Did anyone else see the Lignum vitae wassail on the BBC Antiques Roadshow tonight (or whenever it plays in your area)? It was very impressive. Has anyone turned anything bigger than a mallet using L. vitae? Pics?
forestgirl — you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can’t take the forest out of the girl 😉
Replies
FG,
I didn't see the programme you mention but as an aside.....
A friend for whom I'm making a pitch pine dining table was giving me a lift with the heavy top and we talked, as you do. He mentioned that his father plays crown green bowls - a sport in which large (8 inch diameter or thereabouts) round "woods" are bowled at a smaller jack over a small green field with a hump in the middle.
Now, traditionally the bowls were made of lignum vitae, as it's hard, heavy and durable. However, my friend said that some new rule in the national game has banned all "woods" in favour of some kind of dense plastic thangs.
If this is so, there will be many a round lump of lignum vitae gathering dust on various bowling green sheds and cubby 'oles! I am investigating this rumour futher.
Lataxe, wood fetishist.
"I am investigating this rumour futher." As would I! Gather 'em up!!!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Master Lataxe, If you have a shipyard in your area, inquire as to wether they have any used stuffing boxes laying around. Ship's prop shaft bearings used to be made of LV for its hardness and self lubricating properties.
Dick
Yep, you have it right. I'm a retired nuclear submarine captain. The main propeller journal bearings (which is located aft of the pressure hull exposed to sea water) were made of a cylinder of about sixteen or so strips of LV about six inches wide by two inches thick by about ten feet long.
Apparently, LV likes to be lubricated by water.
Chris
"...sixteen or so strips of LV about six inches wide by two inches thick by about ten feet long." Oh, bestill my heart!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Chris,
Is that for real? It's hard to imagine that a nuclear sub relies on wood and not some sort of modern hi-tech substance to keep out the salty drink. Amazing!I trust that they don't use wood to contain the nuclear core. If they did, whatever the species, it'd soon be ash.
Don't worry, the wood does not keep out sea water. The propeller bearing is located about a foot in front of the screw and extends forward about ten feet. that part of the ship is a "free flood" area that is always full of sea water. Sea water lubricates the bearing.
Don't worry, no wood in the reactor pressure vessel. It's a steel alloy about 8" minimum thickness, much thicker in many places.
Chris
Is that for real? It's hard to imagine that a nuclear sub relies on wood and not some sort of modern hi-tech substance to keep out the salty drink. Amazing!
God made wood... Man made modern things!
Fish, is that application of LV bearing perhaps used to dampen or lessen sounds emanating while underway?
Steinmetz.
Edited 8/26/2008 10:48 pm ET by Steinmetz
I turned this dish out of Lignum vitae about 25 years ago. it's 6 1/2" in dia.
the other photo is a bearing stave of LV. I have used them to make mallets. No ships have use the stuff for bearing in the last 50 years. just think of a sub with a 25 ton propeller and 30 tons of shafting running on Lignum vitae bearings.
That's a beautiful dish, Seq. I look forward to the day that I have enough confidence in my turning skills to put a tool to the big block of LV that's holding down a shelf in my shop, turn part of it into a mallet.
Does anyone out there know how the remaining population of L. vitae is doing in its native country?forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I had no idea what that was! Like this? Still not sure what it is!
Edited 8/26/2008 9:25 pm by WillGeorge
Yes, WG, that's an example. Click here for a description of the vessel. I should have said "Wassail Bowl" in my title, was the word Wassail these days is generally used to refer to a holiday "punch" of sorts. Lost of history here, read the Wikipedia article, it's right up your alley!
The specimen on Antiques Roadshow was just the big stemmed bowl and top. It was huge!!!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
J, I have seen a few and they were full of glug by my Norwegian friends. No different than the punch bowls at the Nurses* dances that Submariners always got invited to as we always provided a great moment of entertainment (as one of the boys dumped at least a pint of 190 proof torpedo juice-in later days from A-gang, into the fruit punch) and an evening of cordial fellowship demonstrating the best values of the holiday season. Paddy
* note that Nurses are Officers and we were black shoes(enlisted, though Senior Petty Officers if not Chief Petty Officers) but by late in the evening the distinction was a little hazy.
Ahhhhh, Glug. I live for Glug at Christmastime. My trainer, who's from Sweden (moved to the US in 1968), makes Glug for our parties and it is quite wonderful. For the big parties she boils the alcohol off though, so I have to grab a cup before that happens. ROFL!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Thanks for the links.
WillG,
That is a bearing from a very early (C18th) submarine. No wonder they all sank without trace! If only they had concentrated on utility and left off the fiddleygubs.
Lataxe, naval historian
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