To bad they are bowed and cupped. I live in the Keys and it grows here all be it very very slowly. Caribbean is it's home range. Saw one in Jamaica at around four feet in diameter and 50-60 feet tall. Estimated age about 450-500 hundred years old. I've got to say it is one the most beautiful woods. I planted one in my yard 35 years ago and it is now 4" in diameter and 20 feet tall. Just bloomed last week covered in small sky blue flowers. I would not throw it out you can use small pieces in a lot of application where you have sliding joints. Wood is very oily and works wonderfully for draw slides (you only need thin strips) .

 

I have bought Lignum Vitae a couple of times. Like Bob said, LV is a very slow wearing, oily wood so someone will have a good use for those boards. I have to say though, the $200/bf sounds way off. I'm thinking it was more like $40/bf last time I bought it.

 

I think that LV is suppose to respond well to steam bending though if it is kiln dried, that makes it harder to bend. Just thinking that since it is badly warped already, perhaps you could find a use where flatness isn't an issue.

 

A wooden plane maker might find shorter sections usable and flat enough for long-lasting plane soles. I'd love to make a Krenov-style plane with Lignum Vitae one day. Right now I've got some Ipe, Cocobolo, Bubinga and Goncalo Alves that might do well, but none are as dense and oily as good Lignum Vitae.

 

I live in the Keys and it grows here all be it very very slowly.
- ocean

I grew up in the Keys and frequently visited card sound road to snag pieces of it, even though it was restricted (this was back in the 70's). I can remember cutting a 6" diameter piece and it took over an hour with a hand saw (actually three saws as they kept going dull). Took it back to the woodshop at the high school and went through two band saw blades cutting it into managable pieces. That stuff is like working with metal and will quickly dull and destroy cutting edges!

Here is the only piece I have left from back then:

If what the OP has is really LV, I can only imagine how heavy that plank must be!

Cheers,
Brad

 

If what the OP has is really LV, I can only imagine how heavy that plank must be!

7 pounds.
Bought it at West Penn Hardwoods. I used have a free lift ticket at Holiday Valley, and they had snow after my usual resort closed. So I went down there once a year, and West Penn was sort of on the way home. I bought lots of great stuff they had on clearance because it was too odd to ship. I bought a large bin of scrap cocobolo for $50; sold the worst half for $100 and had 5 bf of pretty decent stuff left over. Big score was beautiful kingwood for $10/bf. Big regret was only buying a couple bf. when they had a whole skid. I just couldn't imagine what I would make with it.
Sadly, they moved to NC; it was fun while it lasted.

 

I think that LV is suppose to respond well to steam bending though if it is kiln dried, that makes it harder to bend. Just thinking that since it is badly warped already, perhaps you could find a use where flatness isn t an issue.

- Lazyman

If it steams that well, perhaps I could rip it, steam it, and clamp it flat?

 

Fun fact:
My brother, long ago, worked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery Maine. He was a welder. He brought home a piece of wood one day, Iron wood, or Lignum Vitae. It was a section from the propeller shaft. Seems in older submarines it was used as a bearing for the propeller shaft that opened up to the ocean. It was hard enough to act as a bearing but would swell with the sea water to make a reasonably snug seal to the outside ocean. Strange but true.

 

At my local place they mostly have smaller pieces, turning blanks etc. Not very expensive compared to some exotics. Probably equates to $20 bf

 

Re lignum , there are whole trunks of it laying in sea elephant dung in the whaling stations in Soth Georgia ,it was used as propeller shaft bearings on the whale catcher built there ,have a small bit from there in my collection , picked up in1982,
Chris

 

isn't it so heavy it sinks?

 

I made a handplane once out lignum. It was very difficult to make I could never get it to cut right. I tried everything spent many hours even threatened to burn it. I eventually threw it out.
Now I hate that stuff.

