Lignum Vitae
- tompipes
- Posts: 1328
- Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2004 12:50 am
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: St. Louis via Dublin
- Contact:
Lignum Vitae
I have a question for owners of older pipes made from lignum vitae.
Does it darken much with age?
I've been working on a 3/4 set for myself over the last while and I'm trying to decide whether or not to darken the wood a little bit.
If it darkens naturally itself then I won't bother.
Tommy
Does it darken much with age?
I've been working on a 3/4 set for myself over the last while and I'm trying to decide whether or not to darken the wood a little bit.
If it darkens naturally itself then I won't bother.
Tommy
-
- Posts: 316
- Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2004 11:03 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Re: Lignum Vitae
I have an older set in Lignum. I believe my set has darkened/blushed with age. I have been told by my piping friends that the color has changed over the years. Seeing the set every day I personally have not noticed.
- MichaelLoos
- Posts: 676
- Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:53 am
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: I'm here because I just wanted to change my location... but it turns out much more complicated than I thought. Do I already have the 100 required characters?
- Location: Klietz, Germany
-
- Posts: 235
- Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2013 11:45 am
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Re: Lignum Vitae
http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-ide ... num-vitae/
According to this wood-database, Lignum Vitae darkens over age.
Color/Appearance: Heartwood color can range from a pale yellowish olive, to a deeper forest green or dark brown to almost black. Grain has a unique feathered pattern when viewed up close. The color tends to darken with age, especially upon exposure to light. Color of genuine Lignum Vitae tends to be darker than that of Argentine Lignum Vitae.
This is only one source though. Perhaps other people have pipes made of Lignum vitae and can tell you their personal experience.
According to this wood-database, Lignum Vitae darkens over age.
Color/Appearance: Heartwood color can range from a pale yellowish olive, to a deeper forest green or dark brown to almost black. Grain has a unique feathered pattern when viewed up close. The color tends to darken with age, especially upon exposure to light. Color of genuine Lignum Vitae tends to be darker than that of Argentine Lignum Vitae.
This is only one source though. Perhaps other people have pipes made of Lignum vitae and can tell you their personal experience.
-
- Posts: 145
- Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2011 7:24 am
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 12
Re: Lignum Vitae
I've got a 40 year old chanter that is roughly milk chocolate brown. I don't think it has darkened all that much over the years.
-
- Posts: 235
- Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2013 11:45 am
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Re: Lignum Vitae
I think it's also the question where you keep/hide the chanter. If you keep it in a dark spot where it doesn't get exposured to much light, it won't darken that much.
Isn't that the same with purpleheart, the colors beautifully purple when you exposure it to light?
Isn't that the same with purpleheart, the colors beautifully purple when you exposure it to light?
- an seanduine
- Posts: 1999
- Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:06 pm
- antispam: No
- Location: just outside Xanadu
Re: Lignum Vitae
Um, purpleheart looses much of its purple color as it is exposed to UV. When it is first harvested it is a light brown and oxidation through exposure to the air turns it purple, from a light brown. UV on the other hand tends to darken it to a purplish chocolate color. I've seen older turnings of a more or less uniform chocolate color with no purple highlights. I've also seen some very old turnings that turned a very unappealing dishwater gray from exposure to UV.
Bob
Bob
Not everything you can count, counts. And not everything that counts, can be counted
The Expert's Mind has few possibilities.
The Beginner's mind has endless possibilities.
Shunryu Suzuki, Roshi
The Expert's Mind has few possibilities.
The Beginner's mind has endless possibilities.
Shunryu Suzuki, Roshi
-
- Posts: 156
- Joined: Sat Sep 21, 2013 6:09 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: Clinton, CT
Re: Lignum Vitae
I have a couple of peices of true lignum vitae that is at least as old as me (34 years). I would not say they are dark, something like cherry or mahogany(not in tone but darkness). I could send a pic if you like...
