Price of ebony

[johndi]

Found a guy selling ebony blocks
About one inch square and six inches long
$2.00 each a decent price?

[AHill]

That's a very good price, if the quality is good. It's about the size of a pen blank (3/4" x 3/4" x 5"). For comparison, Rockler sells Gabon ebony pen blanks for $3.49 each. "Ebony" can mean a lot of different species. Ask what kind. Gabon ebony is the real standard. If it's not Gabon ebony, the price goes down from there.

[Steve N]

Allan is correct that Gaboon Ebony is the standard bearer. This is the link for Hobbit House scroll down and look at how many different Ebonies are listed. The within Gaboon you will see in the pics that not all Gaboon is that pure Black you visualize when you think Ebony.

If it's just a couple of bucks, and S&H isn't a lot you could take a chance, and not be out much. I find most all Ebony to be a harder wood, and even the bi and tri-color species make very interesting keys for splined miters, and a lot of smallish accents, so it's likely you could still use it. It just may not be what you are seeing in your minds eye.

You can also ask the seller for a written guarantee that it is "all black" if they will give that I'd buy

[johndi]

Thanks for the replies and the link.
The guy had a large plastic bin at a flea this morning, and since I don't know anything about ebony, wasn't sure if I should buy the whole thing or walk away.
I picked up 3 of the pieces and I'm going to try making door pulls.