What is the difference between...

Back to this Black Ivory stuff. Is that a nickname for a type of wood? Also, to what country is it indigenous?
 
Per ebony and violins, the ebony is not a thin veneer and it extends beyond the neck of the violin, so at least 1/3 is not stabilized by being glued to the neck. In addition, the pegs are solid pieces. Never had any problem with cracking or heard of a problem when it comes to fingerboards and pegs. Not even on cellos and bass which have longer fingerboard. As an aside, modern cheaper violins, cellos, etc. have black wood, but it's not ebony, just stained. You can tell because the color wears off with time.

I also have a solid ebony clarinet. No cracks and its 50 years old.

I have seen many old pocket knives with ebony handles and no cracking. I have also seen many pocket knives with ebony handles that had a crack, usually associated with a pin.

Maybe ebony needs more time to age before use, which may skipped in these modern times.

Queen/Vintage knives put out an ebony handled twin blade slipjoint. Mine has seen no cracking in about a year and I live in an area with wide swings in humidity and temperature...it's not a safe queen. So at least one production company seems to be successful in using ebony. Maybe their stocks are old.
 
TAH said:
Back to this Black Ivory stuff. Is that a nickname for a type of wood? Also, to what country is it indigenous?
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It is a "common" name for a type of wood, and it is indigenous to Africa, AFAIK.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
brownshoe said:
I also have a solid ebony clarinet. No cracks and its 50 years old.
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Are you sure about the bell being ebony? I've bought African blackwood bell blanks at Gilmer before. They were rejects and I think the reason they were is because the color wasn't right.
 
I believe it's ebony because it looks like it and my sister's clarinet teacher said it was ebony. But, I'm no wood expert.
 
Raymond Richard said:
Chuck, I just talked with a fellow I have know at Gilmer Woods for a number of years and asked him about black ivory. He said he had heard of it and may have seen a piece of it a long time ago. Its not listed in there wood index. He said to try woodfinder's and I got nothing there.
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Ray,
I did a google search to find it and only found a cheap united knife handle refered to as black ivory. I had read somewere, I can't remember the location though, about calling woods ebony that were not and they mentioned black ivory too. These are names given to any black wood that is not readily known or saleable. The names were used as missnomers to lure unsuspecting buyers to pay higher prices for regular wood. Happened to my father once. Brought home a nice looking bowl of "solid ebony". Had that thing for years before I shaved off a piece and the ebony paint came right off exposing a brown wood underneath. I would really love to have a reference for Black ivory, If one can be found please forward it to me. I am also doing additional reaserch to see if the wood does actually exsist.

Chuck
 
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