Lignum vitea

[S.Cox]

I've always been fascinated with this super wood but never used it as ahandle material. What were your experiences with it and do you have pictures of completed knives with it as a handle material

 

[Frank Niro]

At one time I had an almost unlimited supply. I did also have a whole bunch of many other fine hard woods all pretty much in straight grain. The other woods were always in more demand than the lignum vitae.
Frank

 

[Lieblad]

......

 

[Robert Erickson]

Just finished up a bushcrafter in LV. It's as advertised to work with i.e. Hard and oily so it gums up belts quickly. But I think it's worth it in the end. It polishes up like glass and has a great feel to it. The stuff I have is straight grained so it's not at the top of the visually interesting wood but for certain knives I think it's great.

 

[jdm61]

Real LV is hard to come by. Most of what you see for sale is "Argentine lignum vitae" or verawood. They are from the same family, but a different genus. The real stuff is a tad denser and oft times has MUCH darker heartwood.

 

[jdm61]

That color sounds like the "real" stuff. The Argentine stuff tends to be much lighter with some green color to it.

I used it a couple times, the specimens were so dark & uniform it looked like solid dark brown micarta.
This wood was recycled from a large cable dresser. Nowdays dressers are plastic.

 

[DAMNENG]

If you keep lignum Vitae long enough, you will notice it changes color. Starts off as a two tone brown, then the lighter areas become darker, then after several years, the enire piecel turns a nasty green, similar to the patina on brass. This may have been due to the enviroment in my shop, but I have seen similar coloring on pieces other places.
It is duriable!
Jim A.

 

[Greenberg Woods]

Plenty of woods get close. African blackwood, Burmese blackwood and kingwood all get close in terms of strength and weight. There is one weird wood I recently picked up called Guyanese ironwood that behaves incredibly similarly to lignum vitae

 

[Infamous.blades]

Realy good stuff :thumbup:

 

[hagatha]

Sounds kinda like a wood we have here in Texas... Bodark, Osage Orange, Bois d'Arc all the same... I have a few pieces that were fence posts along railroad tracks near Abilene Texas. The posts were placed in the 30's, and harvested in the 90's....

This stuff makes rosewoods, ebony's, ironwood... like cotton candy. It burns like ironwood, and eats even the good belts...

Lee Haag