 

Fun fact:
My brother, long ago, worked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery Maine. He was a welder. He brought home a piece of wood one day, Iron wood, or Lignum Vitae. It was a section from the propeller shaft. Seems in older submarines it was used as a bearing for the propeller shaft that opened up to the ocean. It was hard enough to act as a bearing but would swell with the sea water to make a reasonably snug seal to the outside ocean. Strange but true.

- Craftsman on the lake

Not strange at all, and very true. When I was in the US Navy (surface, not subs), that was what the "bearings" for the propeller shaft were made of. However, we had glands that needed loosening for sea (to minimize friction) and tightening for port so as to minimize leakage. On my last ship (USS Oriskany, now a reef off the coast of Florida, and an eerie experience to watch that scuttling process), my job for sea and anchor detail was to monitor the port-most shaft in the shaft alley where the prop shaft entered the ocean. That's way down there, well below the waterline. That was 45 years ago. I don't know what the navy does for bearings now.

 

Fun fact:
My brother, long ago, worked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery Maine. He was a welder. He brought home a piece of wood one day, Iron wood, or Lignum Vitae. It was a section from the propeller shaft. Seems in older submarines it was used as a bearing for the propeller shaft that opened up to the ocean. It was hard enough to act as a bearing but would swell with the sea water to make a reasonably snug seal to the outside ocean. Strange but true.

- Craftsman on the lake

Very true. It was pretty standard for that back in the day!

 

isn t it so heavy it sinks?

- RobS888

There are 100 plus woods identified as ironwood that are heavier than 62.5 lbs per cubic foot that sink.

 

I made a handplane once out lignum. It was very difficult to make I could never get it to cut right. I tried everything spent many hours even threatened to burn it. I eventually threw it out.
Now I hate that stuff.

- Aj2

I made a spokeshave out of it. Tough to work, but beautiful and feels so nice.

 

I think that LV is suppose to respond well to steam bending though if it is kiln dried, that makes it harder to bend. Just thinking that since it is badly warped already, perhaps you could find a use where flatness isn t an issue.

- Lazyman

If it steams that well, perhaps I could rip it, steam it, and clamp it flat?

- Toller

I doubt that you would be able to get it very flat because there is always spring back with steam bending. You would to to basically over bend it in hopes that it would spring back to a flat condition -not very likely.

 

Plenty of chatter about the Navy's hoard of LV, wondering if/when they'll surplus it out 8^)

 

isn t it so heavy it sinks?

- RobS888

There are 100 plus woods identified as ironwood that are heavier than 62.5 lbs per cubic foot that sink.

- Foghorn

Is that a yes it sinks?

 

Well, if its not all that valuable, I guess I will toss it. Too small for firewood, too hard for kindling.

 

isn t it so heavy it sinks?

- RobS888

There are 100 plus woods identified as ironwood that are heavier than 62.5 lbs per cubic foot that sink.

- Foghorn

Is that a yes it sinks?

- RobS888

Correct, if it's heavier than water, it sinks. Water is 62.5 lbs per cubic foot.

 

Correct, if it s heavier than water, it sinks. Water is 62.5 lbs per cubic foot.

- Foghorn

Perfect wood to make a boat out of!

 

Well, if its not all that valuable, I guess I will toss it. Too small for firewood, too hard for kindling.
- Toller

Of course it's valuable - there are plenty of people who would love to have that wood. Just because it is not something you think you can use, doesn't mean it has no use. If you just want it gone, rather than burn or trash it, put an ad on CL and give it away for free - I guarantee you will get dozens of inquires almost immediately! If I were closer to you, I would snag it in a heartbeat!

Cheers,
Brad

PS: Value is not always measured in dollars

 

When I worked at the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard back in the 60's, the shop floors were blocks of LV set on a sand bed. They never wore out after many years of heavy equipment rolling on it. I believe the blocks measured 4"x4"x6".

 

Correct, if it s heavier than water, it sinks. Water is 62.5 lbs per cubic foot.

- Foghorn

Perfect wood to make a boat out of!

- SMP

That's where buoyancy/Archimedes' principle comes in. In a boat shape, just as in steel or concrete, it will float.