Ebony - a generic name, it means a set of species of trees having black wood . The tree, which is most often called black, is an ebony tree that grows in Africa (Zaire, Nigeria, Cameroon) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka, India).
Historical reference
Ebony is called differently: mugembe, black tree, "music tree", Mpingo, "zebra tree". Since ancient times, people used the bark, leaves and wood of an ebony tree, attributed to them magical properties. In the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun were found products from black wood. This valuable material was shipped to Egypt from East Africa. It was believed that weapons, the material of manufacture of which was an ebony tree family, could kill evil spirits and demons. Amulets symbolized courage, courage of their owner, and, according to popular beliefs, brought strength and dexterity.
African tribes used ebony for the preparation of charcoal, because its wood has extraordinary hardness and high heat dissipation.
Ebony products are often attributed magical properties. For example, ebony boxes were intended for storing magic items in order to preserve their qualities.
Properties and characteristics
Ebony tree has a powerful trunk, in diameter reaching more than a meter. It has a height of about 10 meters. It grows very slowly, due to which it has a high density, 2 times the density of oak. It takes many years to reach marketable sizes.
Ebony bark is not valuable and therefore is used only in traditional medicine by African healers. The wood is sound, very strong (density is 900-1000 kg / m 3. At a moisture content of 15%), oily, which provides resistance to the effects of any atmospheric phenomena. The densest texture is in Ceylon ebony.
With changes in temperature conditions and changes in humidity, the structure remains stable. The core has a brown-chocolate color, often with a purple or light purple hue. The sapwood is less dense, yellowish in color. Wood is easy to polish, turn. The black tree is not subject to rot and damage by insects (even omnivorous termites bypass it).
The leaves of the ebony are leathery, large, evergreen, but in rare cases can fall during drought.
All tropical species have wood that has a beautiful natural matte sheen, but some varieties may also have a metallic sheen.
Ebony essential oil is quite problematic. It is used in the manufacture of perfumes, because it gives the aroma depth and emphasizes neighboring notes of perfume.
Workpiece Features
The ebony tree is poorly dried. When harvesting wood, the method of preliminary drying is used. It consists in the fact that about two years before cutting down, special circular notches are made on the trunk, this stops growth. In order to avoid excessively quick drying, the wood after cutting is tightly covered from the sun and drafts and the ends are treated (lime or other similar material is suitable for this purpose).
"Musical" tree
Due to its density and water-repellent properties, black wood is successfully used in the manufacture of high-end musical instruments. Especially popular for wind instruments such as flute, clarinet, oboe. Also made of ebony wood are keys for the piano, fretboard and lining on the handles of guitars, violins. The neck of the guitar, for the manufacture of which is used ebony, the center of gravity of the instrument shifts to itself, which is important for professional performers. A guitar shell from a well-polished ebony does not create echoes, if the pick comes off the strings. Fingerboard overlays do not wear out and hold the frets well.
In addition, ebony wood can be used for gluing pianos and pianos, which are made of small pine.
Furniture manufacturing
Black wood has been used for inlay and veneering since the 17th century. In 1733, the price of wood imports was reduced, as a result of which its widespread use began.
At the beginning of the 19th century, stylization for such cultures as Roman, Greek, Egyptian became fashionable. At this time, curl chairs made of ebony wood began to gain popularity. Outwardly very graceful and weightless, in fact, durable and heavy.
In Russia, the popularity of elite ebony furniture began from the time of Peter the Great, and from the 18th century mahogany began to be used more often.
To date, ebony is used for furniture decoration elements, as well as for the manufacture of exclusive products. For emphasized luxury, wood elements are combined with components from expensive metals.
For decoration and inlay of furniture, musical instruments, a planed ebony veneer is used.
Interior items and souvenirs
Due to its unique properties, ebony wood is ideal for machining in the manufacture of various items: figures, knife handles, souvenir products.
The most skilled ebony carvers are people from the Makonde tribe. They make extraordinary expressive sculptures from ebony. In the work they use the method of joining materials that are different in texture: carefully polished elements and cut without processing.
Today the value of ebony is also high, from this elite material are made: chess, backgammon, canes, boxes for wine, cigars, decor elements, frames for photos and paintings, hilt for blades and much more.
Use of fruits and leaves
The black tree has edible fruits, which differ in astringent taste (this is due to the accumulation of tannin in the tissues). However, it disappears during freezing and during storage. In some countries, a high-calorie leaf of ebony and its flowers are consumed. Syrups, compotes and many other dishes can be prepared from them. It can also be consumed raw and dried.
Ebony fruits, depending on the type and place of growth, can be of different sizes. In eastern persimmons, for example, berries reach 10 cm in diameter.
Healing properties
Europeans in the Middle Ages were confident in the anti-aging properties of the elixir from the tincture of the bark, core, fruits and flowers of ebony. It was also believed that dishes made of ebony could neutralize poisons.
Residents of Mozambique and to this day ebony is used as a medicinal plant. Used tinctures from the core, bark, leaves and flowers. Inhalation of therapeutic smoke is practiced for malaria, migraine, bronchitis. Medicines based on tree roots are used to relieve abdominal pain.
Some varieties of ebony
Lunar ebony is not like other types of ebony, because its wood has an unusual structure, forming bizarre stripes. The color of wood can have any shade from dark to light yellow and whitish. Moreover, before sawing a tree, only by its appearance, it is impossible to recognize the color of wood. This species is the rarest, it can only be found in impassable Philippine forests. Only those trees whose age has reached 400 years or more are subject to felling.
Madagascar ebony grows, as the name suggests, on the island of Madagascar, as well as on the Seychelles. Wood is anthracite-black in color, its fresh cut has a metallic luster.
Ceylon ebony - one of the most expensive varieties of ebony. It grows in Malaysia, Indonesia, in Ceylon. The color of the wood is dark brown.
Cameroon ebony has a deep black color, gray streaks are possible. The most common variety of ebony. Valued below other species due to open pores of wood.
Makassar ebony grows in Indonesia. Its sapwood is yellowish-white, black in color, the core has a characteristic pattern of stripes of brownish hues.
Due to its unique properties of wood and increased demand, as well as the fact that more than one hundred years must pass before reaching the commodity age, ebony is becoming increasingly rare. Since 1994, an ebony tree is listed in the Red Book.
Elite items made from the most valuable ebony wood are an exquisite and expensive decoration.