Ebony finish question
- Thread starter Luchius
- Start date
Hello Luchius
Did you talk to the Cue maker?
Could you be more specific with your question?
What were you hoping for versus what you recieved?
All of the above is a great place to start. Especially with the Cue maker.
Forum opinions can leave a lot to be desired.
Thank you for being more specific.
Ebony varies quite a bit from piece to piece. It really is a tough action wood. Most think it's jet black and that's it. Some of it is but far from all of it. Gaboon can have patches in it that's still black but the shades are different.
Other variations can be brown with black streaks. I'm going to guess that you were expecting pure black tight grained Gaboon. It might have done you well if it was explained when you ordered.
Looks more like problems under the finish, then difference in the ebony. But it's hard to tell for sure in your pic.
Ebony= Natural variables.
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Now that i've not seen.
Chosen for the green color, or is it the light, or what?
Is it actually diosporos, or is it something "marketed" as ebony?
I'm only a sporadic maker of simple cues, but have handled a lot of lumber in my life.
Curious minds want to know, and my wife says i have a very curious mind.
smt
PS, I tend to agree on the OP Q about the comment regarding finish.
But nobody looking at pictures can really make a determination.
I don't understand makers of any product that have to get rude when a paying customer has questions.
Chosen for the green color, or is it the light, or what?
Is it actually diosporos, or is it something "marketed" as ebony?
I'm only a sporadic maker of simple cues, but have handled a lot of lumber in my life.
Curious minds want to know, and my wife says i have a very curious mind.
smt
PS, I tend to agree on the OP Q about the comment regarding finish.
But nobody looking at pictures can really make a determination.
I don't understand makers of any product that have to get rude when a paying customer has questions.
So much for trying to stay positive. Lol
Can you take pictures of the cue out in the sun light. I added lite to your picture. It's strange.
Can you take pictures of the cue out in the sun light. I added lite to your picture. It's strange.
Ebony--Gaboon
One of the recent problems with Gaboon Ebony is that Bob Taylor of Taylor guitars has a virtual monopoly on it. He has contracted with the government
to purchase ALL cut ebony without the logs being split open to see how dense a blackness it was. Used to be they would fell a tree, split it, and if it wasn't "dead" black it was left to rot as the buyers only wanted the "dead" black logs.
Taylor, being ecologically minded, knew that GE had the same mechanical quantities he was looking for in a fret board irregardless of the color. If you buy a Taylor guitar, and they are not cheap, the fret board might have brown streaks in it. This is the trade off between brown streaked GB and no GB at all.
Stewart-McDonalds's sells a black, oil based, stain specifically for fret boards.
It works just fine on pool cues as well.
With all that said GB is difficult to seal and a few coats of CA glue usually does the trick.
One of the recent problems with Gaboon Ebony is that Bob Taylor of Taylor guitars has a virtual monopoly on it. He has contracted with the government
to purchase ALL cut ebony without the logs being split open to see how dense a blackness it was. Used to be they would fell a tree, split it, and if it wasn't "dead" black it was left to rot as the buyers only wanted the "dead" black logs.
Taylor, being ecologically minded, knew that GE had the same mechanical quantities he was looking for in a fret board irregardless of the color. If you buy a Taylor guitar, and they are not cheap, the fret board might have brown streaks in it. This is the trade off between brown streaked GB and no GB at all.
Stewart-McDonalds's sells a black, oil based, stain specifically for fret boards.
It works just fine on pool cues as well.
With all that said GB is difficult to seal and a few coats of CA glue usually does the trick.
Gaboon is just a pain in the jazz to work with.
It takes a lot of acetone to make it ready for epoxy coat then finish.
This CA does help but that's also a trick and might get yellowish later on.
There is an expensive sealer for it that Dick Neighbors used to tout.
Way tooo expensive.
It takes a lot of acetone to make it ready for epoxy coat then finish.
This CA does help but that's also a trick and might get yellowish later on.
There is an expensive sealer for it that Dick Neighbors used to tout.
Way tooo expensive.
what sealer is that ??
YOU KNOW!
I'm laughing right now seeing I sent you pictures today of one I'm finishing. It's one of my favorite woods to finish. :grin-square:
There are steps to sealing wood. Even in the use of Super glue. When steps are missed. Problems happen.
FWIW, I was not trying to poke at anyone's choice of wood.
I like ebony with some odd coloration and figure - I prefer to see the grain rather than the solid plastic look. Also like the blanks Mr. Webb posted, but have never seen that color as ebony. My Q's were genuine curiosity.
Last year my kid brother gave me a holly log he had sawed and dried. I was pretty excited & decided to stop in and pick up the boards on the way back to NY from DC. Unfortunately it is all green stained, as often happens, But it's kind of pretty in a non-holly way & I may use if for somethings anyway as being interesting. Weird wood often makes more interesting objects.
Re: the subject cue, so far as i can tell from a photo (which can be deceptive) it still looks like finish problems or sand through at the beginning of the process that were not addressed. None of us can know what the contract between the maker & buyer was, either.
Do you have a verifiable citation for this?
I looked at a few hundred ft of ebony last month just before turkey day. (bought koa, didn't need ebony)
Based on conversations here, I'm sticking to my super blonde french polish & carnauba finish. Easy to do, easy to repair, don't intend to ever go big production at this stage of life. :smile:
smt
I like ebony with some odd coloration and figure - I prefer to see the grain rather than the solid plastic look. Also like the blanks Mr. Webb posted, but have never seen that color as ebony. My Q's were genuine curiosity.
Last year my kid brother gave me a holly log he had sawed and dried. I was pretty excited & decided to stop in and pick up the boards on the way back to NY from DC. Unfortunately it is all green stained, as often happens, But it's kind of pretty in a non-holly way & I may use if for somethings anyway as being interesting. Weird wood often makes more interesting objects.
Re: the subject cue, so far as i can tell from a photo (which can be deceptive) it still looks like finish problems or sand through at the beginning of the process that were not addressed. None of us can know what the contract between the maker & buyer was, either.
Do you have a verifiable citation for this?
I looked at a few hundred ft of ebony last month just before turkey day. (bought koa, didn't need ebony)
Based on conversations here, I'm sticking to my super blonde french polish & carnauba finish. Easy to do, easy to repair, don't intend to ever go big production at this stage of life. :smile:
smt
"Do you have a verifiable citation for this"? Not sure what you mean by this remark. However, here is a link to the matter. Whether it is verifiable or not to your satisfaction is your problem. https://www.taylorguitars.com/about/sustainable-ebony