Finish for african ebony

[sherbie182]

I'm completely a clock bob primarily turned from ebony. I would like to achieve a mirror finish with as much 'depth' as possible. Is french polishing suitable for this? I've been informed by some members of my local club that ebony doesn't always take well to certain finishes.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated

[sherbie182]

*completing...

[rightendup]

Maybe try sanding out to about 600 grit and then buffing first with pumice and then with rottenstone. Then go ahead and try the F.P.
The wood below is Cocobolo - near in hardness to Ebony. This wood was treated as above but simply has a little paste wax on it - no ohter finish.

[sherbie182]

Thanks for the reply - really appreciate your time.

I think I will probably go crazy and push up as far as 1200 grit and give the FP a go as you said. I'm already at 240 and it looks pretty decent but this is one place where I really want to 'show off' a little and achieve a really fantastic finish if possible. I'm off to the shop now to keep wrecking sandpaper with it ;).

I will post photos when I'm done to satisfy anyone else who may have some curiousity about the finish.

Cheers!
Sherwin

[Sebastiaan56]

Hi Sherwin,

Ebony is used for fretboards and is normally just polished through the grits to 2000 or so. The master of this technique is OzTradie, see this post http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=98317&page=3 down towards the bottom of the page.

[sherbie182]

Thanks Sebastian - you're right - it looks pretty good as it is and I'm only part way up the grits so far. Such fantastic wood...it's a real shame that it's so bloody hard to work sometimes and so damn expensive/rare.