lignum vita

Lignum Vitae has been referred to as "iron wood" in many print articles. However, it is not the ironwood that is commonly referred to by knife makers. Most makers, when talking about ironwood are referring to "Desert Ironwood", which comes from the southwestern deserts of the U. S., or the northern areas of Mexico.

Lignum Vitae comes from the Central American jungles. It is extremely hard and for many years was used as a type of bearing for propeller shafts on U. S. Navy vessels where it functioned extremely well. I have talked to Navy vets who tell me it was still in use at least up through the 1980's on older ships. The wood is extremely heavy and has a specific gravity of about 1.2, which means it will sink in water even when completely dry. It has a very high resin content, which is what gives it the weight.

Lignum vitae makes a superb knife handle. It will eat sanding belts and can burn with high buffing speeds or dull belts, again due to the high resin content. It polishes very nicely with no additional finish.

Fox

[This message has been edited by Fox (edited 07-17-2000).]
 
Dave Ellis ABS Mastersmith here. Lignum Vitae
is also known as hedgeapple. It is not DesertIronwood but is heavy and dense, not nearly as nice looking as desert Ironwood.
Dave Ellis,ABS, M.S. http://www.mastersmith.com

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Dale...I'm from the ozarks and we refer to bois de arc as osage orange or hedge apple. Is this also a common name for lignum vitae? Strange...


Jeff Jenness
 
I had an old hammer made out of Lignume Vitae that was made for exclusive use as a wood carvers hammer. It weighed about 3 pounds, had a sculpted (spun) oak handle about 8 inches long (that fit comfortably in my meathooks) with a head dimension of approximately 5 inches in diameter on the end tapering to 3.5 inches over 5 inches in length. Nothing was glued in place; everything was cross-pinned with small pieces of Vitae.

I say all this because one day it got legs and walked out of my shop. I had it for many years and gave me endless joy in its' use with out any serious marring of the face. If you have a block of this wood and think that you can form it to a knife scale, the knife will turn to dust before the handle ever gives way. You may encounter some difficulties attaching it to the metal as it is virtually impervious to epoxies due to the high resin content. Cutlers rivets or screws may be the way to go depending on your design.

All the Best

Dileas Gu brath
 
I have had good luck with Loveless bolts or Corby rivets on full tang knives.

Fox
 
Jeff J. The Bois de arc is a close kin to it, but not exactly the same, Not quite as heavy and not as much resin as Lignum Vitae.


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old pete
 
thanks everyone, that's the information i was looking for.
dav, what can i do to get a better epoxy bond?
 
Magnum;

You may want to 'crossbolt' it. I don't know if this will throw the balance of the knife off or not but a couple of holes (1/4 to 3/8ths: you pick) matched to a couple of matching shallow blind holes in the scales and a liberal application of AcraGlas Gel (as the invisible pin) may be the ticket. I've used AcraGlas on just about everything from boats to bombs (be nice
smile.gif
) and I have yet to have it fail. Properly weighed/measured it works just like the book says it does and you can blend the color of it to match the scales.

All the Best

Dileas Gu Brath
 
Clean the surface of the wood with a degreaser, before epoxying. I use ammonia or MEK.
A woodworking article I read about Ironwood said that each region had wood that was called ironwood in Michigan ironwood= hop hornbeam In Arizona it is mesquite in Kansas its B'darc

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Sola Fide
 
Lignum vitae-commonly known as ironwood in Haiti, where most of it used to come from.. is quite different from the wood of the bow, osage orange, and desert ironwood (which comes from the southwestern desert) It weighs about 82 lbs a cubic foot... a bit more than ebony, and has a very substantial natural waxiness which is the main reason for its use as a bearing material. The best way to get it to stick is to pre-epoxy it. clean it very well with acetone...apply a lay of epoxy..let it dry, sand and then use it....I might add that some of it is very highly figured (sorry dave) and when finished and polished has a very glassy like surface.

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http://www.mayoknives.com




[This message has been edited by tom mayo (edited 07-18-2000).]
 
Hello!
Thelignum vitae is known as Gaïac or Pockholz, too. And it smells very good, almost like flowers, when you are grinding on it. My shop smelled for about 6 weeks after grinding just one handle from this wood. Really nice stuff. Expensive, too.

Achim
 
thanks,
dav, i'll give the blind holes a try, i use T-88 epoxy. the stuff works good.
mikeS and r dockrell, i'll use some degreeser on it.
thanks for the info tom.
archimW, wear your respirator, even though it smells good.
 
Dave Ellis here- I misspoke Hedgeapple is Osage Orange I stand corrected. Lignum that I have used is a greenish/brown color and extremely hard and heavy. sorry for the misinformation.
Dave Ellis, ABS, M.S. http://www.mastersmith.com

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