TO ALL OF YOU PENTURNING GENIUS'ES. is ebony wood as black as what i imagine, when I was small our family had an ebony piano which was to say the least very heavy and very black, was this its natural color or was it enhanced in some way

It depends on how old the tree is. Young ebony is a very attractive grey-brown, still heavy, dense and smooth after aging. I have seen a piece of ebony wood that had a very dark brown core with the grey-brown outer. This would have made a very nice two-tone object. Old ebony is a very dark brown/black that doesn't need any enhancing other than smoothing. However, there is lots of fake 'ebony' around, courtesy of boot polish.

I hope you don't mind me splicing your two posts together.
I am by no means a genius of any sort but I will give this a stab.
There are many different species of ebony.
I have been working with it over the last year and discovered the finish gives it a lot of it's color.
Musical grade ebony is probably what your familys piano was made from as opposed to what I am getting.
Some of the better ebony can run upwards of $80.00 a board foot,I have had the privledge of working with a little of that quality.
Sometimes the figure in ebony can be seen through the depth of the finish even though first impression tells you it is solid black, almost a painted gloss black appearance.
You might try a search on the Steinway company to see if they offer any information in regards to there finishing techniques.
I would imagine if the piano your family had was old the quality of that ebony is much better than what is available today possibly dictating different finishing techniques to achieve the same appearance.

Hi Oneill,

Well I think ebony is a loosley used wood name these days and not always the wood we imagine being all black.

I work with ebony a lot in my furniture work, all black means Gabbon ebony to me, every thing else is a variation.

This is what Gaboon ebaony looks like that I work with,





I turned my wife this Jr Emp with Gaboon as well. The wood for this pen was a gift from a friend who makes infill hand planes, this wood was harvested 80 years ago



Beautiful wood if you can find it and know it's dry.......instrument grade is often very expensive if you can find it.

High grade aged ebony is black.

It should also be pointed out that there was nothing unusual in actually dyeing ebony to get a more definite overall black.

Also common was the use of African Blackwood, a far nicer wood with which to work, in place of ebony.

Personally ebony would only be my second choice.

Regards,
Ruaidhrí

Jim and Eagle have it close to right, IMO.

Saying "Ebony" is about like saying "Mahogany" or "Fir" in the wood trade. The knowledgeable woodworker will want to know WTH it is before purchasing. Unless, of course it is too cheap for anything of that type.

If it is from India or Sri Lanka it should be "Diospyros ebenum". If from Africa it is probably Dalbergia melanoxylon or 'mpingo'. There are also a South/Central American impostors. The 'premium' stuff if African with the Indian area a second and then 'other stuff'.

To answer your question "Yes and No". The heartwood can be black or black with streaks. The sapwood can be a brown to orange color. With the value of the wood so high, small branches and crotches are harvested as well as the roots. I feel sure the sapwoods are dyed as they do American Walnut. After the question of where in the tree it was cut from comes direction of cut and how it was dried. With all the questions answered, one can decide if the wood is suitable for the application and take the piece from there and further refine it.

Each time I hear the word "Mahogany", "Ebony" or "Rosewood" I cringe and think of a statement made by L. Francis Herreshoff. "There are woods that are red, and called Mahogany and woods that are not red and not called Mahogany." Unfortunately, there are many in the wood trades that are just about as ignorant and the disease is spreading.

Ron