Wood ID: from Zambia

[Caleb SimonyiGindele]

I picked up this piece of wood at a craft village in Lusaka, Zambia this week. They claimed it was ebony but I am having trouble id'ing it. It is very dark heartwood, black with brown. The end grain looks a little lighter than in real life but the detail picture is pretty accurate. Included is a 10" saw blade on the left to help give a sense of the size.

Thanks,
Caleb

[Gary Max]

Yup ---that's Ebony----should be very hard and heavy. I have a block of it I am working on right now.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Beautiful wood Caleb! Looking forward to seeing what you turn out of it!

[robert hainstock]

Can't wait to see the finished pieces from that chunk of wood. :)
Bob

[Paul Douglass]

I have a piece of wood that looks like that and I'm told it is desert iron wood. It has a real funny smell (stinks) when cut or drilled. Very hard.

[Andrew Derhammer]

I have a piece of wood that looks like that and I'm told it is desert iron wood. It has a real funny smell (stinks) when cut or drilled. Very hard.
Desert ironwood only grows in the mojave desert though iirc

[Caleb SimonyiGindele]

If it's Gabon Ebony then I got a pretty good deal on it at $15.
Caleb

[Horst Hohoff]

Any wood is hard to identify just by a picture, and these pictures aren't really well suited for the purpose. You say the wood is black with brown. In my opinion it can just as well be African Blackwood ( Dalbergia melanoxylon ).

Horst

[Bernie Weishapl]

That was going to be my guess was African Blackwood. I had a piece I turned that looked almost identical to that one.

[Caleb SimonyiGindele]

Looking at this picture here it seems closer to African Blackwood
http://www.prosono.co.za/photo/Top-of-the-log-as-bowl.jpg

http://www.prosono.co.za/en/turnery_woods.shtml