Ebony alternative

[Jim Becker]

I found the photos of the chair, etc., I mentioned above...this is Angelus leather dye in both red and black with a matte waterborne clearcoat

Test pieces (reclaimed chestnut with grain the depth of the Grand Canyon ) The black was for the chair and the red is for a small table I designed to accompany it.
IMG_E8417.jpg

The chair after dye and clear coating with matte waterborne. (I take no credit for the chair design...this is Brian Holcombe's creation and it's wonderful)
IMG_E8552.jpg IMG_E8559.jpg

[John K Jordan]

I’m building a cabinet with frame and panel front and sides. I’d like to have very black frames that I can finish the same way I finish the panels. Probably with Osmo.
I’m thinking of making the frames out of Maple, dye with India Ink, sand again, India Ink again, and then finish.
is this the best alternative?

I frequently use ebony for woodturning and one of it's features is extremely fine grain. I'd keep that in mind when picking a wood to ebonize.
I know woodturners who use holly or maple then blacken with black leather dye, looks good. A wood that is ring porous or coarser grained might look black and look nice but look nothing like ebony. As always, try some samples of any candidate!

I agree much ebony is not jet black. In fact I look for ebony that has some brown features. Especially on woodturnings, jet black ebony when polished to a gloss can look just like plastic!

JKJ

[Danny Nevala]

Tom McLaughlin did a Shop Night Live episode on ebonizing a couple weeks back. I found it very informative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUibLIDF3uA

[glenn bradley]

Can you buff it after you dye it? I'm thinking ebony plugs and splines for G&G.

For splines and plugs I would just use real ebony. It is expensive but, smaller pieces are generally available at suppliers. You can Google 'ebonizing wood' for a lot of ideas. None really look like ebony to me with the unfortunate exception of . . . plastic. Real ebony is not black just as ivory is not white; there are many hues that make the appearance distinctive.

The smaller the part, the less obvious the substitution. this is good news for plugs and such but, not so helpful to David with his frames. For David I would select a black or blackish color that suits you and go with it rather than trying to simulate ebony in large pieces. I have taken very pale mahogany to an ebony like look with blue, black and red dyes. As Stewart mentioned, next time I think I will just buy a product to get the result I am after with less fuss.

[John K Jordan]

...Real ebony is not black just as ivory is not white; there are many hues that make the appearance distinctive.

I wonder if Persimmon from the US (related to ebony, Diospyros virginiana) might be a substitute if it would take dye.
Also called White Ebony or American Ebony: https://www.wood-database.com/persimmon/
Persimmon is sometimes available through wood dealers.
I haven't tried applying dye but if the black took perhaps the frames would look and feel like ebony. Might be worth a try.

Persimmon lidded boxes, no finish
persimmon_boxes_e_small.jpg

My favorite Ebony variation is sometimes called Black and White Ebony. Excellent for woodturning but harder to find.
Threaded_Ebony_Box3_comp_smaller.jpg


JKJ