Anyone who knows please ... what is the hardest damn
wood that exists on the face of this entire planet ... ?
The hardest wood known to man currently and through-
out known history (if that applies of course) ?

Alex

"AArDvarK" wrote in message
news:gf9ic.20249$432.1602@fed1read01...

Anyone who knows please ... what is the hardest damn
wood that exists on the face of this entire planet ... ?


My vote would be for Desert Ironwood -- I am turning a large piece on my
lathe at the moment. I have never seen anything so hard and heavy. I just
finished a piece from Lignum Vitae, and it was soft by comparison, and the
oil content made it easy to turn. The Ironwood came from a large section
which I found at a junk dealer and it appears to very, very dry and old.
The color and weight made identification easy, and when I started to turn
it, the density, pattern and color became obvious. I am using HSS lathe
bits to turn it down to a manageable size, and they just barely cut it.
--
Ken Vaughn
Visit My Workshop: http://home.earthlink.net/~kvaughn65/

In article gf9ic.20249$432.1602@fed1read01, says...

Anyone who knows please ... what is the hardest damn
wood that exists on the face of this entire planet ... ?
The hardest wood known to man currently and through-
out known history (if that applies of course) ?

Alex

Petrified.

See: http://www.desertusa.com/mag00/jan/papr/rock.html

"VRadin" wrote in message ...
In article gf9ic.20249$432.1602@fed1read01, says...

Anyone who knows please ... what is the hardest damn
wood that exists on the face of this entire planet ... ?
The hardest wood known to man currently and through-
out known history (if that applies of course) ?

Alex

Petrified.

See: http://www.desertusa.com/mag00/jan/papr/rock.html


Ja shoooorrr, petrified is not wood it is rock. The mineral
replacement of the fibers of the original wood. Doesn't count,
sorry (muwahahahaha).

Alex

Most sources consider Lignum Vitae (Guaicum officinale), with a specific
gravity of 1.37) to be the hardest. Desert Ironwood (Olney test) comes in
sixth at 1.15 Specific gravity is the relative density of the wood to that
of pure water . . . both of these woods will sink if put in water.

-Verne

In article , "vrhorton" wrote:
Most sources consider Lignum Vitae (Guaicum officinale), with a specific
gravity of 1.37) to be the hardest. Desert Ironwood (Olney test) comes in
sixth at 1.15 Specific gravity is the relative density of the wood to that
of pure water . . . both of these woods will sink if put in water.

Interesting, but irrelevant, as hardness and density are independent of each
other. (Good example from the world of metallurgy: aluminum is harder than
lead.)

What's hardest depends also on exactly what property you're measuring. I
happen to have my Wood Handbook right here... a few selected values:

Compression parallel to grain (lb-ft per sq in, at 12% MC):
Kaneelhart 17,400
Macawood 16,100
Marishballi 13,390
Ipe 13,010
Azobe 12,600
Greenheart 12,510
Sucupira 12,140
Mora 11,840
Bulletwood 11,640
Benge 11,400
Lignum Vitae 11,400
Manbarklak 11,210

Side hardness (lb-ft, at 12% MC):
Lignum Vitae 4,500
Ipe 3,680
Marishballi 3,570
Manbarklak 3,480
Azobe 3,350
Bulletwood 3,190
Macawood 3,150
Kaneelhart 2,900

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

For a copy of my TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter,
send email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 08:18:06 -0700, vrhorton wrote:
Most sources consider Lignum Vitae (Guaicum officinale), with a specific
gravity of 1.37) to be the hardest. Desert Ironwood (Olney test) comes in
sixth at 1.15 Specific gravity is the relative density of the wood to that
of pure water . . . both of these woods will sink if put in water.

Specific gravity measures density, not hardness. The metal mercury has
a very high specific density, yet is not hard. Not sure these two have
much if any correlation.

Dave Hinz

On 23 Apr 2004 15:55:48 GMT, Dave Hinz wrote:

Specific gravity measures density, not hardness. The metal mercury has
a very high specific density, yet is not hard. Not sure these two have
much if any correlation.

Hardness, like whether solid or liquid, relies on bond strength
[atomic, not fibres], not amount per unit volume.

