Vintage Stock Genuine Lignum Vitae Hardwood aka Guaiacum Officinale 

Janka hardness 4,390 lbf (19,510 N)

These pieces have cracks which may not be visible in the pictures. Sold as is.

You will receive a similar one piece as shown in the pictures.

For your woodworking, marine, and hydro projects, real Lignum Vitae Wood.

Size: 2”x2”x18” or 50x50x457mm.

This wood is also known as Guaiacum officinale, or Guaiacum Sanctum. It is extremely purposeful for building parts for hydro projects, ball bearings, bushings, pulley wheels, turbine parts, and custom woodworking projects such as tool handles, bossing mallets, knife handles, game calls, reel seats, boxmaking etc. Lignum Vitae is an exceptional wood for turning on lathe, and finishes very well.

Condition is air dried and waxed.

Shipped via USPS. We accept PayPal and all major credit cards.

Additional information on real Lignum Vitae lumber:

In parts of Europe, this wood is known as pockholz, from trees of the genus Guaiacum. The trees are indigenous to the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America and have been an important export crop to Europe since the beginning of the 16th century. "Lignum vitae" is Latin for "wood of life", and derives its name from its medicinal uses; lignum vitae resin has been used to treat a variety of medical conditions from coughs to arthritis etc. The wood is very tough and is heavier than water, so it actually sinks. It has been used for making cricket balls, croquet mallets, electrical insulators and sheaves of blocks on ships. This material's strength and toughness also made it an excellent choice for bearings on water-lubricated shafts driving the propellers on ships, and it was even used on the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine.

Of particular interest to Ameren Missouri for its 242-MW Osage Energy Center is the use of lignum vitae for water-lubricated guide bearings in hydro turbines. It was the bearing material used in the world's first hydroelectric plant in 1882 on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisc., and when Union Electric Co. built Bagnell Dam and the 201-MW (at the time of construction) Osage plant in central Missouri (from 1929 to 1931), lignum vitae was the bearing material specified by its turbine machinery designer, Allis Chalmers. Until some time after World War II, lignum vitae was heavily used for turbine bearings in hydro plants across the U.S.