How Hard Is It !

[Sethro]

How hard is Lignum Vitae on saw chain ? Just a simple question. Lookin for a simple answer .

 

[pioneerguy600]

Very! But in my neck of the woods it is always as dry and hard as iron by the time we get to work with it. Put it in a steam box for 2-3 hrs and it becomes a little more pliable.
Pioneerguy600

 

[Sethro]

Yeah I figured so . We use it at the mill for saw guides in the edger and the holds up great !

 

[Teddy.Scout]

Similar to Arizona iron wood.

Never steamed it(sounds like I am going to be googling steam boxes!!!), but have DENTS in my shop ceiling from it dancing off the lathe!!! Oh ya, don't use china shop chisels when turning it! Ya I was being cheap and it only cost me more!!!!!!!!

 

[pioneerguy600]

If you want to talk about tough, the old wooden sailing ships built here that were designed to be sent north, especially for sealing,"hunting seals", would have a layer of lignum vitae applied over the hull to prevent the ice from tearing the hull planks to shreds. These vessels spent months in the drift ice and an unprotected hull would be shredded in a couple of days.
The 60" rotary blade of our mill uses lignum vitae blanks as steady guides on the lead side, without them the big rotary blades would deflect and cut crazily until they bent, that would be one he-- of an accident!
Pioneerguy600

 

[PLAYINWOOD]

Only saw a small piece in trade school, but never got to work with it.
They say they used to make plain bearings with it. All I've ever seen is babbitt.

 

[Bill G]

So then how does it compare to Hedge (Osage Orange to some) ?

Bill

 

[Teddy.Scout]

So then how does it compare to Hedge (Osage Orange to some) ?

Bill

Osage Orange is great for bow curves, Lignum is like a rock!
More suited for a club! LOL!

It's freaking hard!

 

[Cantdog]

If you want to talk about tough, the old wooden sailing ships built here that were designed to be sent north, especially for sealing,"hunting seals", would have a layer of lignum vitae applied over the hull to prevent the ice from tearing the hull planks to shreds. These vessels spent months in the drift ice and an unprotected hull would be shredded in a couple of days.
The 60" rotary blade of our mill uses lignum vitae blanks as steady guides on the lead side, without them the big rotary blades would deflect and cut crazily until they bent, that would be one he-- of an accident!
Pioneerguy600

Yes it is tough, oily and the grain is crazy but what edge tools I've use in it don't seem to dull especially fast. I don't think it contains the silicas that the cedars or teak have that dulls tool steel quickly. Other than being extremely hard I don't think it would bother a chainsaw that much. I made a jig to make main saw guides for my circular mill. My guides are round where the attach to the iron guide clamp. It cuts very well with carbide router bits. Of couse they last for yrs, tough stuff, running right up against the blade turning 750 RPM with a rim speed of close to 10,000 FPM. The latest set have been in my mill for about 70,000 BFT and don't look any different than when installed. I have some in the shop and may make a set of guides for the movable saw on my edger. It came to me with oil soaked maple or birch guides and thats what I replaced them with. The maple wears quite good against the saw but does not stand up well to the abrasion from sawdust and bark.

I agree Jerry LOL it's bad enough when you get the blade a little to warm and gets a good wooble going even with the guides quite tight. My old mill shows scars in the clamp from missing or worn out guide blocks. Glad I didn't put them there!!!!! Just plain Scarrry!!!!!!

 

[pioneerguy600]

Yes it is tough, oily and the grain is crazy but what edge tools I've use in it don't seem to dull especially fast. I don't think it contains the silicas that the cedars or teak have that dulls tool steel quickly. Other than being extremely hard I don't think it would bother a chainsaw that much. I made a jig to make main saw guides for my circular mill. My guides are round where the attach to the iron guide clamp. It cuts very well with carbide router bits. Of couse they last for yrs, tough stuff, running right up against the blade turning 750 RPM with a rim speed of close to 10,000 FPM. The latest set have been in my mill for about 70,000 BFT and don't look any different than when installed. I have some in the shop and may make a set of guides for the movable saw on my edger. It came to me with oil soaked maple or birch guides and thats what I replaced them with. The maple wears quite good against the saw but does not stand up well to the abrasion from sawdust and bark.