I heard of ironwood, lignum vitae, but not the other exotic woods
listed by Doug. Didn't LV used to be used for ball bearings in old
steam paddle boats?

Dan.

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 06:55:32 -0700, "AArDvarK"
wrote:


Anyone who knows please ... what is the hardest damn
wood that exists on the face of this entire planet ... ?
The hardest wood known to man currently and through-
out known history (if that applies of course) ?

If they have brad nailers for under $20, they are a great buy. Two
years and no jams,no failures


Cape Cod Bob
Visit my web site at http://home.comcast.net/~bobmethelis
Delete the two "spam"s for email

Danny Boy writes:

[...]

I heard of ironwood, lignum vitae, but not the other exotic woods
listed by Doug. Didn't LV used to be used for ball bearings in old
steam paddle boats?

It is. See http://www.cropp-timber.com/eng/pockholzmain.htm

--
Dr. Juergen Hannappel http://lisa2.physik.uni-bonn.de/~hannappe
Phone: +49 228 73 2447 FAX ... 7869
Physikalisches Institut der Uni Bonn Nussallee 12, D-53115 Bonn, Germany
CERN: Phone: +412276 76461 Fax: ..77930 Bat. 892-R-A13 CH-1211 Geneve 23

AArDvarK wrote:
Anyone who knows please ... what is the hardest damn
wood that exists on the face of this entire planet ... ?
The hardest wood known to man currently and through-
out known history (if that applies of course) ?

Cape Cod Bob wrote:
If they have brad nailers for under $20, they are a great buy. Two
years and no jams,no failures

WTF over?
Dave in Fairfax
--
reply-to doesn't work
use:
daveldr at att dot net
American Association of Woodturners
http://www.woodturner.org
Capital Area Woodturners
http://www.capwoodturners.org/

"dave in fairfax" wrote in message
...


Cape Cod Bob wrote:
If they have brad nailers for under $20, they are a great buy. Two
years and no jams,no failures

WTF over?
Dave in Fairfax
--

Answering the HF question in a diff thread.
Me? I'd blame it on Microsoft before Alzheimers.

mttt wrote:
Answering the HF question in a diff thread.
Me? I'd blame it on Microsoft before Alzheimers.

I hadn't considered that, thanks. Usually reply applies to the
message you're looking at rather than one chosen at random.
Dave in Fairfax
--
reply-to doesn't work
use:
daveldr at att dot net
American Association of Woodturners
http://www.woodturner.org
Capital Area Woodturners
http://www.capwoodturners.org/

Juergen Hannappel wrote...
Danny Boy writes:

[...]

I heard of ironwood, lignum vitae, but not the other exotic woods
listed by Doug. Didn't LV used to be used for ball bearings in old
steam paddle boats?

It is. See http://www.cropp-timber.com/eng/pockholzmain.htm


Bushings or bearings, though, not "ball bearings."

Jim

"AArDvarK" wrote in message news:gf9ic.20249$432.1602@fed1read01...
Anyone who knows please ... what is the hardest damn
wood that exists on the face of this entire planet ... ?
The hardest wood known to man currently and through-
out known history (if that applies of course) ?

Alex
This is a janka hardness table from
http://www.precisecut.com/reference/...ness_table.htm


The higher the number the harder the wood

Douglas Fir 660
So. Yellow Pine (loblolly & short leaf) 690
So. Yellow Pine (longleaf) 870
Black Cherry 950
Teak 1000
Black Walnut 1010
Heart Pine 1225
Yellow Birch 1260
Red Oak (Northern) 1290
American Beech 1300
Ash 1320
White Oak 1360
Australian Cypress 1375
Hard Maple 1450
Wenge 1630
African Pedauk 1725
Hickory/Pecan 1820
Purpleheart 1860
Jarrah 1910
Merbau 1925
Santos Mahogany 2200
Mesquite 2345
Brazilian Cherry 2350
Brazilian Ebony 3692

In article gf9ic.20249$432.1602@fed1read01, says...

Anyone who knows please ... what is the hardest damn
wood that exists on the face of this entire planet ... ?
The hardest wood known to man currently and through-
out known history (if that applies of course) ?

Alex


That piece of the corner of my workbench, you know the one, it's the
piece that expands 6 inches after one has reached down to pick up a
fallen screw or other part and interpose itself between one's head and
the path to standing vertical. :-O

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 13:55:34 -0400, Danny Boy wrote:

On 23 Apr 2004 15:55:48 GMT, Dave Hinz wrote:

Specific gravity measures density, not hardness. The metal mercury has
a very high specific density, yet is not hard. Not sure these two have
much if any correlation.

Hardness, like whether solid or liquid, relies on bond strength
[atomic, not fibres], not amount per unit volume.

I heard of ironwood, lignum vitae, but not the other exotic woods
listed by Doug. Didn't LV used to be used for ball bearings in old
steam paddle boats?

Dan.


sleeve bearings, not ball bearings.

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 20:44:04 GMT, dave in fairfax
wrote:

mttt wrote:
Answering the HF question in a diff thread.
Me? I'd blame it on Microsoft before Alzheimers.

I hadn't considered that, thanks. Usually reply applies to the
message you're looking at rather than one chosen at random.
Dave in Fairfax

Just keeping the group on their toes.

Cape Cod Bob
Visit my web site at http://home.comcast.net/~bobmethelis
Delete the two "spam"s for email

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 06:55:32 -0700, "AArDvarK"
wrote:


Anyone who knows please ... what is the hardest damn
wood that exists on the face of this entire planet ... ?
The hardest wood known to man currently and through-
out known history (if that applies of course) ?

Alex



petrified wood...

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 06:55:32 -0700, "AArDvarK"
wrote:


Anyone who knows please ... what is the hardest damn
wood that exists on the face of this entire planet ... ?
The hardest wood known to man currently and through-
out known history (if that applies of course) ?

Alex



My guess is petrified wood. I have several pieces in my aquarium.

In article gf9ic.20249$432.1602@fed1read01,
AArDvarK wrote:

Anyone who knows please ... what is the hardest damn
wood that exists on the face of this entire planet ... ?
The hardest wood known to man currently and through-
out known history (if that applies of course) ?

Alex



"Petrified", of course.


If you don't like that answer, I'd suggest a Google search.

The United States Forest Products Laboratory has lots of material
on the strength of woods. and hardness.

morning wood. followed closely by jessica simpson wood.

randy

"AArDvarK" wrote in message
news:gf9ic.20249$432.1602@fed1read01...

Anyone who knows please ... what is the hardest damn
wood that exists on the face of this entire planet ... ?
The hardest wood known to man currently and through-
out known history (if that applies of course) ?

Alex

"xrongor" wrote in message
...
morning wood. followed closely by jessica simpson wood.

randy

Heheh. Amen, brother!

Ya know, though, technically speaking, "pertrified" isn't a type of wood, is
it? More like a state of transformation. Before it petrified it had some
species.

Keith Carlson wrote:
"xrongor" wrote in message
...
morning wood. followed closely by jessica simpson wood.

randy

Heheh. Amen, brother!

Ya know, though, technically speaking, "pertrified" isn't a type of
wood, is it? More like a state of transformation. Before it
petrified it had some species.

Prove to me it didn't grow that way.... g

-- Mark

On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 01:24:14 GMT, "Keith Carlson"
wrote:

"xrongor" wrote in message
...
morning wood. followed closely by jessica simpson wood.

randy

Heheh. Amen, brother!

Ya know, though, technically speaking, "pertrified" isn't a type of wood, is
it? More like a state of transformation. Before it petrified it had some
species.



well, there's no real line. lots of species absorb minerals as they
grow and have enough in them to be hard on tooling all along. they
fall, get buried, absorb more and more and eventually the organic
stuff gets completely displaced.

"xrongor" wrote in message
...
morning wood. followed closely by jessica simpson wood.

randy

Heheh. Amen, brother!

Ya know, though, technically speaking, "pertrified" isn't a type of wood, is
it? More like a state of transformation. Before it petrified it had some
species.

From: Doug Miller
What's hardest depends also on exactly what property you're measuring. I
happen to have my Wood Handbook right here... a few selected values:

+ + +
You forgot to mention the difference between side hardness and end-grain
hardness. Not to mention which side?

This all goes to show that this is a quite complicated question after
extremes (i.e. after the uncommon).
PvR