Wanted Philippines ebony

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

JoeCallahan

Member
Joined
May 22, 2018
Messages
235
Location
Bolingbrook, IL
My uncle showed me the pieces below and I was awe-struck. If anyone has any of this stunningly beautiful wood (preferably large enough for a few pen display boxes), please PM me.
 

Attachments

  • 20180816_184523.jpg
    20180816_184523.jpg
    220.6 KB · Views: 322
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

Skie_M

Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2015
Messages
2,737
Location
Lawton, Ok
did a search on "Philippine Ebony" ... apparrently it's supposed to ONLY grow in the Philippines, but some people also term it Macassar Ebony.

Kamagong Iron Wood
There are many types of wood here in the Philippines and among the most expensive and hardest to find and produce is Kamagong or "Iron Wood'. Wood cutters often shy away from a fully matured kamagong tree because they say that with a brand new chainsaw, you can only cut 2 fully grown trees at the most before the tree ruins your chainsaw hence the term "Iron Wood".

Also known as Philippine Macassar Ebony. The kamagong or mabolo (Diospyros philippinensis) is prized for its excellent dark wood. Philippine Ebony is an exotic wood known for its beauty and durability. This wooden materials color ranges from a deep black color to dark brown and dark green with occasional wood patterns with light green color coupled with dark brown and black streaks running all across the wood. Since it is from nature and nature abhors uniformity, these wood patterns are virtually unpredictable in their appearance which adds to the aesthetic value of the wood and ensures each and every weapon's uniqueness in terms of wood grain pattern.

Some properties of the Philippine Macassar Ebony include top ratings in the areas of density, hardness and impact strength. This material has a high density which enables it to sink when placed on water where normal wood would float. Its natural hardness blunts most steel cutting tools for wood working and its impact strength is so high that when tested against other hardwoods, the most other material would stand virtually no chance against it.
Macassar ebony is rare and is one of the most expensive timbers on the commercial market.

I bought Macassar Ebony blanks from PSI a few years ago ... really LOVE the golden color in the black ... it's extremely hard. On the more expensive side, yes, but definitely obtainable.

Make sure your drill bits and tools are very sharp ... highly recommend carbide!
 

PatrickR

Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2017
Messages
1,423
Location
Rural America
The two boards on the right look very nice. They look similar to zericote. Much easier to get than true philippine ebony.
 

Skie_M

Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2015
Messages
2,737
Location
Lawton, Ok
hmm ... strange ... that site that I quoted from has pictures of their material and it looks exactly like my macassar ebony ... still gorgeous, though.

I suppose they may be lying about the source of their wood .... but it's a philippino company and they really should know their products... o_O

Untitled Document
 

leehljp

Member Liaison
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
9,314
Location
Tunica, Mississippi,
About 10 years ago there was a regular member here - Dario Octavio - from whom I think (IIRC) I purchased about 24 round blanks of Philippine ebony wood which he said was persimmon. Some old Persimmon trees have dense oily ebony wood.

I have a little bit of ebony left from a Japanese persimmon tree when I lived there. I didn't harvest it but a Japanese friend purchased some persimmon lumber that was deep rich smooth black. He bought 7 or 8 boards about 10 to 12 inch wide, 2+ inches thick, roughly 6 ft long - for about $800 each board . . . back in 2000, 2001.

"Ebony" is not a species per se, but a reference more to a color - dark dark brown/black. The "ebony" name can be attached to a species name to designate its color - IMHO.

The black on this pen was from Japanese persimmon.
http://www.penturners.org/photos/images/940/1_Best_pen.jpg
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom