Gluing Lignum Vitae (Argentine)

[Matthew N. Masail]

I'm considering it for the soles of hand planes. I have a stash of beautiful dark Spelle for the bodies but need a sole wood. is there any problem gluing this wood as with Ipe? and if it's not a problem, what would be the best way to go?

[Terry Beadle]

I've used Lignum V on some of wooden planes. I used Titebond II to glue them. They were machined 3/8 ths thick. I glued the new soles fresh from machining, trued with high angle A2 plane, tuned further flat with card scraper, and then wiped clean with Acetone.

Let cure for 2 ~ 3 days, and worked from there.

Several years of use and no problems.

You can also use Epoxy if you want an even tighter bond but IMO it's over kill.

Enjoy the process !

[Mike Henderson]

Like Terry, I've used lignum vitae for plane soles and glued it with ordinary wood glue. It's been a while but I'm pretty sure I used Titebond. I was gluing to something like birch rather than ipe, however.

Mike