lignum vitea

[Jeff Bartley]

I have a lignum mallet that cracked in half after countless wackes on a framing chisel. Needless to say I love this mallet and have epoxied it together and plan to reinvent it by re-turning it and boring a tapered hole through it to accept a tapered handle. The handle will be turned from some local persimmon.
Can anyone give me any advise about turning lignum? Or persimmon?

[Steve Peterson]

I have turned small pieces of Argentinium lignum vitea. It is supposed to be a close relative of the real stuff.

It cut really easy with sharp tools. The natural oils allow the tool to ride the bevel without friction.

Try to have a perfect surface straight from the lathe because sanding is nearly impossible. The sandpaper gums up immediately and makes the surface look much worse than before you started. I didn't try wet sanding with an oil based lubricant, but that might be an option.

Steve

[Stan Smith]

I did a pen with it. Wouldn't do that again because as steve sez, the oil is practically flowing out. YMMV.

[Terry Vaughan]

I turn quite a lot of reclaimed lignum and sand it with water, makes it much easier. Don't force the tools, the wood is so hard it breaks away if you do, leaving a poor surface. It often has open cracks, I fill them with superglue before sanding and they almost disappear. The sanding mud has to be scrubbed off under the tap but the wood finishes nicely.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

I've had two LV carving mallets for years. As per the instructions when I bought them, I keep them in a plastic bag when not in use for long periods of time. They are still solid. After you fix yours maybe that will help preserve it.
faust

[Peter Fabricius]

If you drill two holes across the break area and insert dowels for strength it might hold better???
Hope your mallet works out.
Peter F.

[Thom Sturgill]

Persimmon is sometimes refered to as American Ebony. While not black, it apparently is in the same genus. It is used to create billiard cues. Cracks badly, but I remember seeing the Roy Underhill (Woodwright's Shop) turn it several times. I also know of at leat one guitar make that uses it for fingerboards.

[robert baccus]

L.V. is he hardest -heaviest wood generally available. 30% waxes and oils. Makes perfect bearings if kept wet. Every fishing boat and even Nuke submarines use bearings machined to fit and remain wet. Like Terry related it sands well with soapy water ==cuts so smoothly you probably can forget sanding. A little carnuba and friction on the lathe will make it look like glass. There are dozens of ebony around the equator but the only exceptions I can find is our persimmon and texas ebony. They managed to evolve to our climate. I sold quite a bit as "white ebony' years ago for golf heads and shuttles.

[Jeffrey J Smith]

About 4 years ago I turned a blank of Lignum that had sat in the shop for a few years into a mallet for setting centers and use with chisels, etc. Worked incredibly well - heavy and well balanced, finished beautifully, it held up nicely to the worst abuse - until the handle broke near the base of the head right at a bead I'd carefully put there. not sure why, but it was at the narrowest part of the handle.
New handle and it's still in use. I made the handle from a piece of walnut, avoided practicing beads on it.

[Bruce Pratt]

Real lignum vitae, Guaiacum sp., formerly used as bearing blocks, sinks in water, etc. is on the CITES II Appendix, and is very difficult to legally obtain. Argentine lignum vitae is from Bulnesia arborea and Bulnesia sarmientoi. These are in the same subfamily as Guaiacum, but are completely different species. B. sarmientoi is also on CITES II appendix as of 2010, so I would guess that most of the Argentine lignum vitae on the US market is B. arborea.

[Wally Dickerman]

I once bought a whole log of Lig V. About 6 ft long and 10 in. in dia. I believe it had been stolen from the Navy. It had a date stamped on it which showed it to be over 50 years old. After all that time it still wasn't dry in the middle. It did a lot of cracking after I cut into it. It worked nicely but I had to scrape hard wax off the tools. I found that I could get a near mirror finish with just a NR scraper. I wet sanded with 600.