IN THE SHOP: Trying a sustainable substitute for ebony

Thermalwood Canada’s Obsidian Ebony product is a substitute for natural ebony using hard maple that has been thermally modified and infused with a monomer.
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I would bet that if you stored the alternative wood for a year, the smell would go away. The guys making it are likely using some solvent to carry a chemical into it. It is likely they used something like iron acetate to darken it. For those who don't know: Take steel wool and put it in a jar and add vinegar and put the lid on and leave it for a while and you get this stuff in the vinegar that is iron acetate. If you take a chunk of wood that has some natural tannins in it and apply the iron acetate, the tannins go dark. Unlike a lot of other treatments the dark extends a good distance into the wood.