Thanks everyone, appreciate the comments!
Frank, yeah its the same stuff as far as I know. I use ash a lot for making furniture and I like it better then oak if it has some of darker sapwood, without it, it looks and works a lot like oak. Its an open/coarse grain wood and feels that way even after you finish it. Some people use a sanding sealer on it and I'm sure it helps. But I like it the way it is and don't bother with it.
I don't really care for it for making pens, but wanted to try the curly stuff. I've have made a few pens from cross cut oak and it looks much better that way. Its to bad too, because I have an endless supply of oak and ask both. [
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OH, and yes, the curly does seem to be much tighter grain and turns better then the normal ash and oak.