Lignum Vitae German Eye Sodbuster

muskrat man · Post by **muskrat man** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:49 am

Here is one I just finished for our friend edgewise. He requested lignum vitae scales to replace the old yellow ones that were pulling away from the liner (handles were shrinking, and scale was not true). I dug around on ebay for a while and came up with a set of scales that looked good. This stuff is hard! Very dense, burns easily and polishes down smooth as glass with no pores, I would love to work with this wood more, for being a "plain" wood it is really nice looking. It splinters easy but if you use sharp bits it shouldn't be a problem. overall a tough wood but the efforts are rewarding. Hope she serves you well Paul!

orvet · Post by **orvet** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:26 am

Nice looking handles Kaleb!

I have avoided working with lignum vitae because most of the blocks I have seen were just too plain looking on the outside. It is nice to see what they look like when the wood is worked. I will have to try some.

Dale

justold52 · Post by **justold52** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:16 am

This is what it looked like before....

The grain is super MM...

she still has some YELLOW streaks.

mumblypeg · Post by **mumblypeg** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:06 am

Don't know why you guys are calling it a 'plain' wood.

I really like the way it looks. And if it's as dense as you say, it should stand the test of time.

4ever3 · Post by **4ever3** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:36 pm

Nice work Muskrat, and as for the wood, it is outstanding I think. I love Sodbusters, just a simple workhorse knife, and that one is a fine example.

El Lobo · Post by **El Lobo** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:13 pm

That is a now real fine looking knife!!

A little off target...but, Lignum vitae (Guaiacum) is so dense, that is was used to make some of the earliest bowling balls!

Bill

MITCH RAPP · Post by **MITCH RAPP** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 5:41 pm

K, Looks Good! First Class Work!

Hukk · Post by **Hukk** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 6:07 pm

I like it! I have some Lignum Vitae in the shop but have not used it yet.

Lignum Vitae is so tough and has natural lubricating oils that made it useful in fine parts of clocks and also shaft bearings. The WWII Submarine USS Pampanito used shaft bearings made of Lignum Vitae. I only know this because she is berthed near the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, a liberty ship that my father in law served on, both near Fishemans Wharf in San Francisco.

A bit of trivia, the USS Pampanito was used in the movie Down Periscope with Kelsey Grammer as the USS Stingray SS-161. The sub was towed under the Golden Gate Bridge to film the movie. Yes, I toured both ships, the USS USS Pampanito was berthed at Mare Island, I do remember seeing her when I went fishing there, SS-383, they painted over the white numbers with gray paint out at sea during the cold war so spies would not know which ships were berthed, though the paint job was not always so good.