Hey guys-
I have a customer who wants a hinged, locking box of black exotic wood (solid, not veneer). She has a reasonable budget.
Ebony (or African blackwood), aside from being ridiculously expensive, is so hard we fear we won't be able to set the lock and hinges well, and a thorough google search shows me no hinged solid ebony boxes, so obviously most woodworkers feel the same way.
Both wenge and black palm are so splintery that we don't feel comfortable hinging them... we've had experiments in hinging wenge that ended badly due to the splintering.
We can get black walnut pretty black with stain, but she rejected it- she wants exotic black wood.
Any ideas? We can't seem to find a candidate wood that will work for what she wants.
