# Lignum Vitae Mortar and Pestle...



## vallealbert

I made this Lignum Vitae Mortar and Pestle this week for a customer of mine.  It is 13" tall and 8" wide...very heavy (ask to the model boy....my younger kid...his face tell it all  :biggrin.   Finishing is Carnauba wax.  Thanks for looking...


----------



## bensoelberg

That thing is huge!  Nicely done.  Do you know what your client is planning to use it for?


----------



## vallealbert

bensoelberg said:


> That thing is huge!  Nicely done.  Do you know what your client is planning to use it for?


Thanks Ben for your comment...well, my customer told me he wants two mortars (I still owe him one with this size and 6 smaller ones) to make a traditional puertorrican food called Mofongo (mortars are used to crush the banana-like fruit)....so, this mortar is not just for decoration.


----------



## nightowl

Very Nice.  I have made pens out of them and want to try a Spurtle(sp) but nothing to that scale.


----------



## thewishman

That looks like a very interesting project. Thanks for sharing the pictures.


----------



## vallealbert

Thank you very much for your comments....appreciate it!!


----------



## hunter-27

Very cool, wish I had access to large pieces of Lignum, I love that stuff.


----------



## David Keller

Very cool!  I can't imagine what a chunk of lignum that size would cost in the States!  Thanks for sharing...  I'd love to see the smaller ones when you get them done.


----------



## bitshird

It's a marvelous piece and must have been a beast to turn, and like David said at 75.00 a board foot, Wow that's an expensive block of wood.


----------



## PaulDoug

Great looking project but how long did you make your son stand there and hold that?!  Looks like it weighs as much as he does.


----------



## vallealbert

PaulDoug said:


> Great looking project but how long did you make your son stand there and hold that?!  Looks like it weighs as much as he does.


Thanks Paul...he hold the mortar just a little while...also, perspective is deceiving, the piece size is 13" X 8", but the perspective and angle of the picture make the piece appear bigger.


----------



## vallealbert

bitshird said:


> It's a marvelous piece and must have been a beast to turn, and like David said at 75.00 a board foot, Wow that's an expensive block of wood.


75.00 bf!!! WOW...here in PR L. Vitae is sold by weight, not bf....almost all L. Vitae I have cost me no money, I used to trade it for work...in fact, I will be paid for this work (two mid-size mortars and six smaller ones) with 6 huge chunks of L. Vitae (12"-18" wide and 2-4 feet high)  :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:


----------



## vallealbert

David Keller said:


> Very cool!  I can't imagine what a chunk of lignum that size would cost in the States!  Thanks for sharing...  I'd love to see the smaller ones when you get them done.


David, my customer give me all wood, so I did not have to get it.  I have a great stock of L. Vitae but cut in boards...if you see at my son's picture, behind him there are some lignum boards I'm working to make some Nakashima's style coffee tables.


----------



## MAB11

That's some unforgiving wood, nice work!


----------



## David Keller

vallealbert said:


> David Keller said:
> 
> 
> 
> Very cool!  I can't imagine what a chunk of lignum that size would cost in the States!  Thanks for sharing...  I'd love to see the smaller ones when you get them done.
> 
> 
> 
> David, my customer give me all wood, so I did not have to get it.  I have a great stock of L. Vitae but cut in boards...if you see at my son's picture, behind him there are some lignum boards I'm working to make some Nakashima's style coffee tables.
Click to expand...


I wondered if that was lignum as well.  Wow, you've got quite a stash.  The butterfly looks great on the board in the photo.  I hope you'll post some photos of the finished tables here when you've finished them.


----------



## George Watkins

wow thats huge- here in the u.k I have to buy old lawn green bowling balls and cut them up to get lignum vitae i can afford to buy!!


----------



## Runge

vallealbert said:


> I made this Lignum Vitae Mortar and Pestle this week for a customer of mine.  It is 13" tall and 8" wide...very heavy (ask to the model boy....my younger kid...his face tell it all  :biggrin.   Finishing is Carnauba wax.  Thanks for looking...



Very nice work and very nice wood! All of the larger prices of LV that I have seen tend to be quite internally defective. Your boards look like they have only a few defects. Maybe Guaiacum officinale is less defective than Guaiacum sanctum ???


----------



## Pen&FishingCT

hey i'm from Bayamon, we call it Pilon off course:biggrin: to make mofongo.


----------



## vallealbert

surfflyfish4stripers said:


> hey i'm from Bayamon, we call it Pilon off course:biggrin: to make mofongo.


Glad to see another Boricua here, you are the second one I found on this site (El Mostro was the first one)...we really are everywhere :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:...


----------



## vallealbert

Runge said:


> vallealbert said:
> 
> 
> 
> I made this Lignum Vitae Mortar and Pestle this week for a customer of mine.  It is 13" tall and 8" wide...very heavy (ask to the model boy....my younger kid...his face tell it all  :biggrin.   Finishing is Carnauba wax.  Thanks for looking...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Very nice work and very nice wood! All of the larger prices of LV that I have seen tend to be quite internally defective. Your boards look like they have only a few defects. Maybe Guaiacum officinale is less defective than Guaiacum sanctum ???
Click to expand...

Glad to see you again Chris...I have never seen Guaiacum sanctum boards, so I have no idea if it has less defects than G. officinale.  All LV boards I have are G. officinale and I can tell you for sure that I have found LV logs with almost no defects on it, and I have seen another logs with plenty of inner defects...especially cracks.


----------

