Hi, I'm new, and Indian Ebony wood

[Brandi Dentice]

I'm a total noob to this board, so please be nice :)

I make silver jewelry and I love wood and am beginning (ever so beginning) to learn hand tools and some that actually plug in - while I am new to wood and working it I enjoy the serenity I've found in building the meager things I have.

I like very intricate, detailed carvings and inlays, so I've begun putting the two (silver and wood) together and have come up with some pretty nifty design concepts (aren't they always brilliant as ideas?)

Nonetheless, would anyone have any experience with indian ebony and any thing I should not do with it? :)

I'm going to be making a box of sorts out of the ebony with a silver inlay in the top - or at least that's the plan.

Thanks!

[Doug Shepard]

Welcome to SMC.
I dont have tons of experience with Indian ebony and that's with planes, chisels, etc. rather than carving tools. But from what I've worked with it here's my take (and I'm assuming that's the same species as the Ceylon ebony I've dealt with).
It has a tendency to be a bit on the brittle side. You might want to put a white sheet or something underneath it as you work. That way if you get any pieces splintering off, you can find them and glue them back into place for another go at it.
It's pretty dense and real tough to read any sort of grain direction, though it didn't really seem to care which direction it was planed from.
Although there wasn't a tendency for tearout with the lower cutting angles, there was a noticible difference with the higher angle plane irons. The lower ones looked good. The higher ones left a glass smooth look almost like obsidian.
Wish I could tell you what that means in terms of working it with carving tools, but that's terra incognita for me.

[Greg Heppeard]

Welcome to the Creek, Brandi. I'm not sure about the Indian ebony...Macasar ebony & African ebony I know, but not the Indian type. Sounds like you have some great ideas. Got any pics of youir work? Anyway, Welcome again to the Creek...Jump in and get your feet wet. :D

[Brodie Brickey]

Due to the expense of ebony, I rarely use it. I do use African Blackwood, yes its pricey, but not as bad as ebony. Blackwood has a lot of oil in it, and you get some really smooth finishes. When I use Blackwood in a turning, I don't have to sand, the finish really comes out smooth.

Regards,


Brodie

[Brandi Dentice]

Doug - yes it's the Ceylon, have you by chance used a dremel/tools on it? I have found it to be verrry hard but you mentioned the exact reason I like using it - the grain just doesn't care. I'm not married to hand tools - I've got a block I'm using to experiment with and will try the lower planes. I'm dabbling with a bunch of different things.

Brodie - a local artisan bought a boat load of this wood and just didn't like it. I gave her shiney baubles in exchange for the wood. It's incredibly pretty I think and shines well as you alluded to. We'll see if I feel the same after I work it.

Mr. Greg - I don't have any "wood" pics because I haven't done anything in wood in a long time (unless you count the piece I did back in shop class in highschool :P But jewelry pics I do - and will definitely post some pics.. maybe works in progress as I get started on my idears. I just like the idea of marrying the things I like to work with - metals, wood and glass. I'm learning the wood.

thanks for the feedback fellas!

[Doug Shepard]

Doug - yes it's the Ceylon, have you by chance used a dremel/tools on it? I have found it to be verrry hard but you mentioned the exact reason I like using it - the grain just doesn't care. I'm not married to hand tools - I've got a block I'm using to experiment with and will try the lower planes. I'm dabbling with a bunch of different things.
...


Haven't used any power tools on it (yet) and while the lower angle planes looked good, the higher looked even better in case I wasn't clear on that. Kind of curious to see how this stuff carves so post some pics once you dive into this project. Also meant to mention that if you have to glue it, plain old yellow glue seems to work just fine.

[Jack Briggs]

Due to the expense of ebony, I rarely use it. I do use African Blackwood, yes its pricey, but not as bad as ebony. Blackwood has a lot of oil in it, and you get some really smooth finishes. When I use Blackwood in a turning, I don't have to sand, the finish really comes out smooth.

Regards,


Brodie


Hey Brodie,

Where are you finding ABW for less than ebony? I've always seen prices higher for the blackwood. Not that I'm worried: I have a 38" half log of 50 yr. old ABW! :cool:

[Jim Becker]

Brandi, welcome to the 'Creek!

I, too, am looking forward to seeing your work. I'm not likely alone in my appreciation for artistry, no matter what the medium. And there are so many wonderful possibilities for integrating wood into your craft, both for the jewelry and "supporting roles", such as your own custom jewelry boxes to match the contents. It could even kick some of your revenue/margin up a notch to the right customers!

[Dave MacArthur]

Brandi, Welcome!

I have used ebony, and have done inlay work on it using both a dremel took for "routing" out the waste, as well as scroll saw. I will second what Doug said, it is very brittle and you have to be careful with the scroll saw to not chip it while doing inlay cuts. However, I found no problems when using a dremel tool. I had a small router base it sat in, not sure where I got it.

I used the ebony to make fretboard for an electric guitar, and inlaid mother-of-pearl 1" hexagons as fret/position markers, as well as brass inlays on the top edge. The brass inlay sounds similar to your using silver. Other uses was to make the actual inlay pieces for inlaying initials into downhill skateboards. I loved using ebony as the base material and dremel routing into it; but I didn't like using it as the inlay material itself.

I'll try to remember to take some pics and post a close up here of the inlay ;) Again, welcome!

[Dave MacArthur]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=754345&highlight=ebony#post754345

Brandi, you motivated me to take some pics of my ebony/brass/abalone inlay work, and post a thread on my guitar, which you might be interested in for the ebony aspects.