Lignum Vitae

[Todd in PA]

I saw a post recently of someone making a pen with Lignum Vitae— no finish. Hmmm…?

Lignum Vitae with no extra finish

I always wanted to try this, Woodcraft has Argentine Lignum Vitae on sale this month at 50% off. Even at that it's the most I ever paid for a 3"x24" board. It is very heavy but drilled and turned pretty easily. I used carbide to get close then finished with a skew. I then dry sanded with...

www.penturners.org

When i read this I had been at a Woodcrafters store where they had some of this wood, but I didn't buy. Regret. I was back there and this time bought a board to try. I mean, this wood is legendary! Top 5 hardest woods in the world, rot resistance so strong they use it to make boat propellers. And a scent like perfume that stays on your fingers after handling.

I made my first pen and it has excellent luster with only burnishing. I added one coat of walnut oil. It darkened the wood dramatically over night. I hoped the scent would remain…and it did! This will be my journal pen for a while. I want to see how it wears. There were several small cracks in the board, which I filled with thin CA prior to cutting into blanks. They're visible in the photos, but I'm hoping structurally sound.

 

[egnald]

Very Cool. - Yes, Lignum Vitae is a very hard wood. I was fortunate enough to get some that were propeller shaft bushings from a decommissioned ocean liner, the MV Doulos Phos. When it was decommissioned it held the record of being the world's oldest active ocean-going passenger ship serving from 1914 to 2009. It is now dry docked and has been converted into a luxury hotel in Indonesia.

My Lignum Vitae was cracked too. I think it is because it is such a hard wood but because of its interlocking cross grain it retains tremendous strength even with cracks and doesn't affect its usability.

It sure made a nice looking pen.
Dave

 

[Woodchipper]

My grandson made a pen, using LV, for his father. Like drilling tool steel! Fellow at Woodcraft mentioned it was used for submarine bearings.

 

[BoonareeBurl]

Very Cool. - Yes, Lignum Vitae is a very hard wood. I was fortunate enough to get some that were propeller shaft bushings from a decommissioned ocean liner, the MV Doulos Phos. When it was decommissioned it held the record of being the world's oldest active ocean-going passenger ship serving from 1914 to 2009. It is now dry docked and has been converted into a luxury hotel in Indonesia.

My Lignum Vitae was cracked too. I think it is because it is such a hard wood but because of its interlocking cross grain it retains tremendous strength even with cracks and doesn't affect its usability.

It sure made a nice looking pen.
Dave

Dave, I could be wrong, but I'd bet that your lignum vitae is "genuine" lignum vitae (Guaiacum spp.), whereas Todd's is Argentine lignum vitae (Bulnesia spp.), which is not quite as hard and has that sort of peppery perfume scent. The reason I'd bet yours is Guaicum spp. is because it was actually made into those propeller shaft bushings. Although Argentine lignum vitae is used as a substitute for genuine lignum vitae, I don't think for hardcore maritime uses the substitution is all that common. I could be wrong though.

Btw, I love both woods.

G

 

[woodwzrd]

I spotted some Lignum Vitae at MPG last spring and bought several sticks. I turned some that I had previously several years ago but am more excited to turn the piece that is drilled out and sitting on my bench right now after seeing yours.

 

[jrista]

Lignum vitae is one of my favorite woods. I have only been able to find Argentine Lignum vitae, which is the stuff that smells like perfume. I've made some letter openers out of it, and a pen. The smell is wonderful, and generally seems to persist through non-CA finishes, however, over time it does fade. I think I've only ever seen the scent last for around a month or so. The wood remains beautiful for years, though.

 

[egnald]

Dave, I could be wrong, but I'd bet that your lignum vitae is "genuine" lignum vitae (Guaiacum spp.), whereas Todd's is Argentine lignum vitae (Bulnesia spp.), which is not quite as hard and has that sort of peppery perfume scent. The reason I'd bet yours is Guaicum spp. is because it was actually made into those propeller shaft bushings. Although Argentine lignum vitae is used as a substitute for genuine lignum vitae, I don't think for hardcore maritime uses the substitution is all that common. I could be wrong though.

Btw, I love both woods.

G

Yes, I'm sure mine was Genuine Lignum Vitae. It was (and is) a nice, sort of Olive Drab, color. - Dave

 

[Hippie3180]

Beautiful, beautiful pen. Gorgeous wood.

 

[Todd in PA]

I did some checking online and the Argentium variety has connected diagonal pores, whereas the genuine has isolated singular pores. This is mine. I'd say it's Argentian.

 

[BoonareeBurl]

I did some checking online and the Argentium variety has connected diagonal pores, whereas the genuine has isolated singular pores. This is mine. I'd say it's Argentian.
View attachment 360523

If you bought it from Woodcraft, 99.99999999999% it's Argentine lignum vitae (even if they advertised it as genuine lignum vitae or Guaiacum spp.). Nothing wrong with Argentine lignum vitae--it's very hard, very beautiful (the green you sometimes see is phenomenal!), and the perfume scent (at least to me) is quite pleasant.

G

 

[BULLWINKLE]

I made one of Lignum Vitae decades ago and did not use any finish on it. It's extremely dense and closed pore so finish wasn't necessary. I sanded to 1000 grit followed by application of EEE paste. It's held up beautifully.

