Identifying black woods

[azamiryou]

I've got an unlabeled piece of black wood purchased at my local Woodcraft. It was old, dusty, and stuck behind the Gaboon Ebony and African Blackwood turning blanks. We couldn't decide what it was at the store, but I was able to settle on a price with the clerk.

Any suggestions on how to determine which it is, or whether it might be something else (an old leftover piece of real ebony?).

 

[Russianwolf]

I'm assuming its covered in wax, right?

T identify you need to get down to the real wood. If it has a slick oily texture, it's African Blackwood most likely. If it has a drier texture and resembles coal, it's likely ebony.


Now what do you mean by an old piece of REAL EBONY???? Gaboon ebony is real ebony.

 

[azamiryou]

I thought "Gaboon Ebony" was a replacement for "Ebony", a different and now very rare wood... but doing some research, I see that "ebony" is actually a generic name, with D. dendro called "Gaboon Ebony". Perhaps the replaced wood I'm thinking of was D. Ebenum?

Thanks for the tip. This wood is definitely dry, not oily. It also has a small area where it lightens to dark brown, which is consistent with the description of Gaboon Ebony at thewoodbox.com. So it's probably a piece of Gaboon Ebony.

 

[glycerine]

Can you take some pics?

 

[Wildman]

Ebony
http://65.23.157.7/cgi-bin/woodsearch.cgi?commonname=ebony&prior=rrr

Ebony comes in many different colors.

I would call it Ebony and not worry about it.

 

[azamiryou]

I would call it Ebony and not worry about it.

That's what I've done. I'll go post a pic on SOYP.

 

[louie68]

try to put a finger nail mark in the wood if you can't then i say ebony , one of the hardest woods out there, i know i just drill a pen whistle with ebony & turn it , very very hard to work with. Louie