I've always used rosewood or walnut rootwood for grip caps and forend tips.....some folks are asking me for ebony.....and I went to Brownells and couldn't find it.....is there a good source for this black African wood?

There are several different types of ebony. Be aware of what kind you want. Some of it is brown or grayish black instead of coal black and Maccassar has distinct stripes, which I find attractive but others may not. There was a company selling "Seconds" of blackwood, which is very similar and dead black, that was originally destined for clarinet bells. They are quite reasonable and should work well for fore end tips. Something like $5 each IIRC. If that interests you, email me and I'll try to ferret out which one I found them at.

To finally answer your question, ebony is availble thru numerous specialty wood suppliers and on ebay. Cookwoods is a major exotic wood seller on ebay that usually has some. Also do a search for "ebony" and you will likely find several others. Be aware that ebony has "issues" and if it is not handled correctly will crack in a heartbeat. Be sure what you are buying is dry.

I recommend Cook Woods. I bought two gaboon 2x2x12" sticks (about $25 each), solid black, no brown stripes (although they have it that way, some folks prefer), very hard and dense, no problems with splitting or cracking even for extended periods of time with no finish while stocks under construction.

The best source I have found is Gilmer wood out of Oregon. I have stockpiled quite a horde of 2x2x12 gabon ebony from them and every piece is perfect coal black with no cracks or checking as received. Last time I bought from them it was about $20 per 2x2x12 stick. Find them here:

www.gilmerwood.com

Ebay

I guess I,m lucky. I bought two small logs from the trinket carvers in Mombassa when I was there several years ago. The debarked it and made some cursory carving on them to qualify as carvings. You can't bring the bark or raw wood into the US but you can bring carvings. After some arguing, the agriculture inspector let them through as carvings. They were about 18 inches by 10 inches. I payed the carvers around $10.00 US. I,m still using them.

How do you make a foreend cap out of a block of wood? Is this difficult?

Not nearly as hard as making a whole stock out of a block of wood!

The hardest part I have had is making sure it doesnt check from storage to work, and finish. But I am over woes now.