African Blackwood vs Ebony

Coopsta said:
To be fair, African blackwood was considered an ebony until quite recently so who knows how many ebony knives from old times actually use that species. Unless these these knives have been identified otherwise of course.
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This is an excellent point! I have some old catalogs that say ebony specifically but who knows...more research required.
 
With all the discussion about ebony, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned American ebony : persimmon.
 
I made these up from a set of victorian Steinway piano keys, great wood great ivory.

Have a great day folks

Robin
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Those are great Pipeman, I was wondering of some of the old piano keys could be recycled to scales somehow. :thumbup:
 
Thanks folks, they were fun to play with. I was happy with the Art Deco feel to the paring knives although more than one recipient forgot that the straight edge was the sparp edge and cut themselves :p

Have a great day

Robin
 
bonky said:
With all the discussion about ebony, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned American ebony : persimmon.
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Good point. I have seen a few examples of fine persimmon wood, and I think it can have a great look to it. Personally, I would love to see more American woods such as American persimmon, walnut, osage and juniper being used.

I have a bow made with juniper and it has a lovely, warm feel to it.
 
I only have one knife with ebony, listed as ebony wood on the gec site for this knife. If this is macassar ebony i got some very black stuff.

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That is some beautiful looking Gabon Ebony, Flint Hills! Who is the maker?

herektir,

I believe that when GEC lists a cover material as ebony, they are generally referring to Macassar ebony. When they have a knife made with Gabon ebony, they usually state that it is Gabon. Sometimes they will state that Macassar is used in order to distinguish between two. GEC's #15 TC Barlow has used both Macassar and Gabon, and I have noticed some dealers will specify which ebony wood is used. I think they are both great woods, but I generally prefer the Gabon (although I've seen and owned knives done with Macassar ebony that were nicer than any Gabon example that I've come across).
 
Smithhammer said:
Good point. I have seen a few examples of fine persimmon wood, and I think it can have a great look to it. Personally, I would love to see more American woods such as American persimmon, walnut, osage and juniper being used.

I have a bow made with juniper and it has a lovely, warm feel to it.
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Getting slightly off topic - but I agree. There are some really nice American woods which, for one reason or another, aren't usable as sources of commercial lumber. Personally, I'm in love with Eastern Hornbeam - some folks call it Eastern Ironwood. We discussed it on another thread recently. Not a flashy wood, but beautiful to work and tough as nails.

TedP
 
burnside said:
That is some beautiful looking Gabon Ebony, Flint Hills! Who is the maker?

herektir,

I believe that when GEC lists a cover material as ebony, they are generally referring to Macassar ebony. When they have a knife made with Gabon ebony, they usually state that it is Gabon. Sometimes they will state that Macassar is used in order to distinguish between two. GEC's #15 TC Barlow has used both Macassar and Gabon, and I have noticed some dealers will specify which ebony wood is used. I think they are both great woods, but I generally prefer the Gabon (although I've seen and owned knives done with Macassar ebony that were nicer than any Gabon example that I've come across).
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Brent Cramer is the maker, this is a Shadow Trapper. He makes a great knife and he is a great person. Highly recommended!
 
Since no one's mentioned it yet, i figure i may as well bring up the topic of Japanese persimmon, still technically an ebony since its in the same family...its colour ranges from very dark grey mixed with black to the much much rarer green and black figuring that generally costs a fortune if and when you can stumble across it.
The green's a stable colour too, so it doesnt tend to fade too much over time, though it does get a bit deeper, albeit at a very slow pace.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47921592@N02/sets/72157637561545844/

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suiseki133 said:
Since no one's mentioned it yet, i figure i may as well bring up the topic of Japanese persimmon, still technically an ebony since its in the same family...its colour ranges from very dark grey mixed with black to the much much rarer green and black figuring that generally costs a fortune if and when you can stumble across it.
The green's a stable colour too, so it doesnt tend to fade too much over time, though it does get a bit deeper, albeit at a very slow pace.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47921592@N02/sets/72157637561545844/

10803300584

10803169245

10803299664

10803291614
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Those are some amazing colors. Thanks for posting that and welcome to the Traditional Forum.

I never did get the hang of posting pics from Flickr
 
"I never did get the hang of posting pics from Flickr "

For Flickr you use the HTML/BBCode

Regards

Robin
 
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