my samples --- colors are accurate throughout (with one noted exception)
The first pic is of a piece that is rough sanded and really doesn't do the wood justice. If that piece were fine sanded, even without a finishing agent, it would look very much richer. See the turning at the bottom of this page for a good idea of what the wood can look like finished.
end grain closeup of the piece on the left directly above --- all of the lines you see are sanding marks
two views of a very small solid piece --- the left pic shows raw wood and the right pic shows the other two sides, which I've rough-sanded (sanding marks very evident). The brownish color is correct.
small piece and end grain --- dark color is correct
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
veneer --- there is a huge variation in this wood as to how much light color there is: this piece is pretty much on the extreme side of haveing large amounts of light color. The actual color of the lighter areas is just a bit more light tan (and less golden) than is shown here.
veneer --- this sheet is the opposite of the one above in that it is pretty much on the extreme side of having almost no light areas.
veneer with a more normal mix of light and dark
veneer
veneer with a slight green tint in the pic that is not present in the real wood
NOTE: it was difficult to get the colors to come out accurately on the two really dark veneer sheets, as you can tell by looking at the color of the white ruler paper at the top of each pic. The colors are accurate for those sheets, now that I've played with the settings.
veneer --- the actual wood is slightly more black than I was able to show in the pics
veneer sheet and closeup
narrow veneer sheets
web pics:
very nice plank; pic submitted by Al Amstutz
planks
planks
this turning stick seems to have a little too much red color
planks
some turning sticks and a plank, all with what I believe to be too much red color
planks and turning stock
figured plank and closeup
bowl blank; pic submitted by Al Amstutz
end grain (the one with the orange is probably from the BogusColorVendor)
thin wood bookmatched pair set up for guitar back --- color is too green to be believable
pen blanks that have been oiled and waxed
scales
figured veneer
veneer
veneer
veneer
veneer
veneer
veneer
veneer
veneer sheet closeups
macassar ebony in a turned bowl. The upper pic shows a side of the piece in which no amount of color correction could bring out a grain but in the "front" view of the piece, I was able, by seriously diddling the colors, to bring out a slight grain pattern that you actually can see in the real wood. This all shows pretty clearly that macassar ebony can be used in place of real ebony in many cases. Not all macassar ebony is lacking in lighter streaks, but many are and the application of even a clear stain or polyurethane darkens it all to an almost uniform black.
snare drum using some really high contrast macassar ebony. I'm not sure what the finish is, but there obviously is one.
guitar back and side
guitar blank
what I consider to be an outstanding combination of form and function. These are salt and pepper shakers, with the pepper shaker being mostly-dark macassar and the salt shaker being mostly-light macassar. Very clever, I think, but then I'm easily impressed. :-)
a single turning sample done to show the various aspects of the grain pattern. STILL NEED TO DO A COLOR CORRECTED VERSION - the color here is very close but I think I can get it better. The finish is polyurethane (several coats).
