Ebony Chinese Checker Board

3328 Views 18 Replies 11 Participants Last post by RainMan 2.0, Feb 22, 2018

Multiwood

Discussion Starter · Feb 19, 2018

I didn't want to make it out of Ebony but the customer insisted. I told him Ebony is best for inlays, not
large projects too much movement in the wood as temperature and humidity change. I told him it would be
expensive. He wanted Ebony, and not just any Ebony, African Ebony the best. Well just the material came
to $900.00. I used Dominoes and Epoxy in all the seams. While making it I had a piece laying on the bench
in the sun and when I went to pick it up I could not hang on to it, to hot. After three month he brought it back
all the seams had opened up. After six weeks in my 50% moisture room the seams mostly closed up. You
can still see the seams in the picture. I gave it back to him and he was happy, but I wasn't. Than he asked
me to make him a marble box to store the marbles. You guessed it hi wants it made out of Ebony.

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DaninVan

· #2 · Feb 19, 2018

Larry; 'My shop. I'm the Pro. My rules.'
If you know something is just plain wrong, and the client won't listen, politely decline the commission.
When was the last time a professional portraitist took painting instructions from his/her subject...
Tough love, Larry.

Reactions: 1

JOAT

· #3 · Feb 19, 2018

The client is what is termed a discerning person.

Or, as us plain folk say it, more money than brains.

Reactions: 3

ggom

· #4 · Feb 19, 2018

I' agree with Dan :
If you know it will be wrong, don't.

That's the back of a cutting board that don' t move any more!
Strongly fastened 20 screws to a thick plate of aeronautic aluminium alloy !
Not my work , but I like the fun of it.

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kklowell

· #5 · Feb 20, 2018

The problem with doing work for someone when you know it will not look great is that another person (with more brains than money, perhaps) is likely to look at it and rate your skills by what he sees. It might discourage them from asking you to make them something. Maybe when a customer is insistent, you could tell him that you will only make it his way if you can add a disclaimer to the back of it. LOL

Reactions: 2

DaninVan

· #6 · Feb 20, 2018

Great point, Ken!
That brought to mind the situation where the client wants to do their own painting on a reno. If you know and trust their proficiency, well that's one thing, but if not what's the first thing a visitor to the project notices?

Reactions: 1

Multiwood

Discussion Starter · #7 · Feb 20, 2018

Hay Dan in the end the customer was happy. He realized what I told him would happen.
When he wanted the marble box made out of Ebony and I told him no he asked what would
I recommend and I suggested Birdseye Maple. He was very pleased with the Birdseye. Sometimes
you have to do the wrong thing for the right reason. Now he asks me. So I think it was the
right decision to do it his was so he could see that doing it wrong is wrong.

Reactions: 3

hawkeye10

· #8 · Feb 20, 2018

Knot working said:
I didn't want to make it out of Ebony but the customer insisted. I told him Ebony is best for inlays, not
large projects too much movement in the wood as temperature and humidity change. I told him it would be
expensive. He wanted Ebony, and not just any Ebony, African Ebony the best. Well just the material came
to $900.00. I used Dominoes and Epoxy in all the seams. While making it I had a piece laying on the bench
in the sun and when I went to pick it up I could not hang on to it, to hot. After three month he brought it back
all the seams had opened up. After six weeks in my 50% moisture room the seams mostly closed up. You
can still see the seams in the picture. I gave it back to him and he was happy, but I wasn't. Than he asked
me to make him a marble box to store the marbles. You guessed it hi wants it made out of Ebony.

Larry, my perception of Ebony was that because it was such a hard and dense wood it would never move. I learned something today and so early.

Multiwood

Discussion Starter · #9 · Feb 20, 2018

Don the sun is the killer of Ebony. Since it is black it absorbs the heat live you wouldn't believe.
I was warned when I bought the wood to not leave the finished product out it the sun, which I
passed on. But it wasn't taken seriously.

DaninVan

· #10 · Feb 20, 2018

But WHY?

Knot working said:
Don the sun is the killer of Ebony. Since it is black it absorbs the heat live you wouldn't believe.
I was warned when I bought the wood to not leave the finished product out it the sun, which I
passed on. But it wasn't taken seriously.

I'm kind of shocked that the epoxied joints opened up???
The board components were free to expand and contract as a unit. How did they manage to develop enough energy to push themselves apart?
I'd be suspicious of the epoxy bonding to the Ebony (too oily?).

Reactions: 2

DesertRatTom

· #11 · Feb 20, 2018

The seams opening up are probably because of differences in density along the length of the ebony. A loser grain in some areas would expand a little differently than a dense area. Glue the two different areas together and they would act like a cam and force the seam to open. Lucky it didn't develop a more severe crack. But I bet the maple box looks great beside the playing board.

Semipro

· #12 · Feb 20, 2018

here is a article that may help
Gluing Oily Tropical Hardwoods | The Wood Database

Reactions: 2

OPG3

· #13 · Feb 21, 2018

I would make him 10- more just like it and take him a humidifier to boot!

I also have customers with an excess of money that's burning holes in their pockets! I help them relieve that burning sensation!
I've owned a number of successful businesses, one was a company I named "WATERTIGHT FOUNDATIONS". I had volunteered to be laid-off by an employer so that none of my coworkers would "get the axe". I was number two in sales of a five-man sales team. One sold more than me and the other three combined sold less than me. The owner/boss asked me into his office to help him decide who to "let-go". I said let me think about it over the weekend. On Monday morning, I said (privately, of course) How about me? He turned as white as a sheet! I said, "I'll introduce anyone you choose to all of my customers and we should be able to retain all of the business!"

