Wood species

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

the wood called "pearwood" used in kits is not pearwood not even remotely related to European pearwood or what we call Swiss Pearwood
the wood is actually African Pearwood also referred to as Moabi or Djave Nut. scientific it's Baillonella toxisperma
true Boxwood is not even a tree it is a shrub and only small pieces can be obtained the biggest piece i have ever had in my collection was a log 4 inch diam by a clear 9 inches long. so i highly doubt these kits that claim are boxwood are not boxwood not even related to true boxwood.
once i figured out the cost to build a 1/4 scale frigate out of true boxwood. At the going rate the wood along would have cost $3,500.00
so how can you buy a "boxwood" kit at $1.200
It’s a tricky balance: we want honesty in labeling, yes, but also a little flexibility in understanding how nature and the lumber trade actually work. Maybe more detailed info from kit makers, like species name and country of origin, would help clear the fog.
i have been involved in the lumber trade for 35 years and handled thousands of board feet of lumber both domestic and exotic. My brother had a degree in forestry. It bugged the crap out of him when i would ID a tree as OAK he would say what Oak? Red Oak, pin Oak, swamp oak, black oak, white oak, Beech, you know how may types of Oak there are?
the names of wood is very confusing i went to a local saw mill down in Amish and asked for Beech oh do you mean Hackberry don't ask for Maple because there is a large list of wood that falls under Maple. Ask for Ghost wood what do you think you would get?
If a person is paying a premium for a boxwood and pearwood ship model, it damn well better be made of boxwood and pearwood.
it matters between the builder and his client. It has happened to me where i was asked to produce a timbering set for a model out of boxwood and rather than pull a bait and switch and use Castello Boxwood and say nothing i quoted $8.600.00 for Buxus sempervirens because the wood is rare, very expensive and hard to find and you can only find it in small heart check logs which results in a lot of waist.
so i gave the client a choice of a wood that looks like boxwood for $700.00
in the case of kits made for a hobby i do not think it matters what the wood is called. but if you built a kit that claimed it is boxwood and put that model in an art gallery as the material being Boxwood that is a lie.
Wondering, as far as ship kits go, what are the differences between pearwood and boxwood. Seems there’s a fair difference in price for kits that offer both as an option.

differences in price come into play because it is possible the claim of Pearwood and Boxwood may not be actual pearwood or boxwood but whatever the wood is it is a step up from common Basswood or other less expensive woods. So you paying for a better quality wood whatever it actually is.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

There are at least two kit suppliers offering kits with pear wood planking. They are also advertising Castello and one offers Yellow Cedar. If their advertising is truthful this is better than the kit supplied mystery woods.


PORTLAND, Ore.. Yellow-cedar, a culturally and economically valuable tree in southeastern Alaska and adjacent parts of British Columbia, has been dying off across large expanses of these areas for the past 100 years.
The yellow-cedar is a slow-growing tree; many are 700 to 1,200 years old.
Conservation interests have petitioned to protect yellow cedar under the Endangered Species Act. The petition, citing two scientific journals, described yellow cedar’s decline as “the most severe forest die-off ever recorded in North America.”

 

[Bob Cleek]

There are at least two kit suppliers offering kits with pear wood planking. They are also advertising Castello and one offers Yellow Cedar. If their advertising is truthful this is better than the kit supplied mystery woods.


PORTLAND, Ore.. Yellow-cedar, a culturally and economically valuable tree in southeastern Alaska and adjacent parts of British Columbia, has been dying off across large expanses of these areas for the past 100 years.
The yellow-cedar is a slow-growing tree; many are 700 to 1,200 years old.
Conservation interests have petitioned to protect yellow cedar under the Endangered Species Act. The petition, citing two scientific journals, described yellow cedar’s decline as “the most severe forest die-off ever recorded in North America.”

Alaska Yellow