I am having a hard time locating some ebony for the accent stripes on my rocker. The ebony needs to be about 50" long and 2x2 stock. I can locate short stuff all day long, but the longer stuff is hard to find. Any suggestions?

 

Let me also add, if you guys know of another type of wood I could use for black accents, I am open to ideas, the chair is walnut.

Call these guy and see if they can get it for you. Their in Oregon.

 

http://www.gilmerwood.com/

 

Scroll down the page to the 7th photo.

 

Rich

I asked on another forum about the Ebony and was asked " what kind of Ebony"?

Can you dye maple or a similar wood to work for you?

Hi Rich, I am just looking for something darker then Walnut for an accent color. Ebony came to mind. I thing Gabon Ebony would do fine as well. But I am looking at other species now since it looks like it will be cost prohibitive at this point.

Any ideas on species?
Richard McComas said:

I asked on another forum about the Ebony and was asked " what kind of Ebony"?

That could work in other project John, but the accent strips are going in the rockers themselves, after the bent lams are assembled, there is some considerable carving and shaping to do, so the dyed wood would just get shaped away. Not a bad idea, just wouldn't work for this purpose.

John Hechel said:

Can you dye maple or a similar wood to work for you?

Hello John,

Here is the solution for you. Simply take some walnut and soak them in black liquid shoe polish and then let them dry a few days and you will have a poor man's Ebony as seen in the two pictures I am about to post.

Now here is the second one;

Ralph Allen Jones said:

Hello John,

Here is the solution for you. Simply take some walnut and soak them in black liquid shoe polish and then let them dry a few days and you will have a poor man's Ebony as seen in the two pictures I am about to post.

How deep will the black color go into the wood?

Ralph Allen Jones said:

Now here is the second one;

Ralph Allen Jones said:

 

 

Hi Richard,

It penetrates all the way through if you are usine 1/4" stock.

 

Ralph

 

 

Ralph Allen Jones said:

Now here is the second one;

Ralph Allen Jones said:

Thanks guys, those dyeing procedures are very interesting, that could have been a cool topic for our finishing forum! Those are some great ideas and I wish I could use them in this project but I can't see soaking strips of 2" wide by 50" long pieces of wood, then inserting them in between layers of lams and then after all is said is done, I take the power carver and grinders and take off in some case an inch of material and then expect a nice even tone or color to show up underneath. That is a really big gamble for this project. It takes a lot of work to get those rockers glued up and bent, then the rockers are assembled on the almost finished chair before the rockers are shaped to final curves. Man, that would be a lot of work to do just to find out the colored dye didn't soak all the way through. I could definitely see doing this in projects like Ralphs where the dyed wood is used in plugs and smaller accent pieces, those are wonderful suggestions. But my gut is telling me this is a bad idea for my application. If I am completely wrong, I hope for some more enlightenment. I am here to learn as well!

 

John,

Before you apply the wood to your piece take a sample of the same wood you are using and drop in into the dye or shoe polish over night and then let it dry. Then find out for sure it has completely penetrated cut one in half.

 

Ralph

 

 

 

The American Woodworker said:

Thanks guys, those dyeing procedures are very interesting, that could have been a cool topic for our finishing forum! Those are some great ideas and I wish I could use them in this project but I can't see soaking strips of 2" wide by 50" long pieces of wood, then inserting them in between layers of lams and then after all is said is done, I take the power carver and grinders and take off in some case an inch of material and then expect a nice even tone or color to show up underneath. That is a really big gamble for this project. It takes a lot of work to get those rockers glued up and bent, then the rockers are assembled on the almost finished chair before the rockers are shaped to final curves. Man, that would be a lot of work to do just to find out the colored dye didn't soak all the way through. I could definitely see doing this in projects like Ralphs where the dyed wood is used in plugs and smaller accent pieces, those are wonderful suggestions. But my gut is telling me this is a bad idea for my application. If I am completely wrong, I hope for some more enlightenment. I am here to learn as well!

Oh that would be just sweet Gene! Your sense of humor is wonderful, thanks for the laugh

Gene Howe said:

How are you with masking tape and a wee little paint brush? Hee hee

how about a different wood then?

maybe mohogany, or even some other exotic like Bacote'

That's what I was looking for John! Some great ideas on a darker accent wood too! So Bacote? I'll have to do a search and see how that looks. Thanks man.

John Hechel said:

how about a different wood then?

maybe mohogany, or even some other exotic like Bacote'

the top piece here is Bacote, it's black and gold colored.

I have several site I'm always on that sell exotic and they have ebony quite often. ill be making my cane out of it so im tryin to find rather a long piece

Good luck Jacob, let me know if you find a source for long ebony, I am still in need of it for my next rocker. Glad your here buddy jumping into the fray!

Jacob Thomas- Albion Snow said:

I have several site I'm always on that sell exotic and they have ebony quite often. ill be making my cane out of it so im tryin to find rather a long piece

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Wounded Warrior Project and Homes For Our Troops

Not a source but an interesting article on ebony

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

What a coincidence, I just read that one too. How can it be a conflict of interest? Isn't that how most things are preserved? If we didn't love beef as a society, we would not guarantee the survival of the cow. Conflict of interest? I don't think so.

Lewis Kauffman said:

Not a source but an interesting article on ebony

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Wounded Warrior Project and Homes For Our Troops