Sawdust crystallisation

[Keato]

Hey all, just wondering if anyone has had this happen with their sawdust?

It’s only seems to happen to my lignum vitae sawdust, both fine dust from the scroll saw and thicker shavings from forstner bits & can happen within hours of leaving the wood.

I save all my lignin vitae sawdust & shavings, it smells soooooo good.

I also save olive wood, Monterey pine, African sandalwood & any other nice smelling woods sawdust.

 

[Roland]

It’s a guitar makers trick to save sanding dust, particularly from fretboard materials. Useful for filing holes, such as the gaps around fretboard inlays.

 

[Droogs]

May be due to the massive amount of oils in the LV

 

[Keato]

It’s a bit of a bad pic, I’ll need to hunt out my macro lens but here’s an example of the crystals forming. They don’t tend to form on the surface. Only when you cut a section out or do an inside cut like on the scroll saw.
Also, much stronger scent from it when it’s forming crystals.

 

[samhay]

Cool photos. I'll take an educated guess:
Lignum vitae is very oily. When you drill a hole in it, I assume the bit gets warm/hot. The oil in the word warms up in the process and becomes liquid. When it cools again afterwards, sometimes it crystallises out. The dust helps with nucleation.

 

[MARK.B.]

If you just looked at the pic's without knowing the background you could be forgiven for thinking you are looking upward through a hole, or maybe i have had one to many medicinal beverages .