Greetings All,
I have some Ebony that I want to use to replicate the look of pegged
joinery. I have sanded and polished through the ranges of sandpaper upto
600. The ebony still has a brownish tint to it. I'm trying to get the same
look as the deep black as seen in Greene & Greene
furniture. There are a few articles this month in a couple of the wwing mags
about Greene & Greene and their work. Cool stuff indeed. Am I missing a
step or something to get that polished black look??? TIA, Mark

On Apr 1, 11:31 pm, "mark" Nowhere.com> wrote:

What does it look like when you wipe it with alcohol or mineral
spirits?

R

Well, the G & G stuff was made when ebony was ebony. There are many
different kinds of ebony, from many different areas. G&G used what is
considered "musical grade" ebony that was used in clarinets, oboes,
etc. for years. For many different reasons, you likely don't have
that stuff. It is jet black everywhere, and simply planing it makes
it shine.

It is hard, beautiful, and looks like a piece of phenolic. I have a
small piece that is 2"x3/4"x18" I bought about 7 years ago, and even
then I paid about $35 for it knowing it was likely to be the only
piece of genuine musical grade African ebony I would ever hold.

What you have is probably Gabon or even more likely Macassar ebony.
All pen turners (including myself) are familiar with this stuff as it
is now all we can get. It is pretty, but known for that brown stripe
and muddy black color.

There was a PBS special covering the "African Black Wood" used for
clarinets.

Like a lot of other things it is becoming VERY scarce.

You will be bidding against the instrument makers world wide to get
some.

Hope you piggy bank is large and full, you're going to need it.

Suspect you are getting something other than true ebony.

Some suppliers like to be, shall we say a little sneaky, like the ones
who try to pass off "African Mahogany" as honest Honduras Mahogany.

Lew

On Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:31:25 -0500, mark wrote:

Ebony is a generic name for wood species with very dark or black
heartwood. African and Indian ebony are common species.

Quality suppliers still carry black Gabon Ebony, the highest quality
product. It is considered endangered.

Gabon Ebony Diospyros crassiflora is usually black or grey with yellowish
white sapwood, Brazilian Ebony is brown, Mun Ebony is brown, Black &
White Ebony is Brown, Macassar Ebony can be brown or black. Diospyros
celebica and diospyros melanoxylon is striped black & brown (From my
usual suppliers and purchasing experience, YMMV)

Lew Hodgett wrote:

"Joe" hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2f-dnd-9g7EeuG7anZ2dnUVZ_hjinZ2d@earthlink.com...

On 2 Apr, 04:31, "mark" Nowhere.com> wrote:

You can't get the same quality of ebony these days.

* Use old ebony. Some of mine used to be clarinets.

* Use African Blackwood instead. Maybe not as good as good ebony, but
it's better than modern bad ebony.

* Use ebonised hard maple. Not quite as good close-up, but it avoids
these endangered tropicals.

"mark" Nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:b6DIj.9120$Rq1.5788@nlpi068.nbdc.sbc.com...

Which Ebony did you buy, and or you may have gotten a piece with sap wood.
Like Oak there are several verities.

http://www.woodfinder.com/woods/brown_ebony.php

http://www.woodfinder.com/woods/ebony_gaboon.php

http://www.woodfinder.com/woods/ebony_macassar.php

On Apr 1, 11:31 pm, "mark" Nowhere.com> wrote:

Dye it. I haven't seen a black ebony fretboard in 30 years that
wasn't dyed.

Old piano keyboards might be a good source of ebony