Texas ebony is indeed beautiful turning material. It can be turned green for bowls and spindle work if it is turned oversized, dried, and then turned to final size. There are several formulas for bowls that give thickness vs diameter. If it is slabbed it will dry quicker, but should probably be stacked with spacers and some weight on top to minimize warping. If you want to wait a couple of years, you could just paint the ends of the logs and let it dry the hard way. Using paint or anchorseal on the ends will minimize checking at the end grain in either case.
Mesquite is beautiful, very dimensionally stable and has very little distortion while drying, it is a favorite of production bowl turners and those who use bowl saver tools, because it can be wet turned fairly thin, and will warp very little while drying.
Both work nicely when dried for penturners, but really do need to be dried, either naturally or by any of the methods that have been mentioned in other threads. Mesquite, for whatever reason tends to cloud ca finishes for me too.
