Need help to ID a wood blank! :)

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CharlesH

CharlesH

Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2009
Messages
600
Location
Canada, Quebec, Laval
Hey guys,

So recently I started a new job in a small expanding company, basically I am in the hardwood flooring business and I am part of the strategic management team. Since it's a really small start-up comapny and we are opening multiple stores in a very short period of time and I am envolved in pretty much everything: sales, management, marketing, the relation with the suppliers and so on! (work can be demanding) :P

We do sell quite a lot of exotic hardwoods: capirona, sucupira, angelim pedra, ipe tobacco, jatoba, cabreuva, cachimbo. I have been in the flooring industry for 10 years, so I am pretty familiar with the janka scale and since I am a turner I know some other woods. :P

So today I was selling some ipe tobacco hardwood floor to a customer and he saw my pen. I was using my IPE pen, he was amazed. What is good about my job, is that I can offer my pens for sale in the store, I am the boss, hahaha! :)

Well that customer bought 7 pens today, it was fantastic! What is more fantastic, he came back today with a piece of wood he had for the last 25 years and he gave it to me!

I would need your help to identify that one!

Here is what I know:
  • It is denser than snakewood and snakewood is at 3800 on the janka scale. It is much heavier than IPE Tobacco at same size which is 3680 on the janka scale. On a side cut the pores are finer than snake or IPE Tobacco.
  • It polishes really really nicely on part with snakewood if not better, the piece was sanded with p1500 on my random orbital 5" sander.
  • It produce creamy with a really little hint of greenish color dust and it is really really really fine.
  • The piece has really fine cracks.
  • It is more brown than green.

I have a few pictures down there. I have come to the conclusion it is Lignum Vitae. I have no idea what's the difference with old and new growth. So I would like you input to help me identify this piece. ;)

Thanks,

Charles







 
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I second Lignum Vitae. "Lignum Vitae has a fine texture and closed pores. Bare wood can be polished to a fine luster due to its high natural oil content. The grain tends to be interlocked and tight."
 
Definitively it is L. Vitae. Another trait that I did not see in your list is its smell...genuine L. Vitae's smell (to me) is a blend of vanilla and tobacco....however, the smell of false L. Vitae is more poignant, more citric.

If your piece is an old one, it also explain its color... I also have lignum vitae pieces more than 30 years old and they are not greenish...its color is more brown-dark cream...even black. I hope this be useful to you.
 
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Wonderful! It does smell like vanilla, dust not green, denser than IPE Tobacco/Lapacho and it is really brown with some chatoyance.

I shall make 3 or 4 pen blanks tommorrow and turn them round.

Charles

Sent from my iTouch.
 
Lignum vitae it is. Lignum vitae is the most dense wood and it is impervious to water. It was used to make sailing ships and when found at the bottom of the ocean the wood is still intact. It is very dense and full of oil, which means that it is difficult to glue or use with CA. It is one of my favorite woods to turn and it does smell good when turning.
 
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