Exotic wood rabbet plane. Lignum vitae?

[bentontool]

Here is a craftsman-made rabbet plane that I recently cleaned-up & tuned. I wish I had a "before" picture, as it was quite weathered. It is made of some type of very heavy exotic wood I (Lignum Vitae? A dense Mahogany?) with what appears to be a boxwood wedge.
In any case, I had to do a lot of work on the bed of the iron, and on the wedge. It was all out of sorts.
The mouth is on the large side, but it now works reasonably well... for what it is...

 

[bentontool]

I may have to add a new sole on the plane, to close-up the mouth a bit.
Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what type of wood this is?

 

[peter-harrison]

My guess would be greenheart. I am pretty sure it isn't lignum as it has a very pronounced grain and there is a big difference between heart and sapwood

 

[bentontool]

My guess would be greenheart. I am pretty sure it isn't lignum as it has a very pronounced grain and there is a big difference between heart and sapwood

Yes, it seems to fit. I looked it up on:
https://www.wood-database.com/greenheart/
Thanks!

 

[Orraloon]

I did not think it was lignum vitae either as I have seen quite a bit of that being from a maritine working background. It does look like greenheart to me too. Anyhow it looks like it takes a good enough shaving for a rebate plane as they are made to take thickish shavings. Unless there are performance issues it may not need anything doing to the sole. Greenheart is that hard it will hardly wear much more in the next few years.
Regards
John

 

[bentontool]

I did not think it was lignum vitae either as I have seen quite a bit of that being from a maritine working background. It does look like greenheart to me too. Anyhow it looks like it takes a good enough shaving for a rebate plane as they are made to take thickish shavings. Unless there are performance issues it may not need anything doing to the sole. Greenheart is that hard it will hardly wear much more in the next few years.
Regards
John

In the USA, we do not have very many truly dense woods, unless you buy exotics. I was amazed by how dense & heavy this wood is. It takes a wonderful luster with sanding.
I appreciate the help identifying it. I have several maritime planes that I bought in "New England" (mostly in Maine). Most are made of lignum vitae (more of the classic LV appearance to the wood). I believe now that I have one other greenheart plane in my maritime collection; a jointer.
I agree that it should wear well. However, yesterday whilst out in the shop, I could not resist attaching a piece of cocobolo sapwood to the sole. (More to follow...)
Thanks & best wishes,
Alex.

 

[bentontool]

I finally decided to add a new sole to the rabbet plane.
I have a lot of cocobolo, mostly sapwood, or as I prefer to call it "golden cocobolo".
Perhaps not handsome, but works better now.
The cocobolo is very dense and slippery. Makes a good sole.