Mun Ebony

Our Moon Ebony comes from Laos, where it is found as fallen trees on the forest floor. These trees are estimated to have fallen 100 years ago or more. The color has variegated greens as the picture above suggests, and patterns can be close together stripes or seperated irregular black stripes bisecting green areas. The sapwood sometimes mixes in the heartwood in an irregular way for a nice effect. It must be dried carefully if in pieces thicker than 1 inch to avoid checks which tend to form on the black lines. This is a wonderful turning wood and dries very nicely when turned partially (or completely if you plan to turn the walls very thin) and then allowed to dry in a paper bag. Some people just turn it thin and finish it immediately with good results. It can also be dried in stacked strips under pressure and used for inlay. It usually looks darker than the pictures below. Fresh cut wood may look lighter but color varies quite alot and is hard to determine before you cut it.