What types of ebony are most often used for pipes? I can find the following types available:
Gaboon (Gabon)
Macassar
Phillipine Striped
Ceylon
Madagascar
Black
Thanks,
dave boling
Have a look at http://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/ which has some photos. I’ve found Madagascar ebony to be good.
I’ve got some Macassar ebony. Not bad in price. It has a little more loose fibre than blackwood, but seems to turn nicely. It also has a good “ring” when tapped. I’m wondering how it will do for mouthblown pipes.
I think madagascar is good. Nigerian is excellent but a little hard to come by these days.
Alain Froment uses Macassar ebony.
From what I’ve seen and been able to ascertain, the striped ebonies (Macassar, Phillipine, etc.) are a bit stringier and don’t seem to be as dense, as marc said. However the Macassar I have takes a beautiful polish and seems quite hard and dense enough for pipes; it’s especially beautiful.
Generally the black asian ebonies are the most highly prized (though they are getting harder to come by), and seem to be the blackest, densest, and most fine grained. African ebony (“true” ebony or diospyros sp. not african blackwood which is occasionally referred to as “african ebony”) seems to be a reasonable substitute but I have yet to see mainland african ebony as nice as indian/asian ebony - it also seems a little stringy to me. The Madagascar stuff is an exception, it does indeed seem to be excellent, but pity the poor lemurs!
Dave, species aside, there is a lot of variability in quality of ebony and in the care with which it has been handled. Ebony seems to care a lot more about how it’s been treated than some wood, so I would choose according to supplier more than species.
Bill
Macassar is always striped brown/black, to the best of my knowledge. Perhaps you mean Madagascar ebony?
Interesting topic for me. I was wondering about this: Ebony (don´t know what kind for sure, deep black, no stripes, think Madagascar) is an awful stuff to work with, because it is relatively light and it´s black dust is all over the room. You look like a coal-dealer. This is different with African Blackwood: It is a bit heavier and the dust sinks down much faster. However, very many vintage sets are made of Ebony. Of course, African Blackwood was not known or used for union pipes in those days. Does any one of you know wether the old guys got some heavier gender of Ebony?
Cheers,
Hans
Hans:
I have some heavy (S.G. > 1.0), fine-grained stuff which I use. The problem is the same, it’s like coal dust and it does indeed get everywhere. I think this is because of the very small size of the dust particles, not because of low density. With ebony, the denser the better.
Interestingly, the Macassar striped ebony doesn’t seem to have this problem, at least not to the same degree, which I think confirms the notion that it’s grain or fiber structure is different from the black ebonies. I haven’t turned central my central African ebony yet (my samples are still ageing), perhaps I’ll turn a blowpipe or something and report back.
Bill
On the subject of looking like a coal miner, I’ve found that the fine ebony dust gives me a belting headache, and so I wear a mask when turning it. Maybe it’s psycological but it happened every time. Peter thinks I may just be allergic to bagpipes - like him. . . . .
Well, you’re probably best off wearing a good dust mask anyway. So far none of the dusts from exotic woods have bothered me, but I was muckin’ about with some spruce and thought I would die.
P.S. Bill, I’ve noticed that the macassar ebony I have has pronounced striping when freshly turned, but it seems to darken to a fairly uniform black rather quickly. Any further away than six inches and I can’t tell it from blackwood by looking.
Marc
There’s a blackness of ebony in Taylor sets that you just don’t see today. Of course, that wood was old-growth wood. Alain started out with African ebony but switched to macassar. It is all about looking over the supplier’s stuff and selecting pieces based on your preferences. Alain also had Kennedy’s old stock of ebony (tree trunk) that was cut down at least 60 years ago. So, if you can turn up old supplies like that, that would be great.
Robbie Hughes had old boxwood from a pier that was being torn down in Belfast 25 years ago. I think that he had access to as much as he could haul away.
Alain used Indian ebony for a while that Steve Scales soursed for him ,made him a cut price set in return .Indian ebony is now impossilble to get due to export bans .
Are you sure about the boxwood from a pier ? it would more likly be greenheart or ligum vitae
RORY
Green heart.
Best to check with Alain on what he’s using for ebony. I do not know that he looks at a lot of it and is very selective.
Interesting; the stuff I have (from multiple sources) keeps its pronounced figure for years. Probably a different species, the common names for these woods are pretty unreliable. A good part of the time the dealers probably don’t get the species name right anyhow 
All ebony is fairly old growth, it’s not cultivated anywhere yet to my knowledge. I believe you can still get Indian ebony occasionally, I think the ban only covers logs (and now sawn material 3 inches or less in thickness).
As for blackness, as Marc’s comment suggests, ebony does get darker with age. While the blackest stuff is scarce, you can see noticeable darkening over a relatively short time.
Bill
I use gaboon if I use ebony, It’s pretty darn dark stuff…
http://www.bellforestproducts.com/squares_htm/exotics/gaboon_ebony.html
I’ve always been partial to Gaboon Vipers.
Though I don’t suppose they make good chanters.
What is the darkest, most dense ebony abailable?
Is that the baslisk from the Harry Potter flick? It actually beautiful in a give me the full force willies kind of way.
Nope, it is a real viper. They are pretty animals.
Which is the ebony that is the most dense? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?