Ebonite Question

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DocStram

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I'm trying to educate myself about ebonite. From what I've read thus far, bowling balls are made of ebonite. I've turned bowling ball blanks in the past. But, does this mean that the ebonite rods that Pipe Makers Emporium sells are the same thing as bowling ball blanks?
 
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pipeyeti

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No. The rods that pipemakers sells is extruded for pipe stems. It is relatively soft, stinks like heck when turning and can be rough to get polished perfectly unless you have a good buffing setup. Meaning good quality buffs and tripoli,white diamond and carnuba. The beal system is a good one. If you want a nice dedicated buffing setup pipemakers sell one its listed with thier tools. Keep in mind that due to the softness of the ebonite that buffing speeds should be kept below 1800rpm with 1750 being the norm. I use my jet at 1250 and get very good results with out burning the material.
 

pipeyeti

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Pimo pipe craft I believe sells it by the inch, but thier price is even higher. other wise you have to order direct from germany and that means meeting large minimum order requirements.
 

wdcav1952

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Al, would you like enough to do a pen before you buy any?

Let me know and I can spare a blank's worth.

Hold it, stop the presses, the offer is only good for Al, not the entire membership! :D
 

DocStram

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Cav ...... not only did you so graciously pass up the chance to correct my error laden post (How could I have hit the "post new reply" button without proofreading?) but here you are making such a generous offer! I know they're not cheap. I insist on paying for it. pm coming Thank you!
 

PenWorks

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Originally posted by rlharding

As for the rest of us poor sods, where do we get ebonite from?

www.pipemakers.org they have black & cumberland. As stated, not cheap. But you get what you pay for. The best ebonite is made in Germany. I have bought ebonite manufactured in the states and though nice, does not even come close to the German ebonite and the State stuff was only 10.00 per rod cheaper. The guy from Italy posted an add on IAP for ebonite, I am not sure if anyone here ever purchased any from him. He was supose to make me some color samples, well that has been at least a year or more, so I don't think he will ever come through. Since we are at the mercy of only 1 to 3 manufacturers, I don't think we will ever see CHEAP ebonite.
 

rlharding

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Anthony, I have a lot of family who are German. Do you know of a supplier so I can see which cousin it is near? It might be cheaper in Germany and my cousins can bring on their annual visits.

Thanks.
 

its_virgil

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I buy it from The Pipe Makers Emporium at http://www.pipemakers.org but the first I got was from a pipe maker in Denmark. Anthony is correct about the best ebonite coming from Germany. The pipe maker from Denmark even took it off his website because of the quality he was getting from Germany was not what it once was...I need to check and see if he is selling it again.

The sierra I recently posted was sanded to 1000, MM to 12000, buffed with white diamond using Tshirt material, buffed with HUT Ultra Gloss Plastic Polish with the Tshirt material, then buffed with FLITZ using a piece of the same Tshirt. No wheels, no Beall, no 3 on one, or any other fancy buffing set up.

It does stink like burning rubber but makes one nice pen.

I had best luck using a rough out gouge and a skew...light cuts. I found spindle gouges to be a bit aggressive. The roughout gouge I used was a large one...1 1/2 inch but worked very nicely. Ebonite comes off in ribbons and wraps around everything like acrylics can do.

Many bowling balls are labeled Ebonite, but they are really acrylic. Ebonite is now the name of a company that makes them...a brand name or something. A real ebonite ball has to go back to the 60's or earlier, so I've been told.

I hope this info helps.

Do a good turn daily!
Don
Originally posted by rlharding

As for the rest of us poor sods, where do we get ebonite from?
 

GBusardo

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Just to add some info, I do not believe bowling balls are still made of ebonite. Ebonite is a bowling ball manufacturing company that used to make balls out of very hard black rubber probably called ebonite. I do not know what came first though, the company or the material. I am not even sure if the rubber was called Ebonite. One thing I am pretty sure of though, if the material isn't black, it isn't ebonite.
 

bosipipes

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Ebonite is another term used for vulcanized rubber. And it comes in more colors than Black.
There is a company in Germany that makes it. the problem I have been told is the the min order for any one color or size is 1000.00 Euros. we could do a group buy if we can all agree on size and color.
 

ed4copies

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Kirk,

Remember that's 1000 Euros for the MATERIAL, the freight will add another 25% or so, then there's customs (seems arbitrary) and currency conversion charges (3-5%).
 

GBusardo

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Originally posted by bosipipes

Ebonite is another term used for vulcanized rubber. And it comes in more colors than Black.
There is a company in Germany that makes it. the problem I have been told is the the min order for any one color or size is 1000.00 Euros. we could do a group buy if we can all agree on size and color.

I guess I am wrong about this. From what I understood, ebonite was suppose to be a rubber look a like to ebony. I think the old Ace combs were also made out of it. One thing for sure, bowling balls are not made out of rubber anymore, at least in this country.
 
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