Texas Ebony Vase

[Chip Sutherland]

I think I finally got out of my turning funk with this piece. Persistence was the key. This piece through many challenges and I walked away several times. Started as a limb. Bark inclusions, voids, cracks, checks, etc. Hit in the facemask by a huge piece of the bark. Chuck slipped. The opening still ended up a little eccentric(?). The final shape was the outcome of dealing with all the challenges. If you never seen texas ebony, the sap wood is a pretty creamy yellow with the hearwood being the chocolately brown ebony. I couldn't salvage any sapwood from this limb due to cracks that ran the full length of the raw blank. The contrast is strking. Luckily I have more wood. This piece is only finished in one coat of danish oil dried for a week. I'm still thinking about the final finish. It's about the size of a soda can.

[Jonathon Spafford]

Nice turning and nice piece of wood... actually, anybody see a face in that or is it just me????

[Neal Addy]

Nice! You've got a great piece of TE there.

I love Tx Ebony but it is a challenge to turn. Definitely in the top ten of "most dense domestics". Worth it, though.

[Martin Shupe]

First let me saw that is a beautiful piece.

I've got some I bought from Mike Mastin at Curly Woods a few years ago.

I am waiting to get better before I use it, but my plan is to make Shaker knobs out of it, to be put on BE or curly maple drawer fronts.

He said it was susceptible to cracking. Mine is waxed and wrapped in saran wrap in the garage.

I guess my question is, when I finally cut it up into blanks, do I rewrap it for a while and let it stabilize before turning?

I am interested in any suggestions you have regarding this wood.

Thanks,

[Mark Pruitt]

What a nice looking vase! Display it with pride!

[Ralph Dobbertin]

Nice piece and I definately see the face

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Chip......Beautiful piece of wood. The shape is interesting....nice details well turned!

[Paul Engle]

Nice shape and color, limbs can certainly be unforgiving to work with... yep the dude has a large frowning mustach.....:( , or maybe a snide smile or a cynicle look about him. LOML pours over my stuff looking for " pic's " in the wood.It would really pop with gloss urethane or if you are really brave, lacquer...

[Dario Octaviano]

Great figured TE you got there.

Good job and I admire your persistence...it did pay off.

As for the face...it reminds me of fish faced villains from Disney and other cartoons. :D

[Steve Schlumpf]

Really nice vase Chip! Glad you stuck with it! Great color, nice form and I also can see the face! Nice work!

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Chip, I've turned a lot of Texas ebony, but only as segments. I can appreciate your challenge with this piece - nice job.

Anyone know of a source for Texas ebony boards? My inventory is getting depleted.

[Keith Burns]

Chip, well executed turning. Nice details. Way to stick with it.:) :)

[Rich Stewart]

That would look good upside down or right side up. Nice little vase. As far as a finish, just buff it now.

[Martin Shupe]

Chip, I've turned a lot of Texas ebony, but only as segments. I can appreciate your challenge with this piece - nice job.

Anyone know of a source for Texas ebony boards? My inventory is getting depleted.

Only source I know of is Mike Mastin at www.curlywoods.com

Good guy to work with, but I don't think he will have boards, more like "chunks". Texas ebony grows like mesquite, small, knarly, with lots of bark inclusions.

Call Mike and talk to him, and he can explain it better.

[Dario Octaviano]

Chip, I've turned a lot of Texas ebony, but only as segments. I can appreciate your challenge with this piece - nice job.

Anyone know of a source for Texas ebony boards? My inventory is getting depleted.

I have a few in log form (round and quartered). Let me know if you are interested. They do have checks/cracks despite the anchorseal treatment :(

These are very heavy...some of what I have are close to 150 lbs a piece and they are just quarter logs and about 20" long.

I might be moving so it is best to liquidate some of my "collection" if possible. :D

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Chip that is a beautiful vase the grain is wonderful and I like the form. Great Job for all the trouble you had.:)

[Chip Sutherland]

This piece came from a limb from Mike Mastin at CurlyWoods. I wanted to some TE and this was a piece I had seen over by his mitre saw box. He was a little reluctant to sell it since it had visible cracks. This was in January and he had a couple of really big pieces he'd just received. If he has more the next time I go, I'm going to buy some bigger pieces. My other posting of american sycamore came from Mike, too. I have to practice restraint. CurlyWoods is only about 10 miles from home.

[Bernie Weishapl]

The vase is a beauty. Love the wood. Nice job.

[Martin Shupe]

I have to practice restraint. CurlyWoods is only about 10 miles from home.

Hey, no fair gloating! I am about 2 and a half hours away, and don't get over there as much as I'd like. Lucky you!

[William O. Towery]

Is Texas ebony similar to african ebony? I've got two slabs of it I'm going to make into pistol grips and could use any advice on the wood and it's working characteristics.

[Chip Sutherland]

Is Texas ebony similar to african ebony? I've got two slabs of it I'm going to make into pistol grips and could use any advice on the wood and it's working characteristics.
Texas Ebony is a tree in a class all by itself. Tejas ebonis...I think that's it's latin name. The closest thing I can equate it to is walnut in look and smell but walnut is porous and TE is not porous at all in the heartwood and a somewhat porous in the sapwood. TE burnishes easily from the heel of the tool bevel...this happens with bloodwood, too. I believe TE heartwood would make excellent pistol grips just take care to identify the cracks that are often present.

[Dario Octaviano]

Is Texas ebony similar to african ebony? I've got two slabs of it I'm going to make into pistol grips and could use any advice on the wood and it's working characteristics.

I have lots of Texas Ebony but won't recommend that you use it for pistol grip (or some knife scales). It is very nice but cracks easily...if you drop the pistol (or knife) it will chip easily. Some knife and pens are okay if they have metal parts on the ends that will take the impact.

[Neal Addy]

I'll second that, Dario. Texas Ebony is a very dense wood but it can be cracked.

I had a TE bowl that experienced a "buffing incident" once. It was probably doing around 40 MPH when it hit the wall and bounced off the concrete several times. It held together nicely, not a mark on it other than a nice clean crack from the rim to half-way down the side. Not one of my better turning moments.

[John Chandler]

I think you did a good job on the turning. That is nice looking wood.