Why Ebony?

hunterjrg

hunterjrg

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Feb 4, 2012
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Ebony seems to be a very popular choice when it comes to handles. I don't get it but then again I never owned one and I don't recall handling one. They look rather plain compared to bone or stag. Please enlighten me.
 
Because it contains old-timey magick. :D

Traditionally, ebony has been used because it wears very well; it seems to last forever. It's not prone to chip or shrink like bone or horn, for example. Plus, it feels very good in the hand, I would say, kind of warm.
 
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I didn't understand it either until I got my first one. It makes sense now. It's hard to explain, but its a special material for sure. Wears like iron as well.
 
Ebony, a very dense wood, can be buffed/polished to show a beautiful lustre. There are several Ebony varieties. I recently purchased a custom Taylor guitar with Macassar Striped Ebony which has a lot of colour variation and character in it...would be a terrific looking wood for a knife handle.

Check out this beautiful custom from Vladimir Kolenko (Bambara) with a fabuous Gabon Ebony handle.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-Tony-Metsala-damascus-Gabon-ebony-and-silver
 
I dunno, I think ebony looks good to begin with. Especially on older knives.
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Pictures just don't convey how a quality ebony looks and feels up close and personal. And for all I know, it still won't float your boat in person. But I really like the look and feel. It is good stuff, whether on an old one
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Or a modern one
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It also wears very well. Those examples are Gaboon ebony. For larger handles and other items, Macassar ebony is very nice (the two on the left here)
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And other ebonies, like Kamagong
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I have some black & white ebony waiting for the right knife to put it on, it is very striking. Malaysian blackwood is also an ebony and looks very nice.
 
I like it because my favorite guitars have ebony fretboards. Feels familiar in hand.
 
I didn't get it either. Then I bought a knife with ebony slabs. Well that changed my thinking.:D
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Ebony is just plain cool looking in person. I don't know what it is, it just is!
 
ptradeco said:
It can be very classy!
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It sure can!:cool:

That's what makes ebony unique IMO. It can look classy on a fancy gentleman's folder and at the same time it's tough enough to handle the heavy use of a big beefy knife. As you can see from some of the examples here already, it also wears better than other materials over the years. Some of the best looking old knives in the "Old Knives" thread have ebony covers. I also agree that it looks better in person.

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Man Ken that's gorgeous!!

Ebony's also very stable, back ib the days before all these stabilization techniques came into being, hard woods with high resin content like ebony and cocobola were used because they were naturally stable and nonporous due to the resins, which also helped achieve a nice polished luster as well.

Eric
 
It feels like velvet yet hard like steel. Something about Ebony,Nickle bolsters and carbon steel; Their hues compliment one another.
 
Someone was recently telling me about some ebony knives being salvaged from sunken riverboats, under water for over a 100 years, that while the steel was not in the best shape the ebony had survived wonderfully. There are a number of museums based on Missouri and Mississippi River salvages from the 1800's. Might be interesting to explore these.
 
Brad, I think one of the makers here posted a picture of those knives you're talking about. I can't remember which thread it was posted in, though. Here is a thread that Kerry posted quite a while back that shows something similar.
 
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