Lignum vitae is a great wood for making your own bandsaw guide blocks. It’s dense and durable, and its resin is a natural lubricant. The wood can also be dressed easily when necessary to smooth worn faces. The only problem is that it’s not cheap, and I hate to have to buy big pieces of it since I don’t use it for much else. That dilemma was solved recently when I discovered that wooden pen turning blanks are available in lignum vitae. For less than $3, I bought a 3⁄4 × 3⁄4 × 6 1⁄4" pen blank, which is big enough to make several years’ worth of guides for my bandsaw.
