When I took my pen-turning class eighteen months ago, the store wouldn’t let us use Ebony for any of our class pens. I wasn’t sure why, but I assumed it was because of the hardness of the wood. I have deliberately avoided it in the ensuing months. Well, after I figured out my CA (cyanoacrylate or Super Glue) finishing technique, I decided that I would give ebony a try. I have always really liked the elegance of a nice shiny black pen. I decided that the Baron was an excellent kit as well and I had another Rollerball kit left after making the Chechen pen.
The ebony comes from Equatorial West Africa, most likely Cameroon. It is also known as Gaboon Ebony. While working with it (drilling and cutting) I was amazed just how black the wood was. Not like the Mun Ebony I have used from Southeast Asia. Before I got the blanks prepared my hands looked like they were covered in soot.
Anyway, I continued with the turning and was very pleased with how the pen turned out. The CA finish is a bit rough (although I don’t think rough really covers it) You can, if you look closely, see some remaining roughness in the wood under the CA. The finish is extremely smooth, but it is not perfect. As the second pen though after figuring out my “recipe” for CA finish, I am over-the-moon pleased that this works.
Almost impossible to see the wood grain in it, but under certain lights a small vein of lighter brown comes through. You can see the roughness that I am talking about in the first picture. The finish is very smooth… that roughness is the wood. One thing about the CA finish is that it is very unforgiving and you have to really take care with your finishing before you apply the CA and when you are polishing the CA.
From a turning perspective, I don’t know why we weren’t allowed to use this for class. It is hard, but not as hard as, say Honduras Rosewood. I had to sharpen my gouges after this pen was completed, but not during. I quite like the Ebony.
To Everything, Turn...Turn...Turn 