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Macasser ebony

2/15/16       
CBWW

I will be pricing a set of chairs in Macassar ebony and have a few questions on its workability. I have made plenty of chairs in mahogany with mortise and tenon joinery, bandsaw the parts out rough then flush cut them on a shaper with high speed steel knives run off a bearing. So the question- can I use a hollow chisel mortise or should I expect to use a router bit? Should I expect any problems flush cutting? With the cost of this material, I don't want to experiment or make mistakes.

2/16/16       #2: Macasser ebony ...
doug mclaren  Member

suggest you obtain sample and cut 1 typical mortise and tenon. you cant compare the density of mahogany to ebony, macasser or gabon.

2/16/16       #3: Macasser ebony ...
CBWW

I understand the density is different. I have machined gabon before for inlays bandings etc. but never did any joinery type work. Macassar is $85 a board foot so before I drop some cash to "experiment"
I was hoping for some feedback.

2/16/16       #4: Macasser ebony ...
doug mclaren  Member

like i said get a small sample, before you quote. you can get 2x2 12s from most retail outlets relatively cheap. especially compared to getting stuck in a money losing job. sizing to a jig on shaper for chairs sounds like a nightmare. mortises i would drill out first then route. kinda oily, but must be mschined slowly with
new sharp tooling

2/16/16       #5: Macasser ebony ...
CBWW

Thanks Doug. I'm leaning toward ordering a small chunk to try it out. AS far as flush cutting off a shaper, I have done probably a atleast a thousand chair parts over the years that way. Bandsawn to a line very close, tack on a pattern, and cut freehand off a rub collar. no problems on mahogany. I have the potential for 12 Rhulman chairs in Macassar so the experiments will be well worth it. Just hoping for some help here first though.

2/17/16       #6: Macasser ebony ...
John Costin

Danger, Danger, Will Robinson!

When you said "Ruhlmann" you set off a warning light ;8>). I know his work pretty well and have watched a lot of it being built by colleagues (not done it myself).

Two important details:
1. Macassar Ebony is very unstable and prone to checking, etc... -- especially in the solid.
2. Most of Ruhlmann's work was veneered on every surface -- legs and all.

No offense, but if you are thinking of doing Ruhlmann repros in solid Macassar I am going to wager that you don't have sufficient understanding of his work. This is some of the most technically challenging furniture that has ever been built and not to be undertaken lightly.

2/17/16       #7: Macasser ebony ...
doug mclaren  Member

again, ebony cant be compared to mahogany. you cant just tack a pattern. better to glue.

2/17/16       #8: Macasser ebony ...
doug mclaren  Member

i agree with john. consider build with mahogany and veneer with ebony

2/17/16       #9: Macasser ebony ...
Dennis

I've never built anything as large as a chair out of ebony but I do cut quite a bit of it for smaller items (fashion accessories). It is beautiful wood, but very dense, very brittle and, as mentioned, prone to splits and checks.
Steel cutters will not last long, I only use carbide router bit, burned up a new set of steel jointer knives just recently with ebony. Can't comment on how well it glues with conventional wood glue but works well with epoxy.
I would think that predrilling any fasteners would be a necessity keeping in mind the brittle nature of this material. Square chisel mortising - probably not going to work. The dust is NASTY breathing protection is very important.
I would agree with the other commenters about using ebony veneer instead of solid.

11/25/16       #10: Macasser ebony ...
Allan Member

Building chairs with veneer? Seriously?
Outside of a very flat seat, how would you do it?

We've done a lot of work with macassar ebony (disclaimer: we also sell it), it is very, very hard, but machines reasonably well with carbide tooling. You shouldn't have any problems with pattern routing using a shaper.
That said, cutting your mortises will be challenging. The macassar will make short work of your mortiser chisels. I suggest using a router to cut mortises. You will need to take very light cuts. If the wood begins to smell burnt, you'll have to take an even lighter cut.
Also, take the above advice and have dust collection, air filtering, and masks available, the dust is very irritating.

11/27/16       #11: Macasser ebony ...
Allan Member

Went back and looked up Ruhlmann chairs; pretty amazing stuff, a lot of it is upholstered. The arms on the upholstered chairs looked reasonable to do in solid wood.
It's true that any ebony has its share of checks, but the East Asian ebonies, to which Macassar belongs, are not as unstable as gaboon ebony, which is a smaller tree. Before machining our Macassar, we fill any checks with colored matched epoxy (usually black); it becomes indistinguishable from the wood and allows the Macassar to be machined without problems. If you don't prefill with epoxy, the existing checks will blow the machined piece apart.
One last observation, the Macassar ebony Ruhlmann chairs I saw on the web are black with orange stripes; Macassar that is typically available is black with white or tan stripes. I suspect that the black with orange stripe material, which is highly prized, is only available as veneer.


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