"What I love about the pipes is, you can always blame the weather for your poor playing..."
-
- Posts: 358
- Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 4:41 am
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: North Eastern Palaearctic
Re: Lignum Vitae
I have a memory of when H.M.S Belfast, a famous WW2 UK Cruiser, was (and is still there) moored permenantly upstream of Tower Bridge in London, that some L. Vitae was liberated from the big gun Shell rooms. At least, I think I remember it was L. Vitae. This was to lighten ship, and other reasons, for its mooring in the Thames, rather than a wholesale looting. I saw some.... it looked just like the photo above. Don't know when the Belfast was built, but my view was in 1977 (?), and it would not have seen much daylight until liberated after it's harvest, seasoning, and installation!
Happy Days
Pwrt
Happy Days
Pwrt
- Brazenkane
- Posts: 1600
- Joined: Fri May 28, 2004 6:19 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Boobyville
Re: Lignum Vitae
I had a Hunter chanter in Lignum and it darkened. Sam Lawrence would have loads of info on this having built many instruments from this material.
Give a man a wooden reed and he'll play in the driest of weather,
Teach a man to make a wooden reed,
and the both of ye will go insane!
Teach a man to make a wooden reed,
and the both of ye will go insane!
- tompipes
- Posts: 1328
- Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2004 12:50 am
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: St. Louis via Dublin
- Contact:
Re: Lignum Vitae
Thanks for all the responces.
I might try darken a scrap piece and see what happens.
I just want to darken it a small bit so it's more brown than green but with the grain still visible.
I'll post a few pictures of my results.
Tommy
I might try darken a scrap piece and see what happens.
I just want to darken it a small bit so it's more brown than green but with the grain still visible.
I'll post a few pictures of my results.
Tommy
- rorybbellows
- Posts: 3195
- Joined: Sun Dec 14, 2003 7:50 am
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
- Location: the cutting edge
Re: Lignum Vitae
To darken the wood try brushing on iron acetate which is made by dissolving steel wool in some cider vinegar ,this takes about two weeks. The iron acetate reacts with the tannic acid in the wood and can go from brown to jet black depending on how much tannic acid is in the wood. The grain of the wood will still show through the stain.
RORY
RORY
I'm Spartacus .
- tompipes
- Posts: 1328
- Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2004 12:50 am
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: St. Louis via Dublin
- Contact:
Re: Lignum Vitae
That's the recipe I use. A teaspoon of iron filings to a pint of apple cider vinegar. I find it's good to work after a few days but I
l'll leave the next batch longer and see what happens. The 3rd and important ingredient is sunlight.
I might make a weaker solution and try that first. I just want to darken the lignum a few shades so it will contrast nicely with the boxwood mounts.
Tommy
l'll leave the next batch longer and see what happens. The 3rd and important ingredient is sunlight.
I might make a weaker solution and try that first. I just want to darken the lignum a few shades so it will contrast nicely with the boxwood mounts.
Tommy
- billh
- Posts: 2159
- Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2004 6:15 am
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Skerries, County Dublin
- Contact:
Re: Lignum Vitae
Bear in mind that the stuff being sold as lignum vitae these days is generally not the same as the old lignum - a totally different timber. Bulnesia sarmientoi is often sold as lignum these days (also known as palo santo,as are other woods). Traditionally the same lignum vitae was reserved for Guiacum officinale.
Bulnesia does darken considerably with age. It tends to be rather green.
Bulnesia does darken considerably with age. It tends to be rather green.
-
- Posts: 2926
- Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2003 2:20 am
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Cascadia
Re: Lignum Vitae
I was going to say. Bulnesia sarmientoi is also called verawood. I made a stock cup from that stuff. Frankly it seemed close enough to lignum per se, really hard oily wood that smells like pickles when you turn it. Maybe it wouldn't be quite the thing for ships' bearings but for musical instruments or truncheons I'd reckon you're close enough for government work.