Official Luthiers Forum!

[QUOTE=Mattyeod]    Sorry to keep you hanging folks, but Chris got so quick I just wanted to build up a little excitement!

it is LIGNUM VITAE

Chris, Larry , and Mike win the bucket O'lard

One caveat, it was sold as Lignum Vitae, I went back the next week and there was more with Verawood stickers on it.

Thanks for playing everyone.[/QUOTE]
So,just because I don't speak Latin I don't get to share in teh bounty? Discrimination I tell you! I'm likely to sue. Yeah, that's a good idea, suing guitar builders. That will get me rich for sure.
Did you find the Ironwood hard to work. I worked with some fresh from the desert when I was in AZ. It had so much silca in it that it sparked when I cut it. YUCK!

Paul, if you really want lard I can send it to you.
Actually, I think we are talking about different "ironwoods". There are about 20 species called Ironwood. You're probably talking about "desert ironwood"
   To answer your question, it wasn't too difficult to work, definitely no sparks! I got it because of the interlocking figure and the green color. However, when I bent it it oozed resin and turned brown. When I filled the pores I used an oil-based filler and the green came back. I usually use epoxy to pore fill, but tried the oil stuff; I don't like it much as a pore filler but it worked out color wise, serendipty.

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Matt Jacobs

"Don't tase me bro"

Ok, I guess I'll concede that I might not have been 100% correct in my ID.
Yes, I was working with desert Ironwood which if my stuff was common to that species, it's definately not like the stuff you worked with. Called ironwood for a reason in that case.

While both lignum vitae and verawood are in the same botanical family, they are of different genus and speices as are genuine mahogany and Spanish cedar. Lignum being Guaiacum officinale and verawood being Bulnesia arborea. Lignum is more valuable than verawood so if a wood store can pass it off..well... I believe lignum is on CITES list also while verawood is not.

Besides the pretty green color of vera vs. the brown/olive of lignum I find the main difference in aroma. Lignum smells like old gym socks after a basketball game and verawood aroma is more like red high heels on Saturday nigh.

Wow, Larry, it sho' is tempting to ask just what red high heels smell like, but I'll leave that to Bruce.

Thanks for chiming in.
It sounds like you are voting for verawood?

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I know..... Its wood!

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Used in wood plane bottoms for the self-lubricating properties. Cool stuff Matt!

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

[QUOTE=WaddyT] Gotta be Plywood - I'd say probably that HD stuff...[/QUOTE]
Couldn't be--the layers aren't separating from the guitar.

[QUOTE=CarltonM] [QUOTE=WaddyT] Gotta be Plywood - I'd say probably that HD stuff...[/QUOTE]
Couldn't be--the layers aren't separating from the guitar. [/QUOTE]

Must be the Z-Poxy holding them together.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

[QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird] Wow, Larry, it sho' is tempting to ask just what red high heels smell like, but I'll leave that to Bruce.

Thanks for chiming in.
It sounds like you are voting for verawood?

Steve
[/QUOTE]

Steve, Saturday night is more a philosophy than an adjective and beyond that I ain't talkin'

I cut both lignam and vera for knife handles and the grain, color and ribbon stripe is verawood. Verawood will be brown when fresh cut or sanded, but put it in the sunlight and it goes back to a vivid green.

Was that stuff hard to glue? I remember reading somewhere that it was
nearly impossible to glue that stuff. Maybe Im thinking of something else.

[QUOTE=WaddyT]

[QUOTE=Chansen]I think it's MDF... [/QUOTE]

Naw, man, MDF is much plainer looking than that,  Gotta be Plywood - I'd say probably that HD stuff - You know, that 7 ply, sandply stuff - It looks just like that under A good FP finish, particularly when you get a good QS piece on the edge like that...

[/QUOTE]

Mmmmm QS plywood... man I'd love to get my hands on some of that!

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Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils - Louis Hector Berlioz

Chansen / C hansen / C. Hansen / Christian Hansen - not a handle.

Christian