Who's good at IDing black ebonies?

[Big Ry]

I got this ebony blank in a box of turning blanks from the Madison widow, Cort.

I struggle to visualize the end grain with black ebony species, so I've never been able to confidently ID them by inspecting the end grain. What is clear is that this stuff has a very low pore density.

The blank is throwing me through a loop due to the material density. It comes in at 86.5pcf, which is the densest wood I've ever heard of. My scale is accurate to +/-1g. Even if my scale was 1g high and my tape measurements were 1/32" too low, that's still 80pcf.

It's obviously ebony, but which species? Doesn't seem to fit the obvious ones like macassar, gaboon, and mun. Ceylon isn't even remotely close to this density and has a high pore density anyway.

And ideas?

 

[daniscool]

I got this ebony blank in a box of turning blanks from the Madison widow, Cort.

I struggle to visualize the end grain with black ebony species, so I've never been able to confidently ID them by inspecting the end grain. What is clear is that this stuff has a very low pore density.

The blank is throwing me through a loop due to the material density. It comes in at 86.5pcf, which is the densest wood I've ever heard of. My scale is accurate to +/-1g. Even if my scale was 1g high and my tape measurements were 1/32" too low, that's still 80pcf.

It's obviously ebony, but which species? Doesn't seem to fit the obvious ones like macassar, gaboon, and mun. Ceylon isn't even remotely close to this density and has a high pore density anyway.

And ideas?

View attachment 293977 View attachment 293978 View attachment 293979 View attachment 293980 View attachment 293981 View attachment 293982 View attachment 293983

Hmm. Possibly xanthostemon melanoxylon? Would fit the density much better, can have that colouration and has a pore density lower than the population density of Antarctica. It is also very oily. Most ebonies aren’t.

 

[Big Ry]

Hmm. Possibly xanthostemon melanoxylon? Would fit the density much better, can have that colouration and has a pore density lower than the population density of Antarctica. It is also very oily. Most ebonies aren’t.

It's not tubi. I happen to have a couple boards of that and it's a lot different grain.

 

[daniscool]

It's not tubi. I happen to have a couple boards of that and it's a lot different grain.

Hmm. Mine looked quite similar to your photos barring the lighter streaking. Have you considered ABW with weird sapwood? Coromandel ebony possibly? Would fit the density better.

 

[Big Ry]

Hmm. Mine looked quite similar to your photos barring the lighter streaking. Have you considered ABW with weird sapwood? Coromandel ebony possibly? Would fit the density better.

This is what my Tubi looks like. It's a lot lighter color and has a different hand feel. Its hard to put into the correct words, but the surface is hard whereas black ebonies like this one and gaboon had a soft velvety texture to the surface.



Coromandel is actually a very good suggestion. I completely forgot about that ebony. It's definitely close to the density of this piece. I just don't know if it ever comes jet black with striping. I don't own any and haven't really ever seen it for sale either.

 

[daniscool]

This is what my Tubi looks like. It's a lot lighter color and has a different hand feel. Its hard to put into the correct words, but the surface is hard whereas black ebonies like this one and gaboon had a soft velvety texture to the surface.

View attachment 294024

Coromandel is actually a very good suggestion. I completely forgot about that ebony. It's definitely close to the density of this piece. I just don't know if it ever comes jet black with striping. I don't own any and haven't really ever seen it for sale either.

I have actually made a flute from tubi in the past. I have never had any coromandel ebony. I guessed based on the wood database. I would assume that it behaves similarly to other ebonies in that very few trees are pure black and many are striped.

 

[Big Ry]

I have actually made a flute from tubi in the past. I have never had any coromandel ebony. I guessed based on the wood database. I would assume that it behaves similarly to other ebonies in that very few trees are pure black and many are striped.

Yeah i don't know much about that. I own several ebonies, but by far the one I'm most familiar with and own the most of is gaboon. In my experience that's the most likely to be jet black, though i have no shortage of pieces with brown in them. With gaboon at least, I've noticed that the brown coloring seems to me much less distinct or well delineated from the black. It fades in and out and if usually localized in the pieces i have.