What wood is this?

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Drewboy22

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So I bought an "Exotic" black pack from woodcraft and none of the blanks were marked. Does anyone know what this is?

Species include Bocote, Argentine Lignum Vitae, Olivewood, Osage Orange, Yucatan Rosewood, and Goncalo Alves, Iroko, Movingue, Padauk and Jobillo

20160106_223736_resized_zpsojfkhnnt.jpg



Thanks for the assist :)

Drew
 
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My first thought was Arg Lignum Vitae, is it very dense and oily? Get it in some sunlight for a day or so, if it turns greener then it is Lignum. The stuff is awesome to turn, I'm working on a project out of it now.
 
I thought Lignum Vitae also. If it's really heavy and sanded super smooth, that would be some definite clues. But to be honest, I'm only familiar with the first 4 on the list, and padauk. But it looks the wrong color for rosewood. So I guess it could be one of the other 4.
 
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Hi Drew...

I used to work with Lignum Vitae back in the 70's when I worked in a shipyard. One thing you can do to determine if it is Lignum Vitae is try to float it in water. If it sinks it is Lignum, if it floats then look towards the other timbers.

Keep in mind that the metal end will sink but there will be an attempt of the wood to float. Lignum is the only wood that I know of that sinks.

Sadly, the shipyard closed in the 70's and all of the lignum vitae is still buried under water. What I would give to have some of it now.

Dave.

You could also try to contact 'Woodcraft' to see if they can enlighten you as to the type of wood it is.


Incidentally, the reason they used Lignum Vitae in the shipyard is, when they launched a ship, some of the timbers that were used to prop up the ship went into the water along with the ship. The timber used to sink to the bottom and allow clear access for the ship to sail away without the timbers fouling the propellers.
 
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Great to know Dave, Thanks :)

I had this whole thing typed up last night but apparently I never hit "Post Reply" oops :)

I am still learning about different woods - but I thought this would was a bit on the tough side. When I sanded it it didn't take much pressure at all and all the sand was gone and the paper was smooth. Does this help?

Looking at the pictures the goncalo alves look real close to the what the black looked like.
 
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