MACASSAR EBONY FACTS

WHAT IS IT?

Macassar Ebony (Disopyros Celebic) is a magnificent exotic wood that most commonly originates from the Island of Celebes in Indonesia. This exotic wood is known for its beauty, having chameleon or Tiger-like characteristics with a predominantly dark-brown to black base color with eye-catching stripes and undertones of mesmerizing tans, yellows, reds, oranges and greens. The grain and color patterns are usually so compelling and exciting that many martial artists are too astounded, at first, to consider practicing with their martial arts weapons.

In recent years, Macassar Ebony has become extremely difficult to obtain due to excess lumbering, and it is now one of the most expensive woods on the commercial market. For that reason, this wood is used mostly to make necklaces or smaller items.

WHY IS IT SO HIGHLY REGARDED?

Macassar Ebony is commonly known as being the optimal choice of wood for any martial art weapon, because it is strong and powerful enough to create shorter weapons, but also stable and flexible enough to create longer, more slender weapons, such as Bo, Jo and Bokken. It is ranked among the top three woods in the world in each category of Density, Impact Strength and Hardness, and it is the most well-balanced of all woods in the world, overall, resulting in a seemingly indestructible weapon with such a commanding presence that it will leave you with the sensation of holding a weapon of ancient times.

Despite its extreme density, Macassar Ebony has an ideal weight for a martial art weapon that will enhance your skill and technique by allowing you to feel your body mechanics and movements working more quickly and more properly with its heavier, more-to-life feel, and as a martial artist, you will develop and improve more efficiently. The texture of Macassar Ebony is like that of silk, adding a comfort in handling that most wooden weapons cannot take claim for, preventing you from getting annoying and painful blisters and calluses. Ebony weapons are also extremely cost-effective so that you don’t have to buy new weapons for yourself or your students once they break after a few months of contact use.

Ebony weapons will hold up in contact training against any other wood, and while some woods are more capable of being paired against Macassar Ebony (Lignum Vitae, Ipe, Cocobolo), other woods are far too brittle. In fact, when matching Macassar Ebony against your every-day wooden martial art weapons, such as those made out of Oak or Hickory, the result will be similar to using a metal pipe against a 2x4. The 2x4 may hold up for a while, but sooner or later, it will be made useless. In this respect, Macassar Ebony weapons have been known to dent, crack and even completely break other wooden weapons after minimal contact, while receiving absolutely no damage to itself. So, it is cautioned that using a weapon of such a supreme caliber is not suitable against these lesser woods, and it should be noted that such considerable weapons as Macassar Ebony weapons are more appropriate for the more serious student of martial arts or as a gift due to its high price value and rarity.

WOOD QUALITY COMPARISON

Three main components that determine the quality of a martial art weapon:

1) HARDNESS
This is the measure of the power of a wood and how resistant it is to denting and wear. Hardness is closely related to density, and it is important for a martial art weapon in the sense that it determines the ease or difficulty in which the weapon will break upon impact, adding to the attributes of the wood's density. So, if the weapon is well-balanced in both density and hardness, it will be extremely hard to break, crack, dent, etc.

2) IMPACT STRENGTH
This is the main component used to determine overall strength in a martial art weapon, simply because of the context of training, in that there is a lot of contact with other weapons. It is usually indicative of other strength resistance factors, but for the purposes of what strength resistance is applied in the martial arts, the impact strength is the most important. This is also called compression or crushing strength,
and it is the resistance offered to forces that tend to crush wood. So, in the context of martial arts training, it is the resistance to blows from another weapon. Such forces may be applied endwise, and so parallel to the grain, as in a column; or sidewise, where they are at right angles to the grain, as in the case of railroad ties. The highest impact strength is endwise, and there are several components behind impact strength, including breakage, cut of grain, water content and decay resistance.

3) DENSITY
Density is most indicative of strength because of their close relationship. Density is measured by Specific Gravity, which is the ratio between the weight of substances involved and that of an equal amount of
pure water. The closer the wood is to a specific gravity rating of 1, the more dense the wood is. For example, a wood that is 0.80 in specific gravity is not as dense as a wood with an SG of 1.1, which in turn, is not as dense as a wood with an SG rating of 1.3. These numbers simply mean that a wood with a specific gravity of 1.3 is 1.3 times heavier than water, and therefore, will sink that much easier. This is important for a martial art weapon for the fact that the denser the wood, the more closed grained its structure is and, therefore, the heavier the weapon is, adding to a more life-like characteristic to the real weapons. The denser the weapon, obviously the more compact and resistant to breaking, etc., and also, high density has a major influence on performance and maneuverability.

The above are the main components to determine the quality of a wood when put to use in martial arts, and although only three are listed, they encompass many other components used by master woodworkers in selecting the best pieces of wood for hundreds of purposes.

Macassar Ebony is the most well-balanced in all of these components among all wood classes worldwide. It is the 3rd most dense wood in the world with a specific gravity of 1.10, it is among the top 3 in the world for impact strength with a 202 rating, and it is in the top 3 for hardness. The balance of Macassar Ebony is what makes it such a phenomenal, powerful, and almost indestructible wood in comparison to all others. Moreover, it is widely-regarded as one of the most beautiful woods in the world.