lignum vitae cracking issues?

John Wilson

John Wilson

Well-Known Member
A customer has requested that I use lignum vitae for handle scales. He wants three folders for family heirlooms and the significance of the wood is that it’s taken from a log of lignum vitae which marked the entrance to his grandfather’s property years ago.

I am reading reports that this wood has serious issues with cracks over time. I’m hoping that you gents might have experience with this wood. Is cracking a foregone conclusion or is this wood suitable for folder scales?
 
Lignum vitae is a poor candidate for stabilizing.

True lignum vitae is one of, if not THE, hardest most durable woods on the planet. It is super oily and very dense. It has been used to make bearings and bushings for airplane propellers and shafts.

There is a wood called verawood that is pretty hard and has similar appearance to lignum vitae. It is VERY often incorrectly referred to as lignum vitae, but it isn't the same thing.

I wonder if that might be contributing to this confusion? I have never heard that true lignum vitae is prone to cracking and its characteristics and historical uses suggest that wouldn't be the case......but I don't know for certain.
 
J. Doyle said:
Lignum vitae is a poor candidate for stabilizing.

True lignum vitae is one of, if not THE, hardest most durable woods on the planet. It is super oily and very dense. It has been used to make bearings and bushings for airplane propellers and shafts.

There is a wood called verawood that is pretty hard and has similar appearance to lignum vitae. It is VERY often incorrectly referred to as lignum vitae, but it isn't the same thing.

I wonder if that might be contributing to this confusion? I have never heard that true lignum vitae is prone to cracking and its characteristics and historical uses suggest that wouldn't be the case......but I don't know for certain.
Click to expand...

Thanks, John. I knew it was used for bearings as well. That's why I was surprised to see people talking about it cracking and splitting. I had the customer send me some pieces of the wood. Years ago his father had some rounds cut off the log to use as coasters. He sent me two of these "coasters" which are about 6 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick. Being that they are rounds, the end grain is what is showing. On both of them I see what looks like checking in some areas between the growth rings.

My plan is to crosscut the coasters into slabs. Flip the slabs over so that the end grain is on the sides, and mill the slabs to thickness. Then I'd be using a slab for each scale instead of end grain, although being cut from a round it's not far from being end grain because on a 6in round, cutting across the rings just means I have small ring chunks making up the slab. By the time I mill the slabs down to 1/8" I don't even know that I'll have made much difference.
 
Well,,, ya learn something new every day. I never knew they used wood for bearings. I almost fell over laughing when I saw that they used wood for the clutch in my LG.
 
There are some things that wood is great for. Prop shaft bearings on ships were made of wood forever. We’d still be using wood for that had journal bearings not been invented.
 
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