Lignum Vitae

[bfrikken]

I bought a block of this at woodcraft the other day. I cut off a few blanks for pens, which I hope to post those soon. I bought the block because of the nice grain and great color.

What I'm wondering, and I planned on just trying this...

I have a couple pen kits that require a single piece of wood to be turned. I already turned one with one of the blanks. I was thinking of cutting a blank across the grain. It would expose the entire blank as end grain, but I thought it would give a cool effect. It's so hard and dense, that as long as I keep my tools sharp, I was hoping I could keep it in tact (especially since I only need the one barrel). Anyone else try this?

[Uncle Cracker]

I turn crosscut blanks all the time, although I must confess not having done so to lignum vitae... Typically, though, a hard dense wood is a tough crosscut turn, things like ironwood, zebrawood and ebony will give you fits. Even with experience, you can expect your fair share of crashes. Best advice I can give is to not use scraping-type tools, such as gouges, and stick to a very sharp skew chisel, making light passes. Trim the corners on the blank with a saw (go octagonal, instead of square) before you start roughing on the lathe. And use thin CA on the blank, before you start, and at intervals as you turn the piece down. Also use CA for your finish, as you will be dealing with some very short fibers on all the cross-grains. Choose a pen kit that will allow you the thickest wood depth, such as a cigar, or a fat-body slimline profile (although it sounds like you might already be stuck with a polaris, wallstreet or a sierra). It is also important that you get good glue coverage between the blanks and the tubes, or you set yourself up for an unrecoverable blowout...

[Russianwolf]

Having turned LV before, I think it shouldn't pose too much of a problem. the grain is interwoven so it should hold together pretty well.

As far as using CA on it. It'll likely just spit the stuff back at you. It has so much resin in the wood that CA or anything else won't stick properly.

LV was/is used for bearings since it's incredibly dense and self-lubricating.

[bfrikken]

Having turned LV before, I think it shouldn't pose too much of a problem. the grain is interwoven so it should hold together pretty well.

As far as using CA on it. It'll likely just spit the stuff back at you. It has so much resin in the wood that CA or anything else won't stick properly.

LV was/is used for bearings since it's incredibly dense and self-lubricating.

the self lubricating is what made me think it would work. I couldn't believe how the wood polished up without a finish on it with my last pen. it will probably be either cigar or the pacifica style.

I tend to rough it down with the gouge, but finish mostly with a skew as I like how it limits my need to sand... I'm anxious to give it a try now.

[Uncle Cracker]

If you "ride the bevel" on the skew, you will burnish the wood nicely. I would still try the CA (or some other hard adhesive finish) though, because you'll be very thin on the cross-grains, and could see it crack down the road, if not immediately. JMHO