Has anyone used pink ebony when making a bow. I was thinking about using some for the riser of a bow for the wife. Wondering how easy it is to work with, is it oily, heavy or light? Thanks for the help. Any pics would be great.
you don't mean pink ivory, do you?
Opps. Yes I do Ray. Edit time.
I've used it to make knife handles. It is very hard and dense. Making it hard to work, but turns out beautiful. I'd say go for it.
Pink Ivory
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j297/treeyelpr/pink20ivory203320web.jpg)
Berchemia zeyheri
Family: Rhamnaceae (buckthorn)
Other Names: Red Ivorywood, Umnini, Umgoloti.
Distribution: Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa and scattering in other parts of southern Africa.
The Tree: This is a deciduous tree with a spreading crown and varies in height from under 20 ft (6.1m0 to over 50 ft (15.2m). The boles are usually 7-9 in. (178-229mm) in quarter girth. The flowers are small and greenish-yellow in color. The fruits are small black berries, very similar in appearance to those of the buckthorns.
The Timber: The wood is uniformly bright pink or pale red. The luster is low, and odor and taste are not distinct. It is hard and heavy; when air-dried the weight is 62 lb/ft3 (993 kg/m3). The grain is straight to irregular, while the texture is very fine. The sapwood is almost white, and the pink heartwood, after long exposure, tends to become orange-colored or orange-brown.
Seasoning: Pink Ivory seasons very slowly and needs care to prevent checking.
Durability: The timber is reported to be very strong and stiff.
Workability: It is difficult to work with hand tools, but is an excellent wood for turnery and carving. It takes a high polish. The rays are so close together they are not easily seen.
Uses: Pink ivory cannot be considered a commercial timber because the trees are scattered as to make exploitation a costly process. The small quantities that are felled are used for fancy articles, inlaid work, small turned goods, and carving.
had a Dale Dye Trails end with the riser made of it.
Frankly, it looked like bubble gum when i first got it...but soon, with exposure to the sun, it darkened pretty nicely and turned an orangy-brown color.
It was heavy, dense wood, and made the riser pretty heavy on the bow...and there are a great many more beautiful woods out there.
It would be cool for a longbow as it would lend some weight to the small handle, making the bow a little more stable in the hand, especially if you don't shoot the longbow with a bowquiver attached.
Hope that helps.
I've got a Bill Matlock Predator X2 longbow that has pink ivory on one side of the riser and holly on the other. The ivory has darkened like Ray mentioned. (It was a custom Bill made for his wife at the time.)
Here you go:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/DSCN0389.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/DSCN0390.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/DSCN0391.jpg)
Kevin at RERBOWS made a few bows from it. Ya gotta keep it out of sunlight until it is treated I am told? I gave some to Jeremy and still have a small piece for a handle on a knife.<><
Here's a pink ivory/ebony bow with a purpleheart stripe bow I made for my daughter. I love the way it looks. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/mikebaker/S4020766.jpg)It is pretty dense but not too bad to cut. It gums up a file and sandpaper real fast. Mike