From what I have been told , the reason you often don’t see large cuts of ebony is that ebony isn’t consistently black throughout the board . As such they cut out the darkest sections and then sell those sections priced accordingly .
Back in march when I last went down to high desert they had GABOON EBONY and MACASSAR EBONY in 8/4 x 12 inches wide by 12 ft long . They even had a couple 15ft boards of 8/4 .
The last couple years I have worked a lot with both Gaboon and Macassar Ebony I can tell you that it will carve . But you have to have absolutely nat butt sharp chisels. It also will take the edge off very quick , so you have to sharpen constantly or you will start chipping .
Myself I found scraping and the use of files , to be the answer .
Here is one of the Shotgun butt plates I did a couple years ago from Gaboon . As you can see , prior to oiling the color varies. But once oiled is blackens right up .
Know that the color will still show but you have to look very close to see it
ebony also in and of itself , is very oily so you have to plan your finish accourdingly
prior to oil
after oil and in the process of back ground removerl of engraving
here is another Buttplate that i did in Macassar . this piece had even more browns in it . I have been told that it also blacked up alot more . but it had not at the time i finished the gun .
after oil but prior to background removel on the engraving
While chatting with Jerry Huddleston on the subject of ebonizing . He told me that he vacuum packs as part of his ebonizing . What he told me was that this produces a very deep dark and well penetrated color that’s not just a surface treatment . But I have yet to try this process
