Ebony Forearm Tip Question

[dondford]

I am in the process of building a stock with an ebony forearm tip.  The tip has been installed and looks fine except it has a light colored streak of sapwood running though it.  I will use a oil finish on the stock and are wondering if I could tape the tip off and mix black pigment with the oil, apply as many coats as needed and hope the ebony would absorb the black oil and hide the light streak.
What say you guys?

DF

[LONGTOM]

Sorry, I am not real savy on what you can and can't do with oil stain.
I say if the streak is of an interesting angle or has a unique pattern to it, it might not look bad to let it show through, contrasting the dark, if it is of a lighter color?
It's up to you.



LONGTOM

[gunnut69]

There are many species of ebony and those currently available are not totally black. There is little to do as penetration in ebony with any stain is not likely and coloring the finish will be most likely unsatisfactory.. I would leave the streak as is and just let it be the prof the tip is really wood and not plastic or faux..

[Rangr44]

Apply, & let dry overnite, some MinWax Jacobean (black) stain before proceding to finish the tip along with the rest of the stock.

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[Spector]

My grandfather used to work with woods in the early 1900's.  I seem to recall him saying they used to get ebony in that was not uniformly black and that they ran it through some kind of vulcanizer to get  uniform black color.  I never saw any ebony that wasn't black when he was making violins.

The scales on my buck knife I bought in GITMO had Madesgascar ebony that wasn't black.............Mike

[gunnut69]

Sticks of ebony and other tropical woods are available from suppliers of materials for pen makers and other small crafts projects. Maccasar is a species of ebony that is available just now. It appears to have been plantation grown. The 'gaboon' ebony of the past was from the African nation of the same name (if I remember correctly), though I don't know what it's called today.. Heating ebony will ause massive splitting in the woods I've used as will uncontroled drying. Stain can be used on ebony but it won't pevetrate. So the effect is somewhat like painting. I have used a magic marker (permanent0 for the same purpose and effect.. Some woods change color as they oxidize i.e. purple heart, which cuts to a light brown/tan color but change to a very striking purple hue as the oxidation procedes. Ebony is very dense and there are supplies still in the pipeling but they are fading fast. Also I have heard that some is still being imported from plantations just becoming harvestable.. One looks and perhaps fionds a bit at auctions and large suppliers.. At a local auction just last year I bought a box of knife making supplies from the extate of a gentleman I knew many years ago and buried in the box was a quite large cashe of genuine stag..both slabs and stick..even a bit of crown stag!! No! None is for sale..