Long story short, everything worked as planned! I instantly became a Foundation Contractor - which is a field where I already had lots of experience. Within a week, I had more business than I knew what to do with! Over the next few years, we acquired a customer that we nicknamed "Cost-Plus Charley". He built some of the finest and most expensive houses in Atlanta. Many of these houses were for people who are "household names" with many of them in excess of 20,000 square feet (that's not a typo!). One day we were building a foundation for a very well-known owner of a copy-machine company and "CPC" asked me how much the waterproofing was going to cost him - per square foot. I said, "It's going to be a very sturdy multi-layer composite of fiberglas-reinforced BlockBond modified with Acryl-60 and followed-up with two layers of contrasting colors of Thoro-Seal - also modified with Acryl-60 and it will run you $1.60 per square foot of wall area + cant strips and coating of exposed footings for $3.20 per linear foot. He said, "What would I get for $3.20 per square foot + $6.40 per linear foot?" I said, "This is the best thing I can offer you already!" he said, "Well put it on good - because THAT'S WHAT I WANT!"

The comedian, Jerry Clower told a story about a rich guy with very expensive horses who bought the most expensive blankets money could buy for his horses.

Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia, USA

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DaninVan

· #14 · Feb 21, 2018

Otis; there's a huge gulf between helping folks with too much money spend it, and allowing a client to dictate BAD building practice.
It will inevitably come back to haunt you. I don't want to leave the impression that I'm recommending being disrespectful; far from it.
This is more along the lines of a parent being firm with their child.
If you were an auto mechanic, would you allow an uninformed owner tell you how to replace and adjust his brakes?

JOAT

· #15 · Feb 21, 2018

DaninVan said:
Otis; there's a huge gulf between helping folks with too much money spend it, and allowing a client to dictate BAD building practice.
It will inevitably come back to haunt you. I don't want to leave the impression that I'm recommending being disrespectful; far from it.
This is more along the lines of a parent being firm with their child.
If you were an auto mechanic, would you allow an uninformed owner tell you how to replace and adjust his brakes?

True. But at times some people will just keep on you, and keep on you, and nothing you can say will sink in, and they just keep irritating you. So, get it all in writing, exactly what they want done, then charge the Devil out of them. Later, if they complain, hand them a photo copy of the agreement. Sometimes that's the only way you can deal with some people. Oh yeah, you can also delay finishing the project.

Reactions: 1

Herb Stoops

· #16 · Feb 21, 2018

@OPG3--
I also have customers with an excess of money that's burning holes in their pockets! I help them relieve that burning sensation!

HAHAHA Otis you are just a good businessman, hahaha
Herb

Reactions: 2

DaninVan

· #17 · Feb 21, 2018

JOAT said:
True. But at times some people will just keep on you, and keep on you, and nothing you can say will sink in, and they just keep irritating you. So, get it all in writing, exactly what they want done, then charge the Devil out of them. Later, if they complain, hand them a photo copy of the agreement. Sometimes that's the only way you can deal with some people. Oh yeah, you can also delay finishing the project.

Ain't that the truth, Theo!!!

DaninVan

· #18 · Feb 21, 2018

Heh...in the common vernacular that's referred to as being an enabler.
Just tell 'em you're Sicilian.

RainMan 2.0

· #19 · Feb 22, 2018

OPG3 said:
I would make him 10- more just like it and take him a humidifier to boot!

I also have customers with an excess of money that's burning holes in their pockets! I help them relieve that burning sensation!
I've owned a number of successful businesses, one was a company I named "WATERTIGHT FOUNDATIONS". I had volunteered to be laid-off by an employer so that none of my coworkers would "get the axe". I was number two in sales of a five-man sales team. One sold more than me and the other three combined sold less than me. The owner/boss asked me into his office to help him decide who to "let-go". I said let me think about it over the weekend. On Monday morning, I said (privately, of course) How about me? He turned as white as a sheet! I said, "I'll introduce anyone you choose to all of my customers and we should be able to retain all of the business!"

Long story short, everything worked as planned! I instantly became a Foundation Contractor - which is a field where I already had lots of experience. Within a week, I had more business than I knew what to do with! Over the next few years, we acquired a customer that we nicknamed "Cost-Plus Charley". He built some of the finest and most expensive houses in Atlanta. Many of these houses were for people who are "household names" with many of them in excess of 20,000 square feet (that's not a typo!). One day we were building a foundation for a very well-known owner of a copy-machine company and "CPC" asked me how much the waterproofing was going to cost him - per square foot. I said, "It's going to be a very sturdy multi-layer composite of fiberglas-reinforced BlockBond modified with Acryl-60 and followed-up with two layers of contrasting colors of Thoro-Seal - also modified with Acryl-60 and it will run you $1.60 per square foot of wall area + cant strips and coating of exposed footings for $3.20 per linear foot. He said, "What would I get for $3.20 per square foot + $6.40 per linear foot?" I said, "This is the best thing I can offer you already!" he said, "Well put it on good - because THAT'S WHAT I WANT!"

The comedian, Jerry Clower told a story about a rich guy with very expensive horses who bought the most expensive blankets money could buy for his horses.

Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia, USA

Otis, that’s a really cool story about saving the other employees jobs, and it ended well too

Your not only a genius , but have a big heart as well . Your a pretty rare person IMO

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