Red Satisal Wood

I thought it was the pair on the right. The Lignum Vitae I've seen is a kind of greyish brown color, rather than the deep brown that one usually sees in cocobolo.

When you polish Lignum Vitae it takes on a slightly greenish tint under the brown, but only if you hold it up to the light at just the right angle.

My son has a small fence and porch railing made of Ipe. It's great stuff, but doesn't do so well on prolonged exposure to full sun. It tends to turn grey, which isn't so bad, but also can get dried out and develop cracks and surface scaling. At least that's what happened with his fence. According to what I've read, Ipe weathers really well, but maybe it needs an oil sealant, which my son didn't do, and now regrets.

I suggested that he sand down the surface and apply an oil sealant, but I don't know if he's done it.
 
Lig
I thought it was the pair on the right. The Lignum Vitae I've seen is a kind of greyish brown color, rather than the deep brown that one usually sees in cocobolo.

When you polish Lignum Vitae it takes on a slightly greenish tint under the brown, but only if you hold it up to the light at just the right angle.

My son has a small fence and porch railing made of Ipe. It's great stuff, but doesn't do so well on prolonged exposure to full sun. It tends to turn grey, which isn't so bad, but also can get dried out and develop cracks and surface scaling. At least that's what happened with his fence. According to what I've read, Ipe weathers really well, but maybe it needs an oil sealant, which my son didn't do, and now regrets.

I suggested that he sand down the surface and apply an oil sealant, but I don't know if he's done it.
Lignum Vitae is on the right and Cocobolo on the left. You can notice some dents on some of the octagon ridges on the cocobolo but absolutely none on the lignum. I also remember creating those dents by hitting the cocobolo against the lignum vitae. Dents on the cocobolo only. I remember trying to get one of my hunting knives when I was around 15 years old and tried to bore a hole with the tip of the knife on the rounded butt. There is a tiny dot that’s there I remember well creating! Couldn’t penetrate it! I’d hate to be on the receiving end of the impact!
 
I've heard of several Ironwoods. One of the carpenters I I apprenticed under smuggled some back from Guam. Like others have mentioned it typically refers to woods that have enough density to sink. Ipe is a real bear to work with. Kills blades and drill bits. Purple heart is similar. I believe it's called the Janka scale. Ipe is like 20 times harder than baseball bats (ash). I have some old nunchucks that are a type of rosewood. If sanded to super high grits it has a polished oil appearance. I believe that is due to its oily properties that mitigate to the surface.
 
The Ipe plank I got is just as you describe David. Its light grey kinda fuzzy looking but its very thin. Right underneath less than a millimetre is hard as crap and dark dark brown.
Lignum vitae will commonly have very light streaks outside the core wood. Its still hard as heck but light colored. Not having much luck nowadays with uploads or id post some pics. I think i need to use another browser.
 
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