I agree Jerry LOL it's bad enough when you get the blade a little to warm and gets a good wooble going even with the guides quite tight. My old mill shows scars in the clamp from missing or worn out guide blocks. Glad I didn't put them there!!!!! Just plain Scarrry!!!!!!

Yea, I`ve had the rotary blades go into a speed wobble at a whopping 700-800 rpm when they got a little warm from friction on dry hardwood, the 48" arent too bad but the 60`s are a tad more scary. I set up a coolant pump to dribble water down on the cutting teeth just as they entered the cut and that seemed to alleviate that problem.
Pioneerguy600

 

[Cantdog]

Yea, I`ve had the rotary blades go into a speed wobble at a whopping 700-800 rpm when they got a little warm from friction on dry hardwood, the 48" arent too bad but the 60`s are a tad more scary. I set up a coolant pump to dribble water down on the cutting teeth just as they entered the cut and that seemed to alleviate that problem.
Pioneerguy600

My largest saws are 52" but generally run 48" but even those can get real scary if you get into say a 20" ash log and things get to warm!! I expect the 60" are even more so!! To much of that and back to the hammer shop!! I have one saw set up for hardwood in which I replaced every third bit with a Standall and ground down the other two worn bits to clear. An old timer suggested this after I was quizzing him about my saw getting to hot. Works excellent in ash, oak maple etc. With only 17 teeth you have to file a little more often but it doesn't take as long lol

 

[pioneerguy600]

My largest saws are 52" but generally run 48" but even those can get real scary if you get into say a 20" ash log and things get to warm!! I expect the 60" are even more so!! To much of that and back to the hammer shop!! I have one saw set up for hardwood in which I replaced every third bit with a Standall and ground down the other two worn bits to clear. An old timer suggested this after I was quizzing him about my saw getting to hot. Works excellent in ash, oak maple etc. With only 17 teeth you have to file a little more often but it doesn't take as long lol

I knew about that trick, old Jack Jennex who was the filer at the mill I worked at as a kid in the 60`s told me about doing that with the bigger rotary`s, he also had a bucket with a hole in it hung up over the dagger board and it streamed down a little water on the blade when they were cutting dry hardwood, the fireman ran a line from the boiler supply line that had a valve to stop or slow the flow and it kept the bucket supplied when required.
Pioneerguy600

 

[Cantdog]

I knew about that trick, old Jack Jennex who was the filer at the mill I worked at as a kid in the 60`s told me about doing that with the bigger rotary`s, he also had a bucket with a hole in it hung up over the dagger board and it streamed down a little water on the blade when they were cutting dry hardwood, the fireman ran a line from the boiler supply line that had a valve to stop or slow the flow and it kept the bucket supplied when required.
Pioneerguy600

I never heard of the water thing but it makes sense. A lot of those tricks/remedies are fast becoming lost as time moves on. The saw trick works very well, ash had always been hard to saw on my mill, basically dry inside the sapwood. But with that saw on I can pretty much full feed in 20" ash, doesn't get hot or anything. Gotta love that!!!!

 

[ray benson]

So then how does it compare to Hedge (Osage Orange to some) ?

Bill

Lignum vitae is hard and durable, and is also the densest wood traded; it will easily sink in water. On the Janka Scale of Hardness, which measures hardness of woods, lignum vitae ranks highest of the trade woods.
The Janka hardness test is a measurement of the force necessary to embed a .444-inch steel ball to half its diameter in wood. It is the industry standard for gauging the ability of various species to tolerate denting and normal wear, as well as being a good indication of the effort required to either nail or saw the particular wood.

Lignum vitae 4500
Osage Orange 2040
Hickory 1820
Locust 1700
Hard Maple/ Sugar Maple 1450
White Oak 1360
White Ash 1320
American Beech 1300
Red Oak 1290
Black Walnut 1010
Cedar 900
Sycamore 770
Chestnut 540

 

[Bill G]

Lignum vitae is hard and durable, and is also the densest wood traded; it will easily sink in water.................

Where is it grown????????

Bill

 

[Cantdog]

Where is it grown????????

Bill

West Indies, Central America and Northern South America. It is the National Tree of the Bahamas. Check out this site; Lignum Vitae.com Very interesting info. Good read...

 

[ray benson]

Where is it grown????????

Bill

In the Florida Keys
http://www.n-the-florida-keys.com/Lignum-Vitae.html