Boxwood...

[DaveO]

I just recieved a large trunk section of Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens). It's about 5-6" in diameter which is about as large as they come. I've done a bit of research and all I can come up with is that it is a hard and heavy wood, with a light yellow to white coloration, and a fine grain. It is often used to make chess pieces (the white ones ) or printing blocks and engraving plates.
I don't know what I want to do with it. I would like to make something out of it in return to the folks that gave it to me. All I can come up with at the moment is a pen, or a mallet.
Anyone ever work with it, and have any other ideas what might be a good project to use it for. Is it stable wood? If it's not going to move much that would open up my realm of usage, as I wouldn't have to be concerned with the center pith. I've got about 2' of straight trunk section and then it branches out.

Dave

[jeff...]

Originally Posted by DaveO

I just recieved a large trunk section of Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens). It's about 5-6" in diameter which is about as large as they come. I've done a bit of research and all I can come up with is that it is a hard and heavy wood, with a light yellow to white coloration, and a fine grain. It is often used to make chess pieces (the white ones ) or printing blocks and engraving plates.
I don't know what I want to do with it. I would like to make something out of it in return to the folks that gave it to me. All I can come up with at the moment is a pen, or a mallet.
Anyone ever work with it, and have any other ideas what might be a good project to use it for. Is it stable wood? If it's not going to move much that would open up my realm of usage, as I wouldn't have to be concerned with the center pith. I've got about 2' of straight trunk section and then it branches out.

Dave

Dave you talking about the boxwood bush?

[Ozzie-x]

Like Jeff said, is it the bush? Here in the mountains, the only boxwood that we have is the ornamental type, and not particularly straight or big. I think there's a boxwood tree that grows elsewhere in the world, maybe Russia / Eastern Europe. The tree boxwood was very stable, dense and strong, and resisted cracks, warping, etc. This wood was imported by tool mfgr's in the 1800's and early 1900's to make wooden rules, marking gauges, molding planes, plow planes, etc. I've often wondered if this was the same boxwood as the the boxwood bush that we have here, I don't know, maybe the imported wood was a bush too? Most of the rules could have been made from small trees (bush?), but some of the molding and plow planes would have required larger pieces of wood. more tree size. [don't confuse this with beech that was used for transitional planes and such] If this is the same wood or at least a cousin, it would be good wood that would machine well and be very stable. I can see why they would use it for chess pieces. How about some shop made tools??

[rbdoby]

Thirty years I remember seeing boxwood offered in a printmakers catalog for engraving plates. Wood engraving uses the END GRAIN of the wood. A 6"x9'x3/4" was $70.00. I've also see several cuts made of boxwood that were used for letterpress printing. It's very dense, hard and stable.

Make something small for you friend and save the rest for a special project. Bet it would be ideal for small turned boxes.

Rick Doby

[jsjordan]

While I've never worked with it, I know boxwood is used a lot for the handle of chisels (Sorby, etc) so it must be pretty tough stuff.

[DavidF]

This is the sort of question we would ask DaveO

[DaveO]

Originally Posted by Ozzie-x

Like Jeff said, is it the bush? Here in the mountains, the only boxwood that we have is the ornamental type, and not particularly straight or big. I think there's a boxwood tree that grows elsewhere in the world, maybe Russia / Eastern Europe. The tree boxwood was very stable, dense and strong, and resisted cracks, warping, etc. This wood was imported by tool mfgr's in the 1800's and early 1900's to make wooden rules, marking gauges, molding planes, plow planes, etc. I've often wondered if this was the same boxwood as the the boxwood bush that we have here, I don't know, maybe the imported wood was a bush too? Most of the rules could have been made from small trees (bush?), but some of the molding and plow planes would have required larger pieces of wood. more tree size. [don't confuse this with beech that was used for transitional planes and such] If this is the same wood or at least a cousin, it would be good wood that would machine well and be very stable. I can see why they would use it for chess pieces. How about some shop made tools??

Hence my questions, there is little information on this as lumber. I am refering to the "bush" or Common Boxwood. But that "bush" is capibile of growing 25' tall and can obtain a trunk diameter of around 8". Of course in Europe, where it is native, like many plants could grow to be larger
Althought there are around 70 species of plants within the Buxus genius this is the most common and probably what is used for lumber stock as spoken of...I guess.
Where's a wood loving horticulturist when you need one


Dave

[DaveO]

Originally Posted by DavidF

This is the sort of question we would ask DaveO

I thought it might be better asked of you, you're from it's native lands.....

Dave

[Ozzie-x]

Okay, I called my soil scientist / agronomist buddy. He informed me that like Dave said, under the genus Buxus, there's a bunch of different species that grow all over the world. {For example, it's like saying pine, there's bazoodles of different types of pine, but they can all be called pine.} Of all the various boxwood species all over the world, they grow in low elevations, high elevations, swamps, arid regions, or about anywhere according to him. There's a lot of variations in the wood, tree/bush size, characteristics, etc, but the common factor is that all of them grow very slow. This is why the wood is so dense, because the boxwood really packs in the growth rings, it's very dense and doesn't have discernible grain like oak, walnut, etc.

Maybe the Eastern European boxwood species was imported because it was plentiful and had good stable properties (or maybe it was just plentiful and cheap?) I think we may have at least started to answer the question I 've had about boxwood for a very long time. Like Mike Davis said, we always just cut the stuff, piled it up and burned it. I think the next time I cut any boxwood bushes, I may lay back any bigger pieces to play with and maybe turn some chisel handles or something?

[Tarhead]

I would hang on to it for special shop tools and make them something nice out of Walnut, Oak or Cherry with an inlay of Boxwood. Pretty boring wood. I would love some for a Bar Gauge and Winding Sticks. I'm still waiting on some from my landscaping buddy in Concord to dig up out of the yard of one of the old money houses on Union St.

[LeftyTom]

I cannot help but laugh/cringe when I see "Boxwood". There is a flea-bag dive in Yadkinville, The Boxwood Motel.

[childe]

To intarsia scrollers, which I have done some, this sounds like it would be useful for white tones. Those who have never seen intarsia check out www.intarsia.com

Chris

[DavidF]

Originally Posted by DaveO

I thought it might be better asked of you, you're from it's native lands.....

Dave

Generally you see it in England as a very neat, low growing hedge around formal gardens, think Capability Brown. Other than that, I have only used it for fine inlay.

[DaveO]

Originally Posted by DavidF

Generally you see it in England as a very neat, low growing hedge around formal gardens, think Capability Brown. Other than that, I have only used it for fine inlay.

Oh yea, you Brits like to trim everything into nice and neat formal hedges. Around here in the south it's a shrub that if forgotten for a season or three about gets really big and then has to be jerked out with a pick-up or tractor. Hence the wood that I now have

Dave

[DavidF]

Originally Posted by DaveO

Oh yea, you Brits like to trim everything into nice and neat formal hedges. Around here in the south it's a shrub that if forgotten for a season or three about gets really big and then has to be jerked out with a pick-up or tractor. Hence the wood that I now have

Dave

Yep, we are so neat - you should see my work shop