Construction by one type of wood (5)
I believe the answer is:
ebony
'type of wood' is the definition.
'construction by one' is the wordplay.
'construction' is an anagram indicator (answer constructed from certain letters).
'by'+'one'='byone'
'byone' anagrammed gives 'EBONY'.
(Other definitions for ebony that I've seen before include "Hard block tropical wood" , "'Hard, dark wood (5)'" , "Very dark black" , "hard stuff" , "Material for key" .)