Ebony handles.

ron_m80

ron_m80

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I have recently purchased some Ebony for knife making. I have never worked with it at all.

I have noticed it has a straight grain. The heartwood is heavy. Also that the pieces I have are not entirely uniform, some lighter wood and little heartwood.

Do people stabilize ebony? Does it require it?

I assume the old Ebony was just the darkest of the heartwood and not the grainier outer wood. Is this correct?

I ordered two 1.5' x 1" squares and I see maybe one or two handles for a slip joint of heartwood. It wasn't that expensive but there is a lot of wood in the two sample I wouldn't use for a knife.

Where do you get your ebony?
 
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Post a picture please. Ebony is really quite a diverse field. Because I do more wood than real knives, I have several sources for ebonyies. Is it gaboon ebony? With dark black flecked with grey or is it a macasser ebony with a mix of blacks and deep browns?
 
Sand it up to 1000+ grit and hand polish it.

It will look great
 
First off, there are different kinds of ebony. I have had experience with African ebony. I have heard that it is bad to crack after putting on a knife, but I have never had that problem. Ebony needs to be dry before you use it. My Aunt and Uncle were missionaries in Africa. They sent me blocks of ebony. I kept the blocks in my shop maybe 20 years before I used any of it. I had no problems with it cracking.
I don't think ebony needs to be stabilized.
I also think African Blackwood is better for a knife handle than ebony.
 
Much the same as snake wood, ebony has a bad habit if developing fine cracks. Changing to African Blackwood avoids the problems with cracking.

Historically from Roman times, African Blackwood was known as Ebony. Can't remember when the change happened.
 
I ordered some African Blackwood blocks recently. I put them in my drying cabinet to dry. I checked them a few weeks later and 3 of the 5 blocks had cracked. I think drying them slowly is a good idea.
 
African Blackwood is a very stable substitute, and some like the look better.

Ebony and Snakewood get a bad reputation for cracking and checking. Almost everyone who complains says the cracks/checks were not there when the sanded to 2000 grit and then buffed...they showed up later on. What they are not seeing is the step between no cracks and cracks.....buffing. These woods take no heat at all.

One must also know his supplier on these two woods and be sure they are legally harvested, properly dried, and properly cut from the log. They can take a dozen years to dry properly. Cut on the wrong saw type, they are filled with tiny fractures along the grain.

When sanding and polishing, I touch it to my cheek to check. If it is too hot for my cheek, it is too hot. (I used to touch my lower lip, but learned that was a bad idea)
Even better is only hand sanding and buffing. Do the basic shaping on a very slow grinder and fresh sharp belts. Then go hands only to 2000-8000 grit. Hand buff with a bit of carnauba and it will stay shiny and crack free for years. Frequent waxing or a rub down with renaissance wax will help keep it that way.
 
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Thank you all for the feedback.

Here is what I have. I used an online seller of wood, who seemed to have a pretty big website. I know that isn't the best guarantee of being in line with the restrictions but I went with it this time.

The picture. I don't have a professional camera, so this is what I was able to get. The one on the left is definitely heavier than the one on the right side and the right one is mostly grain with very little dense interior wood.

ebony_zps2iqljiph.jpg
 
Stacy, it sounds like working snakewood and Ebony are much like working ivory - KEEP IT COOL!!!

A solid ebony handle is just fine, but when I've used ebony and a light color wood together you really have to be careful not to stain the light wood with the ebony dust!

Ken H>
 
I noticed the dust was a bit different when i used an old sanding disk to get the rough outside off and examine the grain. That is good to know.
 
Old well dried ebony has dust like black dye. It will stain your hands and any lighter wood it gets on. Sinker ebony, which can be well over 100 years old, sands as a powder.

On problem with a lot of the on-line ebony is it is lesser grade wood that has been dyed black. This also adds water content. To check for dyed ebony, rub a rag soaked in acetone on it. Try with alcohol, too. If that makes the rag turn black, it well may be dyed.

As a rule, only the best Gabon ebony is jet black.
 
Stacy, you saying the sinker ebony doesn't stain a lighter wood due to the "powder" effect? If so, that would be really NICE!! I'd LOVE to get my hands on some of that. Any sources for sinker ebony? I'll bet that stuff is EXPENSIVE when found.

Ken H>
 
Gabon and Macassar Ebony stabilize nicely. I have had several batches stabilized by K&G.
I would suggest trimming away any checks before sending in for stabilizing. They will not fill from the stabilizing and can spread during the curing process.
The stabilizing process will not make a bad piece good, but it will make a good piece better.
 
Oh, it will stain everything. What I was saying is it sands to a superfine powder. The sanding dust looks like the black dye powder for epoxy.

30 years back I bought about 20BF worth of a sinker ebony log brought up from a port on the main river in Gabon. They used to float the logs to the seaport, and may sank along the way. It had been on the harbor floor for over 100 years when hauled up by wood salvagers. It was so jet black it didn't look like wood. An old school mate ran the local exotic wood yard, and gave me a chance to get some when he obtained the log. The log was sold at auction for $30,000. It cost him over five thousand dollars to ship it to the USA, and the shipping container had to be guarded at several ports to prevent theft. He sold me four 5 foot long X 4-5" X 4/4 pieces for $300,.... which was a crazy good price. Large wide boards sold for thousands each. I used it all up over the years, except a few scraps. It sanded and polished like a dream, but everything within ten feet was black after sanding. The dust was so fine it stuck to everything by static electricity. Once wiped down and waxed, it had a sort of sheen to it. The biggest difference (beside the dense black color) was that there were no oils left in the wood. It worked a bit different, and didn't clog tools and abrasives. It was far more "brittle" in cutting and sawing.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Oh, it will stain everything. What I was saying is it sands to a superfine powder. The sanding dust looks like the black dye powder for epoxy.

30 years back I bought about 20BF worth of a sinker ebony log brought up from a port on the main river in Gabon. They used to float the logs to the seaport, and may sank along the way. It had been on the harbor floor for over 100 years when hauled up by wood salvagers. It was so jet black it didn't look like wood. An old school mate ran the local exotic wood yard, and gave me a chance to get some when he obtained the log. The log was sold at auction for $30,000. It cost him over five thousand dollars to ship it to the USA, and the shipping container had to be guarded at several ports to prevent theft. He sold me four 5 foot long X 4-5" X 4/4 pieces for $300,.... which was a crazy good price. Large wide boards sold for thousands each.
Click to expand...

The things I'd do to possess those 20BF... The price you paid is outrageously impressive on your end too. It would run me $120 for 1 BF of much lower quality stuff at my local dealer. Granted prices change over 30 years with scarcity, over harvesting, inflation and such but nonetheless very impressive. Are there perhaps pictures of this "$30,000" log? I'd absolutely love to see such a thing.
 
Hate to double post but just a rough example of how great a deal those 20 BF were.
a2635f8436f1e4ca506d3c7d0ef25a3f.jpg
(conversion of the price paid 30 or so years ago to 2015 due to inflation)

fb2a4310e2a28ed3051c188447ca41ab.jpg
(Price id have to pay if I were to walk into my local dealer and ask for 20 BF of the stuff my provider carries, if they even have that much available.)
 
No, I'm afraid that was way before social media and digital cameras. I was told it was impressively large.
 
There are so many things that can happen to a tree. There was a time when ebony for instruments like clarinetes had major cracking problems in making and had to be disgarded.The problem was the forest fires that heat damaged the wood while it was still alive ! My limited experience with ebony showed me that changes in temperature and humidity can do serious damage which may show up years later !
 
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