does ebony need stabilization?

Bailey Knives

Bailey Knives

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 18, 2004
Messages
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Basically just the tag line... I know most woods benefit from stabilization, but some are naturally more stable than others. Is ebony naturally stable, or does it need some sort of stabilization...
 
Depends on who you ask.It has natural oils and doesn't need stabilization.But it can be,and is ,stabilized - with good effect(Mike at WSSI does it).I personally don't stabilize it.If you use fresh belts,slow speed,don't overheat it,and buff by hand it probably won't crack or check.
It is beautiful,although I use blackwood for most jobs.Prime Gabon ebony is hard to beat for total black,though.About 20 years ago I bough $2000 worth of a log that was sunken in the river,somewhere near Kango, for over 100 years(whole log was $50,000).It was so carbonized that it looked like black marble when polished ( it cut and sanded with a powder like charcoal dust).Sadly it is all gone but for a few blocks ,held backs for projects unthought of as yet.It will never be replaced.One of the projects I made was an ebony humidor from it that I could get $5000 for today.I still have the rest of the 1" Spanish cedar plank I made the interior out of.
Stacy
 
Ebony is very very dense. Mike at WSSI told me ebony cannot be stabilized unless it is .375" or thinner. If the scales are thicker the stabilant will not penetrate completely. Like Stacy wrote, many knifemakers have switched to African Blackwood. The biggest reason is ebony's tendency to crack.

Stacy, I wish I could have seen the log. Getting wood like that is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Maybe in my next life. ;)
 
My share was about 20BF.
The log was shipped to Germany to be flitched.The wood importer claimed it is easier to import planks than whole logs.The log got hijacked while in the warehouse.A replacement was offered.When the rarity of the wood,and the impossibility of replacing it was impressed upon the mill owners,a little detective work found the log.
 
I had bought a block of ebony a few years back. Didn't notice at the time I bought it but it had a crack in it. Mike didn't think twice about me exchanging it a year or two later. He's a great fellow...... BTW stabalized wood burns as good as non stabalized. I had bought a nice chunk of osic from Mike in 2000 that was stabalized. I was saving it for the right knife. I spotted it in the shop remains and thought it had survived. I picked it up and it was like a long cigaret ash.
 
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