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?