Couple of Questions on "Difficult" Wood

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David Moore

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I couldn't resist picking up some Gabon Ebony, Snakewood and Purpleheart today at my local hardwood dealer. Reading on the IAP site I'm discovering none of these is too easy to work with and since I am a newbie at this I'm thinking I may have made a mistake in buying these particular woods. But since I am always game to try I'll probably give it a shot. Couple of questions: Would using these woods in small amounts in segmented pens give me less chance of splitting or tearouts? Also the ebony is green. I'm thinking of just storing it for a while but wondered whether I should cut it into blank-sized pieces or leave it as the 1x4 size it is now while I store it?
 
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I can't tell you about the ebony drying, but I can tell you that it requires very sharp tools and can crack easily. Purple heart is not difficult to work with, but its' dust can be irritating to the skin and lungs if you have a sensitivity. I have avoided snakewood due to its propensity to crack, even after a length of time.
 
I'm a beginner...I've been turning since March. Through sheer ignorance, one of the first woods I tried to turn was wenge. It proved difficult, but since I had 16 blanks, I was determined to learn to turn it. I still have some of the blanks, but learned a lot about "difficult" wood from turning it.

Helpful hint number one...don't try to turn wenge and lauan crossgrain :mad:. The first try at segmented blanks I made blanks from wenge and lauan and rosewood. They were made as a slab and sliced at an angle, which resulted in them being cross grained. Of six blanks, I only managed to successfully turn one of them, but I learned a LOT.

I've turned purpleheart (dulls your tools fast, so keep them sharp...lots of silica in the wood.) My ebony was more than ten years old, I but still managed to blow out two of the blanks. Ebony cracks easily if not well dried, I'm told.

Difficult woods can teach you a lot, so just try it and learn.
 
Ebony and snakewood can crack later, much later.

There are a few folks here who have "long-lived" pens, but there is a technique that requires great patience.

The one I know has been successful is DCBluesman.

Personally, I would purchase easier wood to work with now and read more about the ways to make your ebony and snakewood "behave" when you gain more experience and confidence.
 
Purpleheart,really as a difficult wood? I love using it. it does dull things fast, but don't think I've had any other problems with it.
 
Even if well-dried, ebony will crack if it experiences heat, so be careful how you drill/mill and don't let the pen hang out in the sun or locked in your car on a sunny day.
 
I've worked with all three. Purpleheart was easy to work with and always turned out good. Snakewood, I've used it once and it cracked. Ebony, I've only had one piece of ebony crack. My technique for working with ebony is called luck. Instead of ebony try blackwood I understand it doesn't crack as easily.
 
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Some techiniqes used for crack sensitive wood and other materials:
1) Drill very slow, cooling drill bit very often. The wood should not feel warm. This can take up to an hour or more for a set of blanks.
2) Dry fit tube and notice how it fits but don't glue in. In a day or so, you will notice the hole has gotten smaller; open it up with a round file until it is loose again. Repeat. When it stops getting smaller, you can glue it in and turn. This can take up to several weeks.
3) Do not press fit the kit pieces into the tubes which stretches them and stresses the wood. Sand or file them down until they are a slip fit in the tubes and glue them in.
 
If the Ebony is green, you will have to let it air-dry for a long time or send it off to someone to have it kilm dried.

If you don't aleady have one in your arsenal, pick up a moisture meter. It will save you from destroying expensive exotics.
 
and keep in mind that this isn't life or death. Don't be afraid to try something new, if it gets destroyed so be it. Just pick up where you left off and try again
 
they are all woods that can present interesting challenges for a begginer, that being said do not be afraid to use them. the purple heart can sometimes be a pain to get a good finish on but it is a great wood and you can do interesting things with the wood if you use heat to bring more oils to the surface.
 
What keeps me away from ebony and snakewood is that eventually they will crack. It could take a couple of years after the pen is made but it will. Russ fairfield has an interesting story about ebony that I am not going to pass on because it is not my story but I suspect he has not turned an ebony pen since.

On the brighter side, folks are more likely to loose the pen before it cracks so your kinda safe :)
 
Thanks for all the advice! I'm not into selling pens at this point and I probably won't even give these away but rather keep them and see what happens. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
 
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