Anyone else make handles in Argentine Lignum Vitae?

[awa54]

What does it do? What do you have to do to turn it?

Very nice and very dense looking.

For starters the specific gravity is 1.2! Janka hardness of 3670, it has a feel on the cutting tools that's much different from even other extremely hard woods I've turned; almost brittle (though it comes away in thin ribbons when drilling the knot hole, rather than dust), I tried to do detail shaping with a bowl gouge, but it pulled, chattered and skipped like crazy (yes, it was sharp), so I had to switch off to a carbide disc chisel.

Some sources recommend turning it with metal cutting bits.

It also caused a bit of irritation on my skin (long sleeves, safety glasses and respirator were worn), despite not being noticeably dusty (mostly fell away from the tools in tiny flakes), this one is probably best worked with a dust collector running.

If anything, this wood is *more* water repellant than Lignum!

 

[LJS]

Interesting - I’ve turned stuff I could only scrape but it was all dust. It looks as dense in the pic as you describe really.

 

[awa54]

here's one that's booorrring! ...or at least the "wood" is fairly undistinguished.

Though the Dymondwood rod stock was bought directly from the production plant in Rutland VT shortly before it burned to the ground and production moved elswhere (who knows??, but similar material seems to still be available for commercial users).

drilled for a 20mm knot

 

[Hydguy]

A new turning in African Blackwood, this stuff does not turn like normal wood... and this coming from somone who works with LV. Flicking the side of the handle where the knot socket is gives a ringing sound that's more like a ceramic than wood.

View attachment 1164147

Haven't tried a wood handle brush yet, but one like that would be a great intro!

 

[Hydguy]

here's one that's booorrring! ...or at least the "wood" is fairly undistinguished.

Though the Dymondwood rod stock was bought directly from the production plant in Rutland VT shortly before it burned to the ground and production moved elswhere (who knows??, but similar material seems to still be available for commercial users).

drilled for a 20mm knot

View attachment 1164556

And then I see the Dymond wood!! That is really nice! I assume it's a laminated wood, based on the evenness of the colors.

 

[awa54]

And then I see the Dymond wood!! That is really nice! I assume it's a laminated wood, based on the evenness of the colors.

yes, it's resin impregnated wood laminate with two, to five color layers. I've had batches that split with prolonged water exposure and others that have been bulletproof in that respect. The green/black pictured here is a winner!

 

[Hydguy]

yes, it's resin impregnated wood laminate with two, to five color layers. I've had batches that split with prolonged water exposure and others that have been bulletproof in that respect. The green/black pictured here is a winner!

It would look good in any shaver's den!
Whoever ends up with it will have a gorgeous brush!

 

[awa54]

Two more experiments, one in Dymondwood, the other in Lignum. Both bored for 20mm knots

I like the proportions of the laminate one, but the double ridge/V-cut bump doesn't quite "work" to my eye, the "fifty-ish" handle is too bulky and doesn't have enough taper from the knot socket down to the step... I'll be revisiting that pattern soon.

 

[Hydguy]

Two more experiments, one in Dymondwood, the other in Lignum. Both bored for 20mm knots

I like the proportions of the laminate one, but the double ridge/V-cut bump doesn't quite "work" to my eye, the "fifty-ish" handle is too bulky and doesn't have enough taper from the knot socket down to the step... I'll be revisiting that pattern soon.

View attachment 1167324

I see what you mean with the double v much better..

But both of them are still beautiful!

 

[awa54]

A few more from this afternoon:

None is a full success... the LV handle has too much swell in the base, the red/yellow laminate is prone to cracking under continuous exposure to water and the olive wood blank still had quite a bit of residual humidity, so I'm expecting it to shrink a bit over time

 

[awa54]

A couple more: cocobolo and LV, both taking advantage of my new round nosed detail gouge to have softer edged grooves which still add grip.

The cocobolo was knotted with a Maggard 20mm silvertip at 46mm, still a bit soft for my taste...

 

[GAW9576]

I really like that cocobolo. Great work.

 

[LJS]

Nice profiles

taking advantage of my new round nosed detail gouge

What size did you get? Hard to have too many

 

[Ridgeback]

The Cocobolo handle shape is very nice.

 

[awa54]

Nice profiles




What size did you get? Hard to have too many

Thanks all for the encouragement!

The new tool is a carbide insert style, with a diamond shaped bit, the tips are rounded instead of pointed, with about a .5 to .75mm radius. It's also very useful for detailing small curved areas, though the finish needs scraping or sanding afterward.

I agree that the simpler shape of the cocobolo handle is more appealing (the wood too!), but the one on the right was an experiment in grip enhancement on a small-ish handle and it worked, you'd have to really work at it to drop this one, yet all the edges are rounded.

 

[Hydguy]

Thanks all for the encouragement!

The new tool is a carbide insert style, with a diamond shaped bit, the tips are rounded instead of pointed, with about a .5 to .75mm radius. It's also very useful for detailing small curved areas, though the finish needs scraping or sanding afterward.

I agree that the simpler shape of the cocobolo handle is more appealing (the wood too!), but the one on the right was an experiment in grip enhancement on a small-ish handle and it worked, you'd have to really work at it to drop this one, yet all the edges are rounded.

Wonder if you could checker the cocobolo to match a pair of 1911 grips?? LOL!!!

 

[GAW9576]

Wonder if you could checker the cocobolo to match a pair of 1911 grips?? LOL!!!

I have thought checkering would be really cool on a brush handle or wooden razor handle aslo.

 

[awa54]

I'm sure it's *possible*, but not anything that can be done on a typical wood lathe, or without the skills of a gunsmith who could hand cut the checkering. Cocobolo is hard enough that hand cutting (especially on such an extremely curved surface) might not be practical, usually stocks are made of much softer wood... and the checkering on flat areas of pistol grips (which are often harder woods) is usually machine cut.

 

[LJS]

Texturing or knurling tool would probably be the way to go for that if that is what you wanted to do. But I have never done that on any wood myself much less cocobolo. Only metal.

I have a similar tool as you describe with rounded diamond carbide insert. I used it for these grooves but that was as close as I could get the rings even turning the tool on its side.

 

[awa54]

Texturing or knurling tool would probably be the way to go for that if that is what you wanted to do. But I have never done that on any wood myself much less cocobolo. Only metal.

I have a similar tool as you describe with rounded diamond carbide insert. I used it for these grooves but that was as close as I could get the rings even turning the tool on its side.

View attachment 1171879

That looks great as is! A "V" shaped scraper would give you a crisp cut, I have one (conventional type) that I've used for previous turnings with grooves. I'd bet you can find a pointed insert that fits your tool handle, then you would have both options for the price of a replacement bit.

How does resin turn compared with hard woods? I want to try an acrylic handle, but haven't researched the techniques yet.