# lignum vitae vs verawood



## phinds (Feb 20, 2017)

Up until quite recently, I thought that lignum vitae and verawood were hard to tell apart. This turns out to be totally wrong. It was based on false information, namely that EVERY SINGLE SAMPLE of "lignum vitae" that I had purchased or been given, with the exception of two formal IWCS samples, was actually verawood.

I have moved all of them to the verawood page, and have created a little discussion on how you tell them apart. The whole thing is here:

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_discussion_lignum_vs_verawood.htm

But basically, it's the simple matter that lignum vitae has sparse randomly diffuse pores and verawood has denser pores in dendritic groups, as seen here where the top two are lignum vitae and the bottom two are verawood. Pretty much impossible to confuse the two (although the face grains can be similar). There is also the fact (illustrated in the link) that verawood grain is obviously interlocked and lignum vitae is generally not.

Reactions: Way Cool 1 | Informative 2


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## DKMD (Feb 20, 2017)

I've got blanks of both, and the coloring in what I have is quite different. Also, the smell is a lot different(lignum smells heavenly while the verawood has an almost antiseptic smell)

Reactions: Informative 1


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## phinds (Feb 20, 2017)

DKMD said:


> I've got blanks of both, and the coloring in what I have is quite different. Also, the smell is a lot different(lignum smells heavenly while the verawood has an almost antiseptic smell)


That interesting. I can't smell, so I rarely add any "smell" comments to my site because I can't verify. But I do read what the reports say and what I've seen on these two is that they both have a fragrant smell. That was one report and from what you said, I gather that it is unreliable.

Yeah, the coloring CAN be quite different but it's not a guaranteed discriminator. Is your verawood mostly green and the lignum more red/brown ?


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## ripjack13 (Feb 20, 2017)

The lignum I have, when cut, reminds me of old leather aftershave....

Reactions: Agree 1 | Informative 1


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## DKMD (Feb 21, 2017)

phinds said:


> That interesting. I can't smell, so I rarely add any "smell" comments to my site because I can't verify. But I do read what the reports say and what I've seen on these two is that they both have a fragrant smell. That was one report and from what you said, I gather that it is unreliable.
> 
> Yeah, the coloring CAN be quite different but it's not a guaranteed discriminator. Is your verawood mostly green and the lignum more red/brown ?



My lignum when fresh cut is most a brown color with some gold and green highlight, but it oxidizes to a very dark green. The verawood is a really brilliant green when fresh cut, but I don't remember where it goes from there.

I agree with Marc that lignum smells like smooth leather and vanilla whereas the verawood has a more sharp, spicy smell. Neither is unpleasant, but they are distinctly different. If the whole world smelled like lignum, it would be a better place!

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2


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## duncsuss (Feb 25, 2017)

Great information -- but I suspect this means that all the "lignum vitae" I have in my stash is actually verawood. Guess it's time to sand some endgrain

Reactions: Agree 1


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