Gaboon Ebony

Ebony is a member of the diospyros family.  In the older trees, the wood is very black accounting for the reputation of this wood.  Colors in actual pieces vary quite a bit with at least a little brown being seen in all but our upper grades.  Truly black pieces are extremely rare now. Ebony can vary somewhat in density.  Variances from .80 to 1.16 are possible.  All of our kiln-dried wood seems to be close to the upper end of possible density.   Other pieces fall somewhere between .8 and 1.1.   What today is called ebony is probably not the wood called by the Egyptians and in the Bible as ebony.  It seems that african blackwood was the wood they were referring to.  Ebony is darker however.