Finishing Ebony

[Eugene Dixon]

Had a request for napkin rings from a dark wood. I scored a piece of ebony from an estate sale and turned these:

497453

Obviously, I didn't invest much in the photo. I did make a really thin parting tool from the kitchen knife that exceeded my expectations.

Here's a question. I tried to apply the medical CA glue to the ebony and am getting mixed results. Some are relative smooth and and some are, well, orange peel. I wonder if I contaminated the drying by using regular CA activator to get the orange peel rather than activator for the medical grade CA. I didn't use activator on all the pieces. Could there be some reaction going on with the ebony? Should I have 'dried' it with acetone before applying CA glue? Thoughts?

[Paul Williams]

No facts to base my opinion on, but I would use the CA but let it set for several minutes before applying the activator. I used to use CA for pen finishes and spray the activator on the pen to hurry the drying process so I could get to the next coat right away. I found that if I hit a fairly thick coat of CA with activator too soon in would bubble up and require sanding.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very little experience with Ebony but seem to remember that it is an oily wood and, as such, will need to be cleaned with acetone or lacquer thinner before applying any finish. Because Ebony is so dense, a lot of folks just buff the wood without any finish on it at all and it holds up well.

[David Walser]

Eugene -- Yes, you should wipe the surface with acetone, mineral spirits, or even alcohol before applying the finish. That should help.

Having said that, ebony shouldn't need a CA finish for this application. The wood is very dense and fine grained. The ebony clarinet I played from 3rd grade through high school didn't have any finish on it at all. It received a lot of rough handling and still looked great when I passed it on to my sister. If it were me, I'd simply buff the rings with Renaissance Wax and call it done.

[Mel Fulks]

I agree with David. The ebony doesn’t need it anymore than a diamond needs a “clear coat”.

[Eugene Dixon]

Thank you for the ideas.