Does anybody recognize this wood? ID help please.

Burl Source

Burl Source

Joined
Dec 7, 2008
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I just got these pieces of wood today.
All I know is that it is a type of ebony that came from an island somewhere. An old woodturner had brought a log to Portland back in the 70s. He is deceased now so we can't ask questions. The background color is an orangeish brown and the streaks are black.

Does anybody recognize this wood?
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I've seen it before. The only name I've seen it listed as is Black and White ebony.
 
It does look like B&W ebony ... which makes its likely source SE Asia. Perhaps Laos or Burma.

Can't tell you any more myself, as I'm far from an expert on wood.
 
I have a shipment of black and white ebony being shipped to me from Laos on Monday. I will compare when it arrives. This stuff here is black and orange though.
 
Macasar Ebony (SP) Friend builds bows and thats what he calls the stuff that looks just like that?
 
Burl Source said:
I have a shipment of black and white ebony being shipped to me from Laos on Monday. I will compare when it arrives. This stuff here is black and orange though.
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Sigh. There are so many forms of ebony ... and so many small variations.

Sorry I can't be more help.

EDIT: Poked around a bit. Look here: http://hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/ebony, pale moon.htm
[Note: not a knife-related link ... just wood info]. With all the variations in ebony, it certainly seems that some variations of B&W ebony have an orange or orange-ish background. Found this while I was trying to remember what pale moon ebony looks like.
 
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Looks like some variance of Macassar Ebony. It may not have seasoned all the way.

STR
 
Burl Source said:
The wood was cut back in the 70s.
Looked similar to macassar ebony to me too.
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Well I guess its seasoned then! :D I was just thinking that due to the way you mentioned the color of it but it may be the soil it grew in as much as anything.

STR
 
Wood does weird stuff. I am not that knowledgeable on the imports yet so anyone who knows something I don't I am always happy to listen.
 
I have macassar ebony scales in my garage, the grains are a lot tighter. It does look a lot like black and white ebony, I just looked at a lot of it at Woodcraft a week ago.
 
That is Mac ebony. Not all ebony from the same species looks alike, of course so working with a lot of it brings more experience than a few small shop pieces. In the past I've found Mac ebony boards 20" wide at veneer mills...great solid body guitar tops. Here's a link to similar photos and some pricing to help establish value. The value of this species is wide, long thick boards and not so much small mill cut offs used for turning stock, etc.

http://www.westpennhardwoods.com/shop/cart.php?target=search&substring=ebony
 
Burl Source said:
I have a shipment of black and white ebony being shipped to me from Laos on Monday. I will compare when it arrives. This stuff here is black and orange though.
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Here's a good link to black and white ebony for photo reference and comparison. Plenty of this ebony available cheap and Jimmy and his wife run this business with good ethics. You might consider sourcing from them other than trying to buy blind in Laos and paying shipping that you have to add to your selling price.

http://www.amazonexotichardwoods.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=TB-BW-Ebony
 
Larry D. Davis said:
Here's a good link to black and white ebony for photo reference and comparison. Plenty of this ebony available cheap and Jimmy and his wife run this business with good ethics. You might consider sourcing from them other than trying to buy blind in Laos and paying shipping that you have to add to your selling price.

http://www.amazonexotichardwoods.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=TB-BW-Ebony
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Thats a pretty good deal....Like $5 and less for a block of that stuff. Thanks for the tip Larry
 
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