Drying Ebony??

[Cushing H.]

If you have some photos theres a good chance I can ID it for you

Ok Ben - here you go. went back to Woodcraft and picked up a few more blocks. At ~$4/pound, each of these cost basically $12 - $16, and should ultimately cut down to scales for something like 6-8 knives, plus blocks for decorative portions of Wa handles. I tried to select for color, clear grain direction, and overall grain texture (you call it something else??). the first two images below is a "lighter" wood. The guy at the store conjectured it might be Chatka Viga ... but after looking at The Wood Database I am not so sure. Maybe Macacauba??? what think you? (did my best to photograph - you are right - doing so is HARD!).

The third and fourth images are of the "darker" block I selected. Guy at the store thought it might be Dolamatta .. but again, I am not so sure. After looking at the Wood Database, I am wondering Itin????

I now understand your statement about the difficulty of photographing these samples. Though - for me (and hopefully for your customers of your proposed "grab bags" in the future, part of what is interesting in this is discovering new woods (although I am such a neophyte - that happens hourly ).

(aside - these waxed blocks come in to Woodcraft as "ends", and are rough cut and not labeled as to species ... hence the low price. Very interesting though for those who might be interested in just looking for interesting/new colors and textures and might not really need to cite and actual species.......)

 

[Greenberg Woods]

This thread is very interesting and came up at a good time for me, i just bought some brazilian ebony from wood craft last week. I didnt even know it needed to dry first. I already cut into the block and used it on a small kiridashi. The brazilian ebony I bought is not dark at all, has a brown look, light brown in spots. Very oily though, and will polish nicely. Its been a few days since i shaped the handle and i can already feel the pins protruding from the wood shrinking. Oh well. Im certainly going to let the rest dry first.

Dont worry about brazillian ebony, it is not a true ebony. There are no new world ebonies. Its a much tougher, crack resistant wood

 

[Greenberg Woods]

Ok Ben - here you go. went back to Woodcraft and picked up a few more blocks. At ~$4/pound, each of these cost basically $12 - $16, and should ultimately cut down to scales for something like 6-8 knives, plus blocks for decorative portions of Wa handles. I tried to select for color, clear grain direction, and overall grain texture (you call it something else??). the first two images below is a "lighter" wood. The guy at the store conjectured it might be Chatka Viga ... but after looking at The Wood Database I am not so sure. Maybe Macacauba??? what think you? (did my best to photograph - you are right - doing so is HARD!).

The third and fourth images are of the "darker" block I selected. Guy at the store thought it might be Dolamatta .. but again, I am not so sure. After looking at the Wood Database, I am wondering Itin????

I now understand your statement about the difficulty of photographing these samples. Though - for me (and hopefully for your customers of your proposed "grab bags" in the future, part of what is interesting in this is discovering new woods (although I am such a neophyte - that happens hourly ).

(aside - these waxed blocks come in to Woodcraft as "ends", and are rough cut and not labeled as to species ... hence the low price. Very interesting though for those who might be interested in just looking for interesting/new colors and textures and might not really need to cite and actual species.......)

The first two are pretty indistinct, but I will basically walk through my processes.

WE know its from wood craft, so its probably not something SUPER rare. If you were digging around in my shelves and crates, you would find woods you had never even heard of, but wood craft probably doesnt have anything absurd.

Next i see the grain, it has a bit of feather interlocknig grain, which rules out a few species. Given the price its probably not a low grade makassar, and my best bet would be some relativly unfigured goncalo alves.

The darker ones, Itin is a possibilty, but my first bet given the slightly purple tinge of the wood would be Katalox

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

"....There are no new world ebonies. …"

Except - Diospyros virginiana (American persimmon)

 

[Cushing H.]

Thanks Ben. Interesting exercise- many variables to look at, and seemingly great variability from sample to sample. For me the core of the current effort is not so much identifying and using a specific wood as it is the DIY effort of drying, cutting, and the using in non-critical projects (and for a good price). Regardless of species, the blocks appear to have some reasonable color and grain texture (if not the kind of figure that really pops). While at woodcraft i also spotted and picked up a nice finished board of cocobolo. Beautiful (my wife said “use that one for her niece’s wedding present - though for THAT one i likely had better use stabilized wood!).

Lol - it would probably be fun, and instructive, to look through your storage shelves