Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Boxwood fantasy *LINK*
woodburnbob
>I thought I might use a lull to make up some nice boxwood handles for a small group of oldtime chisels without handles.
I'm still looking for some boxwood but now have the idea this isn't practical...as it's evidently an endangered species. Any thoughts about a close, cheap and obtainable substitute?
A little boxwood on Ebay
Re: Boxwood fantasy *LINK*
John in New Mexico
>Hi Bob,
Those look kinda small to me... but I guess boxwood runs that way. These guys in MA claim to have some, never ordered from them, but looks like they've got just about anything you could want. What about Gilmer? Aren't they in your area?
How 'bout madrone? Isn't that pretty dense? I also really like the hornbeam LN is using for chisels, but thats on the other coast, and not really a comercially available wood. Apple maybe?
John
http://www.righteouswoods.net/boxwood_european_pics.html
Re: Boxwood fantasy
Frank D. in Montreal
>Hi Bob,
Boxwood isn't really endangered, it was just overharvested in the recent past, and since it grows really slowly, stocks couldn't be renewed as quickly as they were harvested. Boxwood grows all over Europe. Most individuals are small but when I was in France and Andorra last summer I saw many trees (shrubs) that were quite big, with 6" diameter trunks at the base (see my pic below: I freaked out when I saw exactly how much boxwood there was all over the place). It's a lot cheaper and more available in Europe, but because of the small sizes it is not widely distributed.
A substitute that I buy is Maracaibo boxwood, also known as castello boxwood or pau blanco (gossypiospermum praecox). It looks a lot like boxwood, with a pale creamy color, super tight grain, and some light brown streaks here and there. It is heavy and behaves like boxwood when you work it, but it is not quite as hard as European buxus boxwood (it's still very hard though). It's also reasonably priced, at least where I buy it, and it's available in much bigger sizes than the European boxwood.
hawthorn
Dave Thompson
>That looks a little skinny to me too for chisel handles. They would probably work well for pen blanks... but that's alot of pens. Though I suppose if you're really careful about drying and took a long time, you might be able to retain the pith and use the whole diameter like they do with Japanese chisel handles.
The characteristics that you're looking to match may rule these out, but... around where I live (central IL), hawthorn is a pretty common tree, and has a very dense tight grain which I think is very similar to boxwood. It has a uniform slightly pinkish hue, with little grain pattern. It would never visibly be confused for boxwood, but in the hand I think it feels very much like boxwood.
I'm drying some hop-hornbeam right now, and hope to try some of that in the near future.
enjoy,
Dave
Fantasy: about as big as they get
Frank D. in Montreal
>European boxwood beauty:
Re: Boxwood fantasy
Dale Stansbery
>I have seen Record Marple Chisels with boxwood handles, The packaging states they're plantation grown.