I've had a request to build something with Lignum Vitae and was wondering if any of you have experience with this wood. I see it is used for bearings on nuclear submarine prop shafts and in hydro electric turbines!! WTF? I'm thinking I do not have proper tools for working with it. Maybe small bits like a bridge or something?
Any advice?
Replies
Hi Bruce.
I have used it for bandsaw guides and each one lasts for years. As has already been said it is an oily wood. I would be cautious about glueing it to anything as the glue may not take readily. There may be advice on the internet on which types of glue (if any) work. Alternatively you may be able to treat it with some sort of spirit to remove the oil on any surface that you want to glue.
Good luck.
John
Yes, I figured this would be a time to use a screwed on fretboard or no separate fretboard at all and maybe no scarf joints either. Thanks for all the tips guys!
ti works with regular woodworking tools no problem. I have used it for a nut many times. If you buy some avoide the green looking stuff it is the low quality stuff. Cheers Ron
Many years ago I used a piece of lignum, which I had been given, to make a chanter for a set of Irish bagpipes. This chanter had a conical bore which meant step drilling it on a lathe - a slow job but not too bad. I then needed a conical reamer which I did not have (having previously made Northumbrian bagpipes - parallel bore!). Another pipe-maker agreed to lend me one but only during an open day at a local museum. So, I had a conical reamer, but no lathe! I had to ream the chanter by hand. By the time I had finished the muscles in my forearms felt harder than the lignum. However, it did make a really nice sounding chanter.
An interesting bit of wood for sure. It is a variety of iron wood known as the 'tree of life'...it is medicinal, is same material as Merlin's magic wand (from King Arthur lore), and Pete Seeger used lignum vitae for his banjo neck.
I`ve used it on my slide tops already....very hard to work with...does a good job of burning the tips off my 3/32 dremel cutters.
I bet it will be a hard build. I have of Aussia didgee wood for pups that I have to scrape/machine rather than sand. Very hard oily stuff. Wood like that if worked with power tools sometimes gets hot and the oil comes out and turns the wood totally black but a nice looking black.
Bob