Working with Ebony ??

[Randy Degen]

I bought a piece of Ebony that is coated in wax what kind of moisture is save to work with.The piece I need to use will be 3" in dia. and 3/8 thick I have a Delmhorst moisture meter but it does not have that species of wood in the meter some of the readings were 9to10% is it save to use? Thanks Randy
This is going into a small segmented bowl

[Bill Wyko]

I typically like 6%. I live in the desert so that's usually easy to achieve.

[Steve knight]

on my pinless ebony reads a bit higher then cocobolo about 3 to 5% higher so if you have any you can go by that. you want your ebony acclimatised to your shop or you may have problems.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Randy, if you are not mixing the ebony with other species of drier wood, and you orient all the grain the same direction, you will probably be ok if the wood is 10% or less. Unless you're in a big hurry, I suggest cutting the block into your required thicknesses (small boards) and then let the wood stabilize for at least a month or so. Then proceed with your project. Small segment sizes and thin bowl/vessel walls are also insurance against unwanted movement.