Carving Ebony is a B!tch.
 

So I had some scrap gaboon ebony left over from a knife handle project I'm working on, so I thought I'd be cute and try to carve a little animal head. In addition to looking like an inverted phallus, I gotta say I think carving a rock would be easier. Anyone carve this stuff? Holy moly. I think I'll stick to making pine boxes.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1262216369.jpg

A Dremel will go through it like butter. Good X-mas gift idea for yourself.
And you can use it for Porsche work too :).

How to Carve Wood With a Dremel Tool | eHow.com
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg

I've tried. You need very sharp tools. But flamed maple is way harder, as the grain changes direction every mm. You can't really carve it with a chisel, no matter how sharp. The dremel comes in very handy, with fine work using different grades of sand paper.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1262233838.jpg

Ebony and Ivory - by HAND

That is nutz!

My brother did a remodel on an old Antebellum mansion in Alabama. The rafters were mahogany. They had to use a concrete saw to cut them. Mahogany that has been in that attic for 200 years was HARD! He gave a scrap piece of it to my dad to carve on. He gave up on it.