3 replies to this topic

[BillBrush]

I found this chart today:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janka_Wood_hardness_rating

I found it pretty interesting and might be handy as general woodworking info.  I knew ebony was incredibly hard, but I had no idea it was THAT hard.  :-)

Bill

[Frank Hagan]

Pretty interesting.  The hardest wood they list is Lignum Vitae, a traditional wood for blocks.  Now I know why!  Its 27% higher on the Janka hardness scale than Ipe!

[BillBrush]

After posting this I did some reading on lignum vitae and found that it was used for the belaying pins on the USS Constitution.

That's some incredibly hard stuff.  I wonder if i can find any around.  :-)

[Frank Hagan]

Wooden Boat magazine used to have a vendor that still made traditional blocks out of Lignum Vitea; they weren't cheap, but then a wood that's about as hard as steel is probably hard to work too!