Old Black Ebony Blocks

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Last week we were out on a wood buying trip. One of the places where we stopped was a Myrtlewood dealer with lots of big logs and a few warehouses with a lot of already milled wood. My thinking is that the best stuff will be in the back of the building at the bottom of the pile. After poking around for an hour or so I came across a 5 foot log section of something really heavy. Me and another guy drug it out into the light. Turns out it was an old piece of Black Ebony. The guy who owned the place said he had it for years and forgot he had it. He had bought it from a guy who would cut fingerboards for guitars. After a few minutes of wheeling and dealing I gave him all the money in my wallet and borrowed some from one of the people with me. As far as I am concerned the Ebony was the best part of our wood buying trip.

When I cut and sanded blocks I found the wood to be dark black with some small bands of dark bronze that appear when the light hits just right. I do not know what variety of Ebony this is. But.....it sure looks nice.

This is what the piece looked like before any cutting.
e001_zps0a81d2d5.jpg

Next I cut it into foot long sections that I could handle without giving myself a hernia. Finally I trimmed away flawed portions for a bunch of really nice blocks.
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These are some of the blocks that I just finished adding to our web store. They are located in our web store in the Natural Woods / Ebony section.
 
Great story,what size bandsaw do you cut that with?
blade width and teeth pitch?
Just wondering
 
I do the rough cuts with an old meat cutting saw.
Then I go to my Jet 1Hp 14" using 3/4 blades with 3 tpi to trim the pieces into blocks.
 
They certainly look super with that touch of colouring running through them ! Frank
The color was really subtle. Just enough to be able to tell it is wood and not black plastic or ??

All the blocks in this batch have sold.
I will try to cut some more soon.
 
Mark can this go without stabilizing?
Almost all the knives I have seen with Black Ebony handles have been natural wood.
I think the problem most people have had with ebony comes from using the wax sealed blocks.
Those get cut when the wood is fresh and then are coated with wax to prevent cracking if/when it dries.
But....when it is dry it seems to be pretty tough stuff.
The most common mistake that happens when using ebony is overheating due to dull belts and drill bits.
If you feel the wood getting hot and you have a sharp belt, lighten up with the pressure.
You can cause almost any dense wood to crack and check by getting it too hot.
 
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