Lignum Vitae picks

[daz]

Today i got a [url="http://surfpick.com/"]Lignum Vitae picks[/url] in the mail. I heard about them and decided to give one a try. Has anyone else any experience of this rare hardwearing wood? Its actually used to make bearings from, it so hard. But the trick is it also has a pungent oil impregnated throughout.


Anyone here used any themselves ?

Here is the Winkpedia page that explains the hardness test that puts this wood right at the top. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janka_hardness_test"]Lignum Vitae - Janka hardness test[/url] Interestingly it puts [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basswood"]basswood[/url] (the stuff many modern guitars are made of) right down the bottom with Balsa. Basswood[b][size=4]*[/size][/b] trees are generally called lime or Linden in Britain and linden or basswood in North America. Not trying to be a knowall. I'll admit I didnt know this till I looked it up and Wiki either.

I have no connection with that website. Scouts honour. Anyway apparently its against USA law to export that wood out of the country! Got mine from a place called stringsdirect, and im not affiliated with them either.

[b][size=4]*[/size][/b] [b]Not[/b] Pronounced "Basewood". Bass in this case is pronounced like the fish and to rhyme with Lass

Edited May 18, 2010 by daz

[misrule]

I doubt many people here will have tried them. His website says:

"It is illegal for me to ship Lignum Vitae Surfpicks out of the US."

This from Wikipedia:

"The wood is obtained chiefly from Guaiacum officinale and Guaiacum sanctum, both small, slow growing trees. All species of the genus Guaiacum are now listed in Appendix II of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) as potentially endangered species."

Cheers

Mark

[Mr. Foxen]

Can probably get hold of lignum vitae pieces to carve (grind probably) them from old bearings and such, I think bowling balls were made of it too.

And yeah, basswood is as soft as soap, dents really easily.

[Deep Thought]

Yep, balls for playing bowls, i.e. like Sir Francis Drake, used to be made of lignum vitae. It was used for bearings and the like too-in fact it was used for the glands in the propshaft tunnels of ships. I was reading the other day that the wartime aircraft carrier H.M.S. Illustrious had lignum vitae propshaft glands. As for picks, I think I'll stick with Dunlop nylon ones.