Blackwood, 6 stars, if you had it.

I have turned a few pens with blackwood and have never had a problem. I too, turn to over 12,000 grit. I cannot believe the shine. This is a wood I will be using for the rest of my pen turning life. Love it!

Great Pen Blanks

I ordered these pen blanks for the Executive pens. They looked beautiful with the chrome contrast.

Good results

Drilled and turned fairly easily. Had enough grain to look interesting. Made a beautiful and elegant pen.

African Blackwood shines

I made a pen and pencil set for a customer who picked the wood. He nearly cried when I gave him the set. This wood is easy to turn with no chipping. Like the other reviewers, I sanded to 12000 grit, but I finish my wood pens with the buffing wheel using Tripoli and Crystal Diamond White. The wood is so dense it looks like plastic. This wood is a hit. I'll use it again.

Easy to work and beautiful

I found working this wood to be a real pleasure and it finished out really great.

Finish to a plastic look

Use the diamond sanding pads all the way up to the 12,000 grit level and this blackwood will look as smooth and shiny as plastic. This finishes so easily and smoothly

Great working and finishing

I not only agree with John Steams of Oregon, but extend the review. I went beyond the 800 grit sanding done by John and used sucessively the plastic sanding pads up to 12000 grit. I then applied EEE, and then Shellawax. UNBELIEVABLE! Though the grain on this wood (I didn't use the two-tone) is barely visible, it became distinctively highlighted and the finish was smooth and glass like. It is a very dense, heavy, but fine grained wood.

Good wood

I just turned pens from 2-tone Blackwood. I love it. It has a great look and they turned out silky smooth. I sanded to 800 grit, finished with PPP. Great looking wood