Designing a Plinth

I just checked the price of the Lignum Vitae. It's $5.80/lb and a cubic foot weighs 78lbs. So, thats $452.40 a cubic foot! Maple is about $60.00 a cubic foot for comparision. They have a little over at the local lumber supplier and I have touch it every time I stop by. Can't afford it but at least I get to hold it in my hand.

Good luck,

4yanx,

I buy wood regularly from about 6 different suppliers on line and two local suppliers and they all sell tropical lignum vitae by the pound because it is so rare. One local supplier charges $95.00 a foot for 1" dowels! However, I did find one supplier that was selling Argentine lignum vitae for $15.00/ft.

Mara is not very stable, although it is very beautiful. Looks similair to chestnut.

DESCRIPTION: Heartwood is light brown in color, soft, easily worked, but not durable. Member of the rubbertree family. Typically used for crating or as a secondary wood in cabinet making.

Cebil looks like a winner, but I've never worked with it.

Quina has a spicy scent that is used in perfume making. It tends to burn and tear out like purple heart. I made a jewelry box one time from Quina and I swore I would never work with it again.

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I have a passion for rare and exotic woods. I have a little 6'x6'x7' wood shed that has about $10,000 worth of exotic and rare woods in it. Although, it's probaly less then 300 boardfoot of wood. Some of the species include amboyna burl(extinct), fiddleback japanese peanut wood, pomelle cherry, pomelle white oak, curly avodire, quilted bigleaf maple, beeswing satinwood, quilted and pomelle bubinga, fiddleback koa, madrone burl, turleback koa, quilted sapele pomelle, quilted douka, quilted makore and sequoia burl. BTW, I keep the "common" wood in a different shed.

It's an obsession for me. Sometimes I spend days tracking down a rare species of wood. It takes a lot of time to decide what to make. Somtimes I only have enough material to make a small jewelry box, or a clock, or maybe a book rest. Somtimes I have enough to make a stunning occasional table. I usually end up giving away about half of these items to family members as gifts. And, I never throw away the scraps. You never know when you'll need them to make a knob or for inlay.

Hey, some people collect art. Some people collect audio gear. I collect wood.

Now, if you will excuse me, I just found some gorgeous Quartersawn Curly Shedua that I need to purchase before I go back to bed.

BTW, hickory is one of the the strongest woods on the planet. Incredible high shock resistance and stiffness. Hear's an idea, make the plinth from hickory (no sap wood) and cover it with 1/4" or 3/16" exotic veneers.

Good luck,

I take wood descriptions online with a grain of salt. I once bought some "exotic" african wood; turned out to be the local equavilent of cheap pine. Ended up using it for templates and cauls. I came across a description for eastern douglas fir on a foreign site one time. It went on to describe how popular it was in the US for making fine furniture. And, they were selling it for about $8.00/ft!!!! About the only furniture they make from fir is frames for chairs and sofas to be upholstered.

What I ment by tear out is the way that purple heart wants to splinter when you try to route it.

The Argentine LV looks better then the tropical stuff (in the pics), and you can't beat the price. Seems to polish up real nice.

Hey, another wood to consider for a plinth is jatoba, hard and dense and very beautiful.