Ebony rollerball

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MedWoodWorx

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I managed to finish my ebony pen i was talking about; it took me about five days to polish and still the end result is not what i was aiming for. Anyway i had to move on so here it is, thanx for looking.
 

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mnerland

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Wow, that would be disappointing. I've never turned ebony, but have a blank that I have been saving. Your original photos of the pen are beautiful. Is it a reaction to the finish/oil in the wood? I know it is a finicky material to work with. I would like to hear what you came up with for a cause and solutions. Nice work though!
 

MedWoodWorx

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That likely has to do with the natural lighting outside. Is it sunny, overcast, aprtly cloudy, time of day, etc
well my picture is not that good;it's not because of the light reflecting on the pen, the finish became blurry and dull. I don't know why maybe is the finish.
 

MedWoodWorx

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Did you buff it with carnuba? I've had pens buffed with carnuba go cloudy on me before.
actually yes i did buff it with a polishing compound i use; i don't know if it contains carnauba but i ve used it with dozens of ca finished pens with no problem at the past. I ll try cleaning it and re buffing it today and i ll let you know.
 

MedWoodWorx

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Wow, that would be disappointing. I've never turned ebony, but have a blank that I have been saving. Your original photos of the pen are beautiful. Is it a reaction to the finish/oil in the wood? I know it is a finicky material to work with. I would like to hear what you came up with for a cause and solutions. Nice work though!
i have not a lot of experience with ebony either; it's the second ebony pen i make. I finished it with ca because the oily wood would be a challenge to finish with pen's plus or some other kind of oil. I ll try to rebuff it again and i ll let you know.
 

MedWoodWorx

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If I had to guess I would say that the wood is not completely dry.
You think so? To be honest i didn't use my humidity meter before i cut it. Well i bought it from a store last year and kept it aside until i was ready. Maybe the conditions at my shop aren't optimal but i wouldn't call it humid, especially at mid july with a RH ~40%. I dunno you may be right.
 

MedWoodWorx

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Today its a new chapter to my misery since the pen cracked. I had in mind to re buff it but now i simply cannot bother. The thing that worries me however is whether i made a mistake, is it due to this ebony piece ( i am not sure of the exact species, i.e. gabon or some other place) or any ebony wood would behave like this.
 

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Drewby108

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Sorry about the cracking.

My guess to the dull spots on the finish is also about the material not being dry if you used denatured alcohol or acetone to strip the oil before applying finish. I've had that happen to me before.
 

PatrickR

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Today its a new chapter to my misery since the pen cracked. I had in mind to re buff it but now i simply cannot bother. The thing that worries me however is whether i made a mistake, is it due to this ebony piece ( i am not sure of the exact species, i.e. gabon or some other place) or any ebony wood would behave like this.
All of the ebonies are prone to cracking when turned into a pen. Not usually so quickly. I have seen many ideas of why but never a sure way to stop it from happening.
cracks in wood are usually due to loss of moisture and this will happen even with a finish.
Was the ebony waxed? If so it would be considered green.
 
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