African Ebony

[nine fingers]

A member of my woodies club has trusted me to square machine a piece of
Ebony ,rough saw size 43x41 430 long.
It is very dense,on weighing and calculating,it come in at 1380kg per m3.
The piece has been in a family fo at least 50 years and is to be turned into a symbolic item. The ends have to perfectly square for approx 40 mm before turning begins.
Has any member machined and turned Ebony ,if so what do I expect.
enjoy Australia Day Nine Fingers:?

[rsser]

Wouldn't it be similar to our high density timbers like Gidgee and Mulga?

If so ... sharp tools, moderate pace.

For advice from those with experience: http://140.247.184.244/pub/stubby/WebHome/TurningQualities.pdf

[Schtoo]

Hard and brittle. Dust is as black as it gets.

Very sharp tools, and let the tool do the work, do NOT force it at all.

Be careful with it. It is very brittle and will shatter easily.

Takes a very, very high polish, and if you go to the effort of honing the turning tools, you should avoid a lot of sanding. If you do need to sand a lot, try and catch the dust and save it. Great black tint/filler material. Glues well, not oily.

Finish with almost anything, but penetrating finishes tend to make it go a lot blacker, obscuring whatever grain/colour variations that might be present. I prefer acrylic laquer, simply because it doesn't change the colour of the wood too much, and any grain/colour variation stays put.

I have not used a lot of it, but I don't avoid using it because it finishes up so nice. I like using it very much, especially for turning.

I'd also try and get a piece to try out before doing anything to an heirloom piece of wood. ;)

[LuckyDuck]

Agree with Schtoo on all counts.

Ebony turns beautifully but must have VERY sharp tools. It also comes up with a fantastically smooth finish.

But the buzz word with this timber is BRITTLE. I have found that the mere act of drilling a hole in the centre of a pen blank breaks the blank apart -- just as the drill bit is breaking through the other side. This happens with such regularity that whenever I have to drill Ebony I always try to have a few mms of extra length, drill the hole almost all the way through, and then cut off the end of the blank to reveal the hole.

Have FUN!:)

[dai sensei]

As above, but beare also of dust. I for one am allergic - found out the hard way with only a small spec in my eye.