Guayacan wood hunter

T

tvandeventer

Joined
Oct 5, 2006
Messages
199
Hi Folks,

This is the same knife I posted a few days ago and somebody wanted to know more about the wood. Guayacan (Guaiacum angustifolium) is also known as Soapbush and Terxas lignum vitae. It is the hardest and densest wood in Texas. I've been told that deer will travel miles to brows on it.

The root bark is made into soap and root extracts were used by settlers to treat various diseases, including VD :eek:.

It makes really beautiful carvings , bowls, walking sticks, etc since the hard internal part of the wood turns dark blue-black upon oxidising. the following link will show you some cut slabs and in the center of the photo is a vinishes vase. Pretty stuff. http://www.mesquitewoodshop.com/lumber/lumber5.html

The knife again:

GuayacanHunterGuaiacumangustifolium.jpg


Hope that answers some questions.

Cheers,

Terry Vandeventer
ABS MS
 
I got a really nice chunk of similar wood, and I'm using it to make my first knife!
Man, it's a lot of work, with only hacksaw and files.:yawn:
Terry, do you know if that stuff is toxic? Should I be careful when I start filing and sanding it?
 
Terry, that is a beautiful knife. I always appreciate seeing your work here.

Lorien said:
Terry, do you know if that stuff is toxic? Should I be careful when I start filing and sanding it?
Click to expand...

Hi Lorien,
I am not Terry, but I would at the very least wear a good quality dust mask for doing any sanding/filing. Even if a wood isn't generally considered toxic you can be allergic and not realize until you have breathed in a bunch of sawdust.

I am not a knife maker but I do carve wood and learned I was allergic to eucalyptus when after carving/grinding on "free" stumps for two hours. I had trouble breathing and my chest was covered in hives, not fun. Always be careful with wood.
 
Being a wood nut, I'm fascinated about this wood, which I know nothing of. Would love to see this knife post-oxidation. What's the wait time?

ken
 
I am really lucky that I have not developed allergies to any of the tropical woods I've worked with. I've chopped, sawn and carried back beautiful red Palo sangre (Dialium sp.) from the Amazon and never had a problem with it either. I've always heard that if it smells sweet, it's bad. Nothing smells nicer than Palo sangre... I just make it a practice to wear a respirator while doing almost anything in the shop. It's not a knife accident that's going to kill you. It's what you breath.

As far as the Guayacan, it has no discernable odor to me. And this is the first knife I've made from it so I don't know how long it will take to darken.

Cheers,

Terry
 
thanks for the heads up you guys.:thumbup:
oh, and again, this is a great looking knife.
 
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