I'm interested in turning a chess set out of lignum vitae. I've read that it's a very hard & heavy wood (also expensive). Anybody had any experience with it? I'm hoping to use the sapwood for the white pieces and the heartwood for the black pieces.
Does LV darken with exposure to sunlight? If so, will finishing it with a UV inhibitor maintain the sapwood's light color?
Thanks, Charles
All of my lignum vitae is a beautiful green. The sapwood is a nice, slightly greenish, creamy white. Never saw any black. Turns like a DREAM! Have __sharp__ tools for a nice finish and you won't have to sand much. Use a simple wax finish...the wood is too oily for finishes to stick to it, and you don't need it anyhow.
It goes from a muddy brown after it is worked, to a beautiful green. The sapwood stays creamy.
This is based on my experience with Argentinian lignum vitae.
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