Best Black Wood

[Seer]

What is the best Black Wood to use for pens? I know ebony is not, especially for me and I tried a piece of African Blackwood last night but screwed up and drill the wrong size hole for a Sedona (large hole in both pieces). I have it sold so off to woodcraft tomorrow for some more if you all think it is a better solution. Also is CA a good finish for this wood? Any ideas are helpful.
Thanks
Jerry

 

[its_virgil]

I like African blackwood and use it often. There are several black dyed and stabilized wood choices. Check the offerings of most all of the suppliers.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

What is the best Black Wood to use for pens? I know ebony is not, especially for me and I tried a piece of African Blackwood last night but screwed up and drill the wrong size hole for a Sedona (large hole in both pieces). I have it sold so off to woodcraft tomorrow for some more if you all think it is a better solution. Also is CA a good finish for this wood? Any ideas are helpful.
Thanks
Jerry

 

[mbroberg]

I agree. I've made several pens of African Blackwood, but they do not stay around long. Paired with Ti Gold hardware the African Blackwood makes a very sharp pen (IMHO).

I like African blackwood and use it often. There are several black dyed and stabilized wood choices. Check the offerings of most all of the suppliers.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[Seer]

Thanks

 

[drjpawlus]

I use a ton of african blackwood simply because it is perhaps the nicest turning wood there is. Easy to get amazing detail and why it is so often used for finial work.

 

[retireddeepsea]

I too enjoy using African Blckwood. In fact I have posted a couple of pens here "Show off your pens" under "Never done this before" just a couple weeks ago. I have another glued up for turning today. I think the blackwood turns well, reacts to the knife well, finishes well, and those who have received one really like the appearance and weight of the wood.
Enjoy that AB.

 

[wolftat]

There is an article in the library about ebonizing wood. That may make it possible to use a piece of maple or something like that to get the desired effect.

 

[Seer]

Thought about ebonizing wished I had the time maybe on some maple I have but this time I will use the blackwood. Woodcraft has it for 1.80 a blank along with the sedona kit in chrome. Going to get a few this time you never know.

 

[Bree]

Ebonizing is pretty easy to do. We do it with leather all the time. We call it "Vinegaroon". The concept is to use iron (rusty nails or steel wool etc) in vinegar to create ferric acetate. It takes about a week to brew up a batch. The vinegaroon acts as a mordant with the tannic acid in the wood or leather and the result is a deep and durable black.

Leather is tanned basically with wood... either Oak or better Quebracho bark. They are very high in tannins. With the wood, the tannins are already in there so you can just immerse it in the vinegaroon and it turns black. If your wood needs extra tannin, get Quebracho Bark from a taxidermy house like Van Dyke's and create a solution and let the wood soak it up. Then get it into the vinegaroon and it will turn black.

Bog oak is black because a similar process occurs over centuries as the oak tannins react with chemicals in the bog muck.

Of course you can also just turn the piece and get some black dye and dye the darn thing right on the lathe! That is the simplest and fastest way. though not necessarily the best.
:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

[Gary Zakian]

Bree,

Thanks for the practical insight.

A few questions. (1) When you say to place the wood in the vinegaroon is that before or after turning? I could see turning the blank to slightly oversize shape, putting it in the solution, and shortening the time it takes to ebonize. (2) how long does it stay in solution? (3) does it need to dry for a while after taking it out of solution?

Gary Zakian

 

[GaryMadore]

I have used black bottled ink (like Quink that you can get at Office Depot, etc) on black walnut and it came out well. It's not ebony, but it's black....

Cheers!

Gary

 

[wolftat]

Didn't even think about Bog Oak, I have plenty of that if you need some.

 

[wdcav1952]

Bree,

Thanks for the practical insight.

A few questions. (1) When you say to place the wood in the vinegaroon is that before or after turning? I could see turning the blank to slightly oversize shape, putting it in the solution, and shortening the time it takes to ebonize. (2) how long does it stay in solution? (3) does it need to dry for a while after taking it out of solution?

Gary Zakian

Gary,

Check out this article in our library.

http://content.penturners.org/articles/2009/Ebonizing.pdf

 

[Seer]

Well I did get a chuink of blackwood but I also found a blank of Macassar Ebony and what a royal pita it was to try and finsih. Everytime I THINK I got all the scratches and went to finish it they came out like weeds, I finally ended up ruining the blank which really upset me as it had alot of character, either I am tired or black woods are a pain to finish , probably tired I think. Ended up cutting up the blackwood and gluing in the tubes and will try a fresh start in the morning, too late now.

 

[Seer]

Thanks Neil if it wassn't a rush job I would take you up on it.

 

[Craftdiggity]

What is the best Black Wood to use for pens? I know ebony is not, especially for me and I tried a piece of African Blackwood last night but screwed up and drill the wrong size hole for a Sedona (large hole in both pieces). I have it sold so off to woodcraft tomorrow for some more if you all think it is a better solution. Also is CA a good finish for this wood? Any ideas are helpful.
Thanks
Jerry

Just curious here... Why is ebony not the best black wood? What could be better than the real thing? I have never had trouble turning ebony. Aside from the cost, why don't you like it?

Chris

 

[Bree]

Just curious here... Why is ebony not the best black wood? What could be better than the real thing? I have never had trouble turning ebony. Aside from the cost, why don't you like it?

Chris

It likes to crack.
:frown::frown::frown:

 

[Bree]

Bree,

Thanks for the practical insight.

A few questions. (1) When you say to place the wood in the vinegaroon is that before or after turning? I could see turning the blank to slightly oversize shape, putting it in the solution, and shortening the time it takes to ebonize. (2) how long does it stay in solution? (3) does it need to dry for a while after taking it out of solution?

Gary Zakian

You could do as you suggest. Really the best way is to just let some blanks sit in the solution for a long time and just suck up that ferric acetate so it is deep in the wood. But you can just do a surface job if you wish. The reaction happens quite quickly. I would let the blank dry of course before turning it to the bushings. So ebonizing with vinegaroon is not a job done in minutes... more like hours or days.

But compared to 5,000 or more years to create bog oak, vinegaroon is FAST!! LOL!
:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

[Bree]

Didn't even think about Bog Oak, I have plenty of that if you need some.

Wolftat sent me some extras in an order I placed with him and he threw in some Danish Bog Oak. It is VERY nice stuff and I highly recommend it. He has all kinds of good things that he sells.
:wink::wink::wink:

 

[dankc908]

Didn't even think about Bog Oak, I have plenty of that if you need some.

Are you the one with Danish Bog Oak? I'd like to see some pix if so.

Dan

 

[Gary Zakian]

Cav, Bree,

thanks for the input. I will try the ebonizing process soon.

gary zakian