Jet Black EBONY

dukeboy1977

dukeboy1977

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Have you ever wondered about the wood in your cue when the EBONY is a solid jet black? Now, I'm sure there are alot of honest cuemakers out there who can be trusted when they tell you that they have done NOTHING to make the ebony wood solid black...BUT on the other hand, I KNOW there are quite a few cuemakers out there that "add" to ebony wood to make it more desire-able. I have heard of cuemakers "dying" the wood to make it darker, or more black when it gets cut down, and a little "grain", or BROWN, shows through. :eek: Me personally, I love it when EBONY wood shows a little "grain" and it has brown streaks in it. For me, the more "character" a piece of wood has, the better! I have noticed lately that any type of wood, as long as it has "character", looks better to me than a plain piece that only shows the color it is supposed to be. Thats boring to me!! I know I'm not the only one like this, so speak up and make it known that you love "character" in wood also :p :D I know I've sold so many cues due to the fact of the wood being "boring" to me, some I really wish I'd have kept cause they did honestly play very well for me.
 
I feel the same. Brings out the character of the cue. A perfect example of this can be seen on my recent thread New Steve Klapp Cue. Bump it up and give Steve a little exposure.:D
 
if you like grain in your ebony you'd probably like the way cues made with macassar look...


dukeboy1977 said:
Have you ever wondered about the wood in your cue when the EBONY is a solid jet black? Now, I'm sure there are alot of honest cuemakers out there who can be trusted when they tell you that they have done NOTHING to make the ebony wood solid black...BUT on the other hand, I KNOW there are quite a few cuemakers out there that "add" to ebony wood to make it more desire-able. I have heard of cuemakers "dying" the wood to make it darker, or more black when it gets cut down, and a little "grain", or BROWN, shows through. :eek: Me personally, I love it when EBONY wood shows a little "grain" and it has brown streaks in it. For me, the more "character" a piece of wood has, the better! I have noticed lately that any type of wood, as long as it has "character", looks better to me than a plain piece that only shows the color it is supposed to be. Thats boring to me!! I know I'm not the only one like this, so speak up and make it known that you love "character" in wood also :p :D I know I've sold so many cues due to the fact of the wood being "boring" to me, some I really wish I'd have kept cause they did honestly play very well for me.
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I've been looking at snooker cues lately and there's quite a bit of talk about this very topic. Some cheaper brands buy lower-grade ebony & stain it. The stain doesn't penetrate deeply (some say its more of a paint than a stain) so it rubs off over time because those cues are also not sealed like a pool cue. Some use wood that is described as "ebonised".
 
Ebonising wood goes back centuries. There is an awful lot of rosewood and other types of wood out there that is being sold as ebony. I personally like to see the wood grain. I always feel that if stain is going to be applied then it should highlight the wood rather than cover it up.

If a cue is jet black and shows no grain then it might as well be maple, or plastic, or any wood. If it's ebony then I want to see the grain and be able to appreciate it.
 
Ebony with Brown Streaks

My Olivier Ebony and Ivory had a nice Brown Streak running through it and it gets alot of nice comments from players that see it.---Smitty
 
Another example of "seperating the MEN from the boys"

I would watch Bill McDaniel pick through countless pieces of Ebony, that he had aged for many years, to come up with the blackest,streak free fronts and butts. He also took the same great pains when he chose his Ivory. Ivory so creamy white you needed a loop to see the grain.
 
It's admirable that Bill does that but it begs the question of why do it if you can't tell that it's really wood or can't tell the difference between ivory and plastic?

I personally like to see wood and ivory with "character". I don't think that prefering one look or the other is a men/boys comparison. You make it seem as if a cuemaker is not professional enough or meticulous enough if they don't use jet black ebony and vein-less ivory.

I just think it's a matter of personal preference. Now if a customer requests that jet black be used and the cuemaker "ebonizes" the wood without getting permission from the customer then it's a different story.
 
hangemhigh said:
I would watch Bill McDaniel pick through countless pieces of Ebony, that he had aged for many years, to come up with the blackest,streak free fronts and butts. He also took the same great pains when he chose his Ivory. Ivory so creamy white you needed a loop to see the grain.
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Well spoken my Friend, nothing can compare a high end Mc Daniel,deep black and snow white.
Ralf
 
I feel the same way about wood character as long as the wood is stable. I have seen a increase in cues made from spalted woods of different kinds and thats a little scary but it sure looks cool.I have a Schon with allot of Ivory and you can only see the grain in one inlay,I would like to see it in every inlay :D
 
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