Lignum Vitae for a bridge?

[Bigtuna]

Anyone ever use Lignum Vitae for a bridge? The hardest wood on the plant some say. Let me know what you think.

[billhay4]

It is hard, and heavy. It also self lubricated, being full of a waxy substance. But I'm not sure if hardness is the only thing you're looking for in a bridge. Sound transmission would be at the top of my list, too.
Bill

[Marty Jacobson]

Give it a try.. I think it'll be too heavy to be an ideal bridge material. It's kind of the extreme opposite of a Red Henry bridge...
I also don't like the way it looks too much, in most cases. I think it looks great when used to build planes or spokeshaves... but it's hard to make it visually work with other materials, since it's so different from everything else.

[Bigtuna]

How about desert ironwood? I'm looking for a little brighter sound. I thought about just doing the top half of the bridge.

[billhay4]

What about bone?
Bill

[fredy]

What about bone?
Bill

I hve made several with a bone top ( I buy dog bones at the pet store and cut then bad smell but the dogs and I both benifit ) they seem to add a brightness to some madolins

[Bigtuna]

What about bone?
Bill

I was trying to stick with wood, preferably a darker, hard wood.

[Willie Poole]

I met a fellow a few years back that made picks out of it and he said he ruined a lot of files trying to shape that hard wood...I thought it was stone of some sort until he explained it....

[mandroid]

Had a mallet turned out of the stuff, to beat on the handles of wood gouges and chisels.

[Hendrik Ahrend]

Anybody ever used snakewood? Harder than ebony and way easier to work with than lignum vitae. I wouldn't be surprised, if it made a good bridge top.

[JeffD]

I asked a similar question a while back.

[sunburst]

What about ebony?

[Bertram Henze]

Give me bone for the bridge and Aqua Vitae for the player...

[Bernie Daniel]

I hve made several with a bone top ( I buy dog bones at the pet store and cut then bad smell but the dogs and I both benifit ) they seem to add a brightness to some madolins

OTOH, you can also buy pounds (almost literally) of buffalo bone, cut in various size blocks for nuts and bridges on eBay for very little money. Not the least bit surprising it seems nearly identical to cow bone for cutting, shaping and filing. I've heard that camel bone is especially hard?

[Bernie Daniel]

What about ebony?

I'm surprised that someone hasn't already tried that!

[Shelagh Moore]

I think it should work and might lend itself to a slightly thinner bridge due to its density.