# black and white ebony pepper mill



## brown down (Mar 2, 2010)

My aunt has an expensive taste. she had no idea how much this wood cost. so far, i've got almost 80$ in it, she's lucky i am not charging her, lol. the wood turned like butter, very dense but most of the time dense wood turns well for me! sanded it up to 400 grit, its not finished cause i am waiting on her response as to what finish she wants on it


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

BD, that is stunning. I love that wood and the shape is very appealing. If she doesn't go "WOW!" when she see's it let me know and I'll PM you my address. :icon_cheesygrin:








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## brown down (Mar 2, 2010)

thanks TT, I am pretty sure she will but i will keep that in mind:thumbsup: i am liking that shape as well. I have been turning most of them that way. man that stuff is dense, i hope she doesn't drop it on her foot, she might end up with some broken bones. lol


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## H. A. S. (Sep 23, 2010)

Beautimous work!:thumbsup:


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Holy crap man. Do you ever stop? That's awesome. I really like that wood a lot. It looks amazing. Very, very nice job.


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## brown down (Mar 2, 2010)

Kenbo said:


> Holy crap man. Do you ever stop? That's awesome. I really like that wood a lot. It looks amazing. Very, very nice job.


Ain't no time, for wasting time. haha thanks just keepin busy! no better feeling than making a beautiful piece and handing to a loved one!


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

That's my favorite by far BD! Very cool, please post pics when you get the finish on, even thought it already looks like you do.


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## brown down (Mar 2, 2010)

i thought it looked like it did also. that was very nice to turn, hard and dense but was easy to work with. sucks that wood is sooooo expensive i would use that wood more often


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## phinds (Mar 25, 2009)

very cool


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## brown down (Mar 2, 2010)

so today i had the time to start the finishing process on this piece. when i wiped on the danish oil, i noticed what felt like a ridge running up the whole length of the grinder. after a closer look, the wood checked on me, and is now started on the opposite side. I looked at the stopper part of it and it is doing it also. Well, i a pi**ed to say the least. WOODCRAFT HAD BETTER MAKE GOOD ON THIS OR THEY LOST MY BUSINESS. It shouldn't be my fault they put a product on the shelf that wasn't dry enough to work with. I wouldn't care if the wood didn't cost 60$.:furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious:


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

brown down said:


> so today i had the time to start the finishing process on this piece. when i wiped on the danish oil, i noticed what felt like a ridge running up the whole length of the grinder. after a closer look, the wood checked on me, and is now started on the opposite side. I looked at the stopper part of it and it is doing it also. Well, i a pi**ed to say the least. WOODCRAFT HAD BETTER MAKE GOOD ON THIS OR THEY LOST MY BUSINESS. It shouldn't be my fault they put a product on the shelf that wasn't dry enough to work with. I wouldn't care if the wood didn't cost 60$.:furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious::furious:


Well, I can surely understand your frustration. And I don't want to hiss you off even further, but my suggestion is to wait until you're "over it" before you contact them, or walk into the store if you have one close to you and had bought it like that. 

Woodcraft is not exactly on my list of favorite retailers because I happen to know much about what goes on in their corporate behind-the-scenes endeavors, but you got to remember the people that work there most of them are just woodworkers like us who wanted to get a job there for the employee discounts. 

Is the wood unsalvageable? If so, I'm sure they will make it right if it's a store operation you dealt with. If you bought it online from them it's going to be a crap shoot. 

Good luck and let us know how it turns out. 







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## brown down (Mar 2, 2010)

I don't know how to re chuck it to even turn the checking out, but that won't solve the problem. I have a store 1/2 hr from me so i am going to go up there tomorrow. I have a cut off piece i didn't use so i want them to hit that with the moisture meter. I really hope they would, I have bought probably 1000$ or more this year in wood from them. I just hope they will make good on this, ultimately they are the ones that will suffer, not me. just sucks, I don't know what to do if they offer to give me another piece of that wood. now i am real weary about using another piece of it. Sucks one of my best pieces going in the trash! I will let you know how they treat me!


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

They do have a 90 day satisfaction gaurantee. Hopefully that works for you. I know some places won't gaurantee the moisture content of their blanks because of the nature of them. I hope things work out for you and sorry about your beautiful piece. Judging by your work you'll have a new one in form in no time. Good luck!


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## phinds (Mar 25, 2009)

If they did not specifically list it as dry, it may well be that they sell unseasoned blanks. I know that Klingspore sells at least some blanks unseasoned, and theirs are NOT listed as being seasoned or unseasoned.


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## brown down (Mar 2, 2010)

well woodcraft made good on it, i think only because they know my face and know how much i am in there and how much i buy. they do not warrantee any of their wood. they offered to give me another piece but i refused only because i am fearful that it will do the same. unfortunately for my aunt, she is going to have to pick a different wood because i refuse to work with that type of wood ever again. they have a nice chunk of maple burl up there i will see if she wants that instead. they did say that there is no way to tell if any of the wood is dry enough for working, its kind of a gamble, thats why i like to harvest my own, at least you only have yourself to blame if something like this happens


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

brown down said:


> . . . they offered to give me another piece but i refused only because i am fearful that it will do the same. . . . i refuse to work with that type of wood ever again.


I know what you mean. I ate a Wendy's burger one time that gave me food poisoning, so I swore off all hamburgers for the rest of my life. 

Just sayin', I don't think all black & white ebony is going to crack on you just because one did. I would have avoided another one from the same store though because those blanks could have all come from the same bigger chunk. Glad you got a refund. 



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## brown down (Mar 2, 2010)

well the problem is the price of the wood, you really don't know what you are going to get with anything, but when you buy a piece 3x3x12 and it cost 60$ it has to work the first time, really no room for error or you end up eating a really expensive piece of wood, that which i am not willing to take, there are plenty of exotic woods out there to choose from but as of now, I am boycotting Black and White Ebony, lol. i may see if i can find it cheaper on the web, but so far i can't find anything cheap, and you never know what you are going to get when you order online. you may get B&W Ebony, but the piece might only be white ebony or vise versa!!!!! anyone know of where i can find it cheaper, I am willing to gamble around 30$ i need at least 3" by 8 minimum


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Glad Woodcraft made good on it. I love Woodcraft personally, but then I only deal with them online b/c there isn't one near here and I haven't dealt with their wood. I also have no inside knowledge like TT so my ignorance is bliss. Have you considered, if you get wood from them again, letting it sit and waying it for awhile till it stops changing weight? Or one of the other drying methods (alcohol, microwave, soap, etc)? That is pretty spendy for that size of a chunk of wood, rare though it may be.


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