Slow News Day Part IV

[cassidain]

Let's see if we can make this game a bit more difficult this time.

The wood from which beautiful and iconic native island tree was used to make peg legs for pirates and privateers in the XVII and XVIII centuries ?

[Rosemary]

Lignum Vitae, perhaps?

[24loar]

cocolobo (sp?) grown in La Glorette's beach dining room

[Dennis]

La Sapitilla (sp)

[cassidain]

Lignum Vitae, perhaps?

Bingo ! The beautiful Gaïac tree.

aka Guaiacum officinale

[Rosemary]

Bingo ! The beautiful Gaïac tree.

aka Guaiacum officinale

They are beautiful and as hard as steel. Excellent peg leg material.

[cassidain]

They are beautiful and as hard as steel. Excellent peg leg material.

as hard and nearly as dense as steel, too ! a wood that sinks, doesn't float !

[JEK]

Another interesting characteristic

Guaiacum officinale is one of two species yielding the true lignum vitae, the other being Guaiacum sanctum. Guaiac, a natural resin extracted from the wood, is a colorless compound that turns blue when placed in contact with substances that have peroxidase activity and then are exposed to hydrogen peroxide. Guaiac cards are impregnated with the resin and are used in determining whether stool contains blood.

[JEK]

Due to the density of the wood, cricket bails, in particular "heavy bails" used in windy conditions, are sometimes made of lignum vitae. It is also sometimes used to make lawn bowls, croquet mallets, and skittlesballs. The wood also has seen widespread historical usage in mortars and pestles and for wood carvers' mallets.
It was the traditional wood used for the British police truncheon until recently, due to its density (and strength), combined with the relative softness of wood compared to metal, thereby tending to bruise or stun rather than simply cut the skin.
The belaying pins and deadeyes aboard USS Constitution and many other sailing ships were made from lignum vitae. Due to its density and natural oils, they rarely require replacement, despite the severity of typical marine weathering conditions, and also resisted jamming in their mortise holes. The sheaves of blockson sailing vessels were made of lignum vitae until the introduction of modern synthetics.
Due to lignum vitae's toughness, it can also be used as a lap in the process of cutting gems.^{[citation needed]} The wood is covered with powdered industrial diamond, attached to a spindle, and used to smooth rough surfaces of gems.
Master clockmaker John Harrison used lignum vitae in the bearings and gears of his pendulum clocks and his first three marine chronometers (all of which were large clocks rather than watches), since the wood is self-lubricating. The use of lignum vitae eliminates the need for horological lubricating oil; 18th-century horological oil would become viscous and reduce the accuracy of a timepiece under unfavourable conditions (including those that prevail at sea).
For the same reason it was widely used in water-lubricated shaft bearings for ships and hydro-electric power plants,^[8] and in the stern-tube bearings of ship propeller shafts^[9] until the 1960s saw the introduction of sealed white metal bearings. According to the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association website, the shaft bearings on the WWII submarine USS Pampanito (SS-383) were made of this wood.^[10]The aft main shaft strut bearings for USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, were composed of this wood.

[amyb]

Often planted near homes as the root system helps stabilize the land..good for hurricane protection.

We have a couple of them here by our Lurin home. Purple and/or white flowering.. Seeds mess up the walkway and the driveway, but a great tree. Birds love it--especially the Thrashers.

[KevinS]

Further to Amy’s post, I have a vague recollection that Gaiac’s were sometimes used as a corner post for traditional St Barth Cases.

[JEK]

Often planted near homes as the root system helps stabilize the land..good for hurricane protection.

See reference to that in The Spirit of St. Barth, 10 year edition! https://www.sbhonline.com/forums/sho...=1#post1073340