I have some Florida lignum vitae given to me

[curlyoak]

Not a lot. A result of wind damage. Very heavy. Mostly sap wood. Very green.

My guess is that the sap wood is good to use. Hardly any heart. I've read that it will dull all edges. Saw blades and jointer blades. Anyone have any experience with this wood. I think my next step is to mill it. Any experienced thoughts? Thanks

[Chet]

The only thing I know is that lignum vitae was and I believe still is used in U.S. Navel ships as a bearing where the propeller shaft goes through the hull.  I vaguely remember a member here was making a hand plane out of the stuff.

[Tpt life]

I have bits that are halfway to an infill plane. It’s workable. Just needs sharp, and requires a little more time keeping sharp. 

[curlyoak]

Can I run it over my jointer with carbide knives? Take a small bite. It appears the sap wood is also dense and usable.  Would the sap wood be less dense than heart? 

[Coop]

My first thought is that you got the raw end of the deal but I took a similar looking limb from a Mayhaw tree and turned it into a neat looking decorative box. 

[Tom King]

Those are about the size sticks of wood my supply of Boxwood came out of.  It's been great for shop tooling.

I forget where Lignum Vitae and English Boxwood are on the Janka scale, but it shouldn't be too hard to find.  Boxwood is about three times as hard as Hard Maple, and if I'm remembering correctly Lignum Vitae is harder than that.  Boxwood is not too hard to mill with regular woodworking tools.  I use a strip of it for setting jointer knives since it's hard enough to push the knives down, but doesn't dull a spot on the edge.  

My only experience with Lignum Vitae is soles that were on a couple of wooden Primus planes I had.

Sorry, no help with the question about sap wood.

[William R]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lignum_vitae
wikipedia has a lot of interesting things to say about this.  Thanks. 

[curlyoak]

Squared them up on the jointer. Then band sawed. I have it stickered on a high shelf in my shop. I was thinking of putting in mt attic. It gets up to 125 degrees in the summer. Do you think it would be too hot? This wood takes a very long time to dry. So maybe in 2 or 3 years It will be ready to work. I have a lot of time to think how to use this material...

[Ronn W]

Good looking wood.

[Mark J]

If a wood takes a long time to dry it would seem to me that you need to give it that time (go slow) rather than "baking".  But I have zero experience.

[Mark J]

I seem to remember that old clocks had key parts made from lignin vitae, because it is long wearing and self lubricating. 

[curlyoak]

They even made carved propellers 

[Beechwood Chip]

On 2/9/2024 at 12:10 PM, Mark J said:

I seem to remember that old clocks had key parts made from lignin vitae, because it is long wearing and self lubricating. 

It's also used for bandsaw bearing blocks.