How often does ebony crack?

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

angboy

Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2005
Messages
2,136
Location
North Las Vegas, NV
I've seen many people refer to not using ebony for pens because of it maybe cracking, even awhile after the pen is finished. I was wondering how often that seems to happen? half the time, three fourths of the time, 20% of the time? I see some white with black stripe ebony on ebay that's really pretty, but if I'm going to end up with a large portion of it cracking and people ending up with cracked pens, then I don't want to mess with it. Anyone have any sense of how often this occurs?
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Angela,
Check these threads:
http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6799&SearchTerms=ebony,crack
http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5163&SearchTerms=ebony,crack
http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4404&SearchTerms=ebony,crack
The likelihood of Ebony cracking depends on the species.
 
I have not had the black and white stripe ebony crack on any pen I have made.
The ebony that mostly causes problems is the black Gabon ebony. Black Gabon ebony is heat sensitive and if you are not careful drilling, cutting and sanding you can build up excessive heat that will cause it to crack almost immediately or in a short time. The wood is very oily and IMO the excessive heat causes the oils to expand and crack the wood, especially since it is locked to a brass tube.
Another likely cause of cracking with Gabon ebony is using a friction finish on the wood... you are inducing a lot of heat with a friciton finish and asking for problems.
I use no finish on Gabon ebony other than a light coat of Ren wax after sanding to 12000MM.. REMEMBER to sand lightly without building up any heat... the wood is hard, oily and will take a gorgeous shine just sanding to 12000MM
The Black/White striped ebony will need a finish as it is not as hard and oily as Gabon ebony
 
The only Ebony I have trouble with is the more traditional solid black ebonies. They have not developed large cracks (like say . . . snakewood) but small spiderweb cracks. I have read that that is how you identify true ebony on antique furniture is the hairline cracks. The black and white ebony turns like a dream and had not cracked on me yet.
 
I agree with Griz. One more caution: glue that heats up when curing. I drill my holes oversize, and use 5 min epoxy, which remains a bit flexible. YES, the 5 min epoxy is not exactly like the slower curing version. Heat is the enemy of Gabon Ebony.
 
did have one crack on me at a show from the the sun on a hot day, sun caught the corner of the table, by the time i noticed it was to late.
 
So far, I had Gaboon Ebony, the real black stuff, crack once or twice on me when I forced the drilling of it and did not clear out any chips. A turned pen has yet to crack on me. I have done more than 20 Black Ebony pens, and have some left in my inventory (some done over 2 years ago) and none has cracked. There are some that are very thin-walled, like El Grande, still fine. I think I can say if there might be a problem with Black Ebony it has to do with the preparation of the blanks, i.e. forced drilling thus generating too much heat and maybe start a crack that will further develop later.
 
ol' fritz says if you got a piece of ebony that didn't crack ya got a bad piece. particularly i'm speaking of gaboon. i made a great looking pen once with gobon and pink ivory spliced in at the top and bottom. next day it was cracked on each side of both top and bottom barrells. twas a say day indeed.
 
I have had 3 Gaboon Ebony pens crack out of 10. I was able to repair one of them. One of the pens cracked 2 1/2 months after I made it. From what I am reading here it was probably due to my drilling and finishing on the two that immediately cracked. I still use it if someone orders it but I generally warn them about the possibility of the pen cracking.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom