GL: "Cutlass" Bearings

[D C *Mac* Macdonald]

That's the name of the wood that was used for
bearings in the old British mines.  I have been
looking for the article in magazines, but have not
found it yet.  I will continue my search.

The summation, however, is that they are properly
termed "cutless" bearings.

D C "Mac" Macdonald
m/v Another Adventure
Grand Lake - Oklahoma



----Original Message Follows----
From: fred <fred@controlparts.com>
To: great-loop@lists.samurai.com
Subject: Re: GL: "Cutlass" Bearings
Date: Mon, 02 Oct 2006 18:11:51 -0400

Mac,

The type of wood may have been called Lignum Vitae.  My father used to
provide it to the US Navy for use on submarines.  They lined the foot-thick
prop shaft with 2 inch-thick blocks of this super-heavy slightly greasy
wood as a cutlass bearing.  The benefit to this wood was it's greasy
quality and super hardness made it pretty much impervious to seawater, and
it allowed the bearing to run silently, making it undetectable by enemy
passive sonar.

No that's not a military secret, Lignum Vitae had been used as long as
there have been prop shafts, but apparently the Navy liked it a lot.
Sometimes the old ways were best.

Dad also supplied the belaying pins (portable cleats like small baseball
bats) for the sailing warship Constellation about 30 years ago when she
first arrived and was refurbished in Baltimore.  Because of the strength of
this wood, it was a good material to use.

I have a carpenter's chisel hammer made of it and it looks brand new after
being used for 30 years by me for nearly everything.

Now ya know.

Fred W.
Tug 44
http://www.tug44.org/