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A collector recently commissioned a slingshot made from Macassar ebony. I have not worked with this wood before and I learned a lot in doing so, not so much from the effort of working with the wood, but obtaining it. It appears that Macassar is becoming a rare commodity and prices are soaring. There are a few species that are similar and are being sold for macassar prices but not actually macassar. Every time I found a piece of wood that was to my liking, it wound up being around $80/bf and often the boards contained multiple board feet. The very nicest piece i found was $300, not including shipping. Needless to say, I did not purchase it. I finally found a small piece with very nice color and grain. I had to book match it to get a board wide enough for a slingshot.
The core is dyed birch with maple and zebrawood layers. The slingshot was infused with an oil mix under vacuum and then hand polished.
It was a pleasure to work with, though on the very dense side. If you ever come across it, buy it if the price is right, there may not be much more available.
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The core is dyed birch with maple and zebrawood layers. The slingshot was infused with an oil mix under vacuum and then hand polished.
It was a pleasure to work with, though on the very dense side. If you ever come across it, buy it if the price is right, there may not be much more available.
