills. These really were painted in the truest sense, but sprayed lightly with a preservative so the grain will show. If you do not care what people think, then go with the Ash. When you do the floors in the rear, if you are going to varnish them, I would definitely go with the Ash as the Oak tends to 'bleed" acid over time which causes dark streaks.
 
Thanks for all the input. I should have included more info in my OP. Yes it is a 130B. It is NOT a "restoration" but rather a "resto-mod" so I was looking my question was more about utility rather than authenticity. I feel confident going with ash for all of the structural wood and something else for the floor for aesthetic reasons. Thanks again, I appreciate all of the response. Was a big help.
 
"White Oak is more water resistant compared to Ash. (Red Oak is an "open grain" wood whereby White Oak is a "closed grain" wood.) The White Oak should be used for bed wood. I seem to recall that Henry used "Oak."

Ash is a hardwood also, but not very resistant to the elements. And, cheaper than a good, White Oak.

The prettiest White Oak is "Rift Sawn." Not as "dramatic" as the normal multi grain patters with undulating swirls. Looks cheap. (My opine..) The Rift Sawn White Oak is just elegant. Rift also does not have the brown "flakes" that quarter sawn Oak has."
 
BRENT in 10-uh-C said:
These really were painted in the truest sense, but sprayed lightly with a preservative so the grain will show.
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This was going to be my next question "what, if anything, was put on the wood?". What would have been sprayed on the wood? or better still, what is recommended to do with the wood today?. Also, when you said "if you don't care what people think use ash" did you mean from an authentic perspective?.
 
Just My $.02! Go with Ash! I was researching this a few years ago and found that body builders in the UK will not use oak, they used ( and use ) Ash. Now the species of Oak varies, for instance, I don't believe that Britain has what we call "Live Oak". To this day, Morgan uses Ash in all it's cars. There maybe several reasons for this. Oak tends to splinter into long wooden daggers when it with sufficient impact. This was noted in the days of wooden sailing ships when some of the most dangerous things were flying oak spears on their cannon decks. Ash is a much finer grain and that makes easier to get and hold dimensions better. Also, I believe Ash is somewhat better at moisture resistance. This is not proven, only suspected. I believe Oak will draw up more water and there for there will be a greater distortion and loss of size due to water absorption.
Terry
 
There are several species of ash. Wood quality between white ash, green ash and black ash are not even close. Black ash grows in the low areas here, its almost as hard as white oak. White ash is much lighter weight and softer. Here is a interesting cheatsheet on some woods. If you ever need to buy wood, these people can get you some beautiful quality stuff. https://www.renneberghardwoods.com/lumber
 
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