Joey; if it's any help, I found the following description of Gaboon Ebony at the Ed Roman site and of Macassar Ebony at the Yumahardwoods site.
Gaboon Ebony
A very dense, very hard wood with straight to slightly interlocked grain. Very fine textured. Gaboon ebony is believed to be the blackest wood that grows. Weight is about 63-64 lbs. per cu. ft.
BOTANICAL NAME - Diospyrus Crassiflora
OTHER NAMES - Cameroon Ebony, Nigerian Ebony, etc., according to country of origin.
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES - This very dense timber has a good steam bending classification and very high bending and crushing strength, with high stiffness and resistance to shock loads.
WORKING PROPERTIES - This is a very hard wood to work with hand or power tools, with severe blunting effect on cutters. In planing, a reduced angle of 20 degrees is required when irregular grain is present, with an increase in in pressure bar and shoe pressures advised to prevent the wood from riding or chattering on cutters. Pre-boring is necessary for nailing and screwing. Takes glue well, and it can be polished to an excellent finish.
DURABILITY - Very durable. Highly resistant to termites. Extremely resistant to preservative treatment.
SEASONING - Billets dry fairly rapidly and well with little degradation. Small movement in service.
USES - Tool, cutlery and knife handles, door knobs, butt ends of billiard cues, piano and organ keys, violin and guitar finger boards, other musical instrument pieces, turning, fancy articles and inlay.
MACASSAR EBONY
(Dyospiros Celebica) also known as striped Ebony
From S.E. Asia, mainly Indonesia, this
extremely rare wood has been sought after
for Billiard-cue butts, brush backs and handles, inlay work, tool handles, and
walking sticks.
Although very black, it does have a faint
greyish brown contrasting grain that gives
it an elegant dark striped look.
The fine texture lends itself to an almost metalic looking finish. The wood works slowly because it is so hard, and must be tooled carefully as it can be brittle. It should
be pre-drilled for nails and screws.
As an inlay material, nothing can compare.
http://template.edroman.com/wood/gaboon.htm http://www.yumahardwoods.homestead.com/macassarebony.html