 

[sorcerertd]

That's a great looking pen. I love ALV (most of what you can find is the Argentinian variety). The smell is definitely one of the best. The feathery grain is pretty cool, too. I found a 1" x 1" x 40" piece a while back and still have a couple feet of it left. It hasn't cracked, but it was also very well waxed. If you leave it out in the sun, at least parts of it will turn a dark green. Here's one I made a while back.

If you want another fragrant wood, Tambooti is fantastic, but the dust is pretty toxic. It's often referred to as African Sandalwood.

 

[Humongous]

Very nice pen Todd. This stuff is really fun to work with. The pen from the original post has been my daily driver for the past month and it still looks just as good.

 

[MedWoodWorx]

I saw a post recently of someone making a pen with Lignum Vitae— no finish. Hmmm…?

Lignum Vitae with no extra finish

I always wanted to try this, Woodcraft has Argentine Lignum Vitae on sale this month at 50% off. Even at that it's the most I ever paid for a 3"x24" board. It is very heavy but drilled and turned pretty easily. I used carbide to get close then finished with a skew. I then dry sanded with...

www.penturners.org

When i read this I had been at a Woodcrafters store where they had some of this wood, but I didn't buy. Regret. I was back there and this time bought a board to try. I mean, this wood is legendary! Top 5 hardest woods in the world, rot resistance so strong they use it to make boat propellers. And a scent like perfume that stays on your fingers after handling.

I made my first pen and it has excellent luster with only burnishing. I added one coat of walnut oil. It darkened the wood dramatically over night. I hoped the scent would remain…and it did! This will be my journal pen for a while. I want to see how it wears. There were several small cracks in the board, which I filled with thin CA prior to cutting into blanks. They're visible in the photos, but I'm hoping structurally sound.

View attachment 360516View attachment 360517View attachment 360518

This is a great pen! By the way what is the pen kit called?

 

[Todd in PA]

Atrax from Berea. Often on sale for under $10 of late.

 

[jrista]

There were several small cracks in the board, which I filled with thin CA prior to cutting into blanks. They're visible in the photos, but I'm hoping structurally sound.

View attachment 360518

I am not sure if this happened to you, but given the placement of the crack, I wonder if it did. With harder woods like this, I've found that the expansion introduced by these compression-fit fittings can cause this. I've had the same problem with trustone, which is also quite hard.

I've taken to thinning the tube a little, and then trying to sand or otherwise grind down a bit of the fitting to the point where it is more slip fit. That avoids the expansion introduced by forcing a compression fitting into the tube, which prevents cracking at the ends.

This is one of the reasons I wish that pen fittings weren't compression based, and were more of a slip fit that we glued in. I generally like the look of harder materials, but they have this added risk of cracking.

 

[howsitwork]

Look for old Bowling balls from crown green bowling . These were often made of Lignum Vitare and are generally really good stuff ( if damn hard on the bandsaw and difficult to cut up into blanks due to the oily sawdust) . Often had inserts of ivory too if you fancy a challenge incorporating something into a design . I would never advocate buying ivory due to the origins but if it's present already and can be reused rather than discarded why not

 

[jrista]

Look for old Bowling balls from crown green bowling . These were often made of Lignum Vitare and are generally really good stuff ( if damn hard on the bandsaw and difficult to cut up into blanks due to the oily sawdust) . Often had inserts of ivory too if you fancy a challenge incorporating something into a design . I would never advocate buying ivory due to the origins but if it's present already and can be reused rather than discarded why not

There are some really great, very natural and accurate looking synthetic ivory alternatives these days, thankfully! You can also get ahold of fossilized mammoth tusk an the like, too, if you are interested in that (its not cheap, but its pretty exceptional given how old it is.)

 

[Todd in PA]

I am not sure if this happened to you, but given the placement of the crack, I wonder if it did. With harder woods like this, I've found that the expansion introduced by these compression-fit fittings can cause this.

Not in this case. This crack was there before I turned it. I didn't have the cap on right in the photo, but it carries right on over to the pen body too. It doesn't bother me, but is one of the reasons I put this piece of my board on an inexpensive kit and plan to use it myself rather than sell or gift. Actually I'd be very proud to gift this one. It's a pretty cool pen.

I'm making another this weekend without the walnut oil to see if I can keep the green color.

 

[BULLWINKLE]

Not in this case. This crack was there before I turned it. I didn't have the cap on right in the photo, but it carries right on over to the pen body too. It doesn't bother me, but is one of the reasons I put this piece of my board on an inexpensive kit and plan to use it myself rather than sell or gift. Actually I'd be very proud to gift this one. It's a pretty cool pen.

I'm making another this weekend without the walnut oil to see if I can keep the green color.

I've had Lignum Vitae blanks with green and orange streaks. Beautiful but those streaks will eventually fade regardless of what you use for the finish.

 

[jrista]

Not in this case. This crack was there before I turned it. I didn't have the cap on right in the photo, but it carries right on over to the pen body too. It doesn't bother me, but is one of the reasons I put this piece of my board on an inexpensive kit and plan to use it myself rather than sell or gift. Actually I'd be very proud to gift this one. It's a pretty cool pen.

I'm making another this weekend without the walnut oil to see if I can keep the green color.

I find that Lignum Vitae needs no finish. The green color actually comes from the oils, which is pimarily where the scent comes from. That oil itself makes for a pretty darn good finish on its own, and the wood usually has plenty of it. My letter opener is simply sanded to a very high grit, then buffed to a lustrous shine. One of the reasons I love this wood...it is hard, sands to a brilliantly smooth finish, polishes up wonderfully, without a drop of any kind of third-party finish.