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John Sanford
02-13-2009, 1:52 AM
I ran into an former co-worker at lunch today, and he's making a set of chess pieces. The white pieces will be turned maple for the bases, some metal ring, and then carved ivory (or the like) for the tops. For the black pieces, black walnut for the base, silver metal ring, and he's looking for something similar in texture/appearance to the ivory, only black. What should I point him at?

David Keller NC
02-13-2009, 9:50 AM
Gabon Ebony would be the most obvious choice. It's an expensive wood, but a heck of a lot cheaper than ivory. There's little doubt that carving ebony is difficult, but it's not as uncommon as one might expect, and it's WAY easier to carve than any rosewood.

I'm not sure of your friend's designs, but one critical piece would be whether the carved pieces will be smoothed (by sandpaper or scrapers) with a shiny surface, or left "from the gouge". If they're to be a smooth surface, I would suggest shaping the ebony largely with rifflers. These "little rasps" tend to be a bit more effective than typical carving tools in hard wood, and will save the edges on his tools. Alternatively, one can grind or hone a steep secondary bevel on carving tools to get a sturdy edge, finish the project, and hone the secondary bevel away again.

Doug Shepard
02-13-2009, 10:24 AM
Maybe Corian? Dupont doesnt have a pure black but the closest is this one
http://www.coriansamples.com/prostores/servlet/Detail?no=312
You can get 1/2" x4x4 samples cheap but youd have to laminate it for anything thicker
Wilsonart has a pure black with larger and cheaper samples. It doesn't say for sure how thick, but I'm guessing also 1/2"
http://samples.wilsonart.com/p-289-black-1595-60.aspx

David Keller NC
02-13-2009, 12:07 PM
One other thought is ebonizing - there's a lot of ways to do this, from the old-school reaction of iron acetate with tannins in the wood (works well on mahogany, not so well on untreated maple) to aniline dyes. For chess pieces, one route would be to carve boxwood pieces, then dye them as black as coal and finish them with French polish. The result would be very elegant, and it'd be many years, if ever, before the ebonizing would wear off.

Ken Dolph
02-13-2009, 12:27 PM
Doug,

Nocturne Corian is absolutely black Corian with a feel between Ivory and Jade. It can be easily laminated.

John,

You can get the Nocturne Corian in the sizes you need at http://www.coriartspecialties.com

I hope this helps
Ken

Doug Shepard
02-13-2009, 2:23 PM
+++++
Doug,

Nocturne Corian is absolutely black Corian with a feel between Ivory and Jade. It can be easily laminated.
...


Sound of palm hitting forehead here.:o
I should have known that as I bought some solid black samples from them several years ago but forgot that. When I checked their site I just missed it. The only thing I was wondering was whether it carved OK or not. I've sawed, routed, drilled, fret-sawed, and filed it with no trouble and I know turners use it but never heard of anyone carving it. From my limited experience, it seemed like you had to resand or polish the cut edges to restore the color a bit as it tended to show any tooling marks as lighter scratches and wondered if that would mess up the carved details?

Ken Dolph
02-13-2009, 4:38 PM
If you are hand carving, Corian doesn't change color like it does if you have a hot blade. In fact if you power cut or carve it is best to go real slow and you will not get the "micro fractures" that show up as a color change.

I hope this helps
Ken