Lignum Vitae as Plane Soles

[Aiden Pettengill]

Hi all,
Has anyone had any experience or have any knowlage of the history of Lignum Vitae used as plane soles? I have recently purchased a couple made from what appears to be such and was intrigued because it is such a niche and expensive wood and just because I had never seen any using it before.
Thanks!
Aiden

[Jim Matthews]

I think it was first used by Shipwrights, salvaged from decommissioned bearings. The stuff seems to be self lubricating and amazingly hard wearing.

I dislike my only plane with a LV sole, it's heavy.

[Rafael Herrera]

From what I've read, lignum vitae is a remarkable wood. Unfortunately it has been harvested almost to extinction, as has cuban and Honduran mahogany, long leaf pine and many others. It is in the CITES list.

[Aiden Pettengill]

Interesting. I really like these planes because I find they are smoother (maybe its in my head! :D) to work with. They are heavy though! They caught my attention when I bought them because the beautiful polished wood stood out in the dinge of the New England antique (/ junk) mall.

[Dave Anderson NH]

I resoled 2 heavily worn beech rabbet planes a few years back with some Lignum Vitae cutoffs I had lying around. I used a .25" thickness and epoxied the pieces in place after a quick wipe of the LV with acetone to degrease. The planes slide quite nicely and wear very well with their new soles.

[Aiden Pettengill]

Good to know Dave! I may try this if I happen to get one with a worn sole.

[Mike Henderson]

I resoled 2 heavily worn beech rabbet planes a few years back with some Lignum Vitae cutoffs I had lying around. I used a .25" thickness and epoxied the pieces in place after a quick wipe of the LV with acetone to degrease. The planes slide quite nicely and wear very well with their new soles.

I've done the same thing. I found some Lignum Vitae at Woodcraft - it was a short block intended for turners. Don't remember what I paid for it but I used some of it to re-sole a couple of old wooden planes. I don't use them a whole lot but when I do use them they seem to slide easily. I think I still have some left.

Mike

[Curt Harms]

I think it was first used by Shipwrights, salvaged from decommissioned bearings. The stuff seems to be self lubricating and amazingly hard wearing.

I dislike my only plane with a LV sole, it's heavy.

I've read that Lignum Vitae was used as shaft bearings on nuclear submarines. Quiet because of no moving parts, there was no better modern equivalent. I don't know if that is still true or not.

[Stew Denton]

Years ago I knew a carpenter who had been a sea bee in WW2, and worked on rebuilding ships that were damaged in battle, the idea was to get them back into combat shape as quickly as possible.

He said that the drive shafts were lignum vitae. Good stuff, but you had to use extremely sharp tools when they were turning the shafts. He was there and had direct knowledge, so I have no doubt about the use of the LV for the shafts.

Stew

[Rafael Herrera]

Lignum Vitae was also used to make bowling balls, so keep your eyes pealed, like me, for them.

[Aiden Pettengill]

Interesting. But are they really big enough to do anything with? Wouldn't the holes make the amount of usable wood very small?

[John K Jordan]

I've bought both True and Argentine Lignum Vitae at a local (to me) wood dealer, Jeffries Woodworks south of Knoxville TN. https://www.jeffrieswoodworks.com/ The prices were actually quite reasonable, especially compared to some of their prices!

A wood dealer friend Pete near Cincinatti sometimes has LV: Big Monk Lumber For example, this 8x8x3" block of Argentine was only about $30 a few years ago. If looking for some might call and see if he has any.

448921

I know nothing about the use of either species in planes but I've used it a lot for woodturning, bearings, hand-spinning supports, and to machine a few things I might otherwise make from aluminum. I like the color on the Argentine, both are heavy, hard, and waxy.

JKJ

[Aiden Pettengill]

Thats a beautiful hunk of wood you've got there John!

[Rafael Herrera]

Interesting. But are they really big enough to do anything with? Wouldn't the holes make the amount of usable wood very small?

Enough for small infills, little block planes, boxing? one could patch together a bunch of little pieces for small parts.

[Mark Hennebury]

I was able to get some at the shipyard in St Johns Newfoundland about 40 years ago. They had large blocks 3or 4" thick and 8-10" wide and up to 2 or three foot long. I was told it was used for bearing blocks on shafts. Fascinating wood.

[Tom Bussey]

The wood is used as the bearing where the shaft exits the ship. The wood is self lubricating as there is no way to lubricate against salt water that I know of. If there is a support bearing out farther on the shaft I would assume that it is also Lignum Vitae but I do not know for sure. The rest of the shaft bearings, at least on my ship were Babbitt.

I find it strange because my ACE reformed smoothing plane from Gemmary has a Lignum Vitae sole and I do not find it heavy. And a lot of LN bronze plane users love the weight and prefer it to the iron plane. I doubt if my smoothing plane is heavier than my iron smoother but I have never thought of weighing them to find out.