"Experienced" LV

[NGLJ]

I was at lunch yesterday with some retired ex-colleagues, when one of them said to me, "I hear that you make pens. I have a piece of LV. Would you like it?'. Can a duck quack . It turns out that his German grandfather was a ship's engineer in the merchant navy. He gave me what turned out to be part of a bearing from a ships driveshaft. It looked well used and I bet that piece of wood could tell some stories. I don't know how old it is but it could be over 100 years old. Judging by the shape and size the shaft was something like 18" in diameter. So, today I carved it up on the bandsaw. Should have taken a picture first, duh! I made a modified slimline pen from one of the pieces. I have enough for a couple more other style pens. The curved shape was such that I had to cut across the grain. Please see the attached. Unfortunately it has a small crack that I could not fix.

 

[sorcerertd]

Ooh, that's a nice little surprise. It's amazing how durable LV is, that they could use it for ship's drive shafts. The cross grain looks really nice on the pen. I would imagine it doesn't splinter as easily as, well, anything else cut cross grain.

 

[NGLJ]

Despite the piece being very "weathered" and somewhat "dry" on the outside, there was enough of the natural oil to make turning and finishing a pleasure. There was no hint of splintering.

 

[1080Wayne]

Despite the piece being very "weathered" and somewhat "dry" on the outside, there was enough of the natural oil to make turning and finishing a pleasure. There was no hint of splintering.

It was the perfect wood for that application . I think crosscut is the ideal way to turn it . Have never turned it , just the Argentine variety , and that only lengthwise .

 

[Woodchipper]

Good score on the wood. Never thought of turning LV cross grain.
My grandson made a wrench pen for his father, an engineer. He chose LV. Drilling it was like drilling tool steel! We got it done and it turned out quite nice. Guy at Woodcraft told of using LV for submarine bearings. Anyone know where we can get a scrapped submarine?