Illustrative swatch — no photograph on file for this species yet.
Ebene
Diospyros crassiflora
- Specialty wood
- Premium
African ebony is the classic jet-black cabinet wood, extremely dense, fine-textured and capable of a mirror polish. Heartwood is uniformly black or black with faint brown streaks; the sapwood is pale and sharply contrasting. It is sold in small squares and billets for instrument parts, inlay, turnery and knife scales. Note that the CITES Diospyros listing covers Madagascar populations — this Cameroonian species is not itself CITES-listed, but sourcing should still be verified.
Classification
- Commercial category
- Specialty / Precious Wood
- Botanical family
- Ebenaceae
- Density (air-dry)
- 900–1100 kg/m³
- Durability class
- Class 1 (Very Durable)
- Janka hardness
- 14,000 N
- Trade names
- African ebony, Gabon ebony, Ébène, Mevini
- Local names
- Mevini, Ébène
- Regions harvested
- East, South, Centre
Commercial category is a market grouping used in the timber trade. It is not a regulatory or legal classification.
Properties
- Grain
- Straight to slightly interlocked
- Colour
- Jet black, occasionally with brown streaks
- Texture
- Very fine
- Working
- Very hard; blunts tools rapidly
Typical uses
- Musical instrument parts
- Inlay and marquetry
- Turnery and knife handles
- Carving
- Luxury small goods
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