Help in planing, cutting and finishing Brazilian Ebony

[Thomas Casten]

Our local deconstruction/recycling reuse organization has several hundred thousand board feet of Brazilian Ebony 2" by 7" by 10' groove and groove from a deconstructed sound barrier along US 90. Given the hardness, I seek conversations with others who have used this wood to make furniture or counter tops. They say the saws dull quickly and they did not try to plane. I think they probably used cheap blades and wonder if carbon steel tipped saws and planers would be the best approach. Any other ideas on how to use these treasures?
Tom Casten

[Doug Dawson]

Our local deconstruction/recycling reuse organization has several hundred thousand board feet of Brazilian Ebony 2" by 7" by 10' groove and groove from a deconstructed sound barrier along US 90. Given the hardness, I seek conversations with others who have used this wood to make furniture or counter tops. They say the saws dull quickly and they did not try to plane. I think they probably used cheap blades and wonder if carbon steel tipped saws and planers would be the best approach. Any other ideas on how to use these treasures? Any one interested can call me at 630-321-1095 for details.

That's basically ipe. It would make somebody a nice deck. (If you could get the smell of diesel out of it. :^)

Or industrial hardwood flooring.

[Flamone LaChaud]

at several hundred thousand board feet . . . it'd make a lot of decks. Depending on where it is, I'd take some off of your hands.

[Lee Schierer]

With regard to planing, I would be concerned about how much dirt is on the surfaces. I've cut some Ipe and it cuts nicely, but I've never tried planing it. Obviously someone does it as decking made from it is pretty smooth and shows no saw marks. I do suspect that even carbide planer blades would see a shorter than normal life because the wood is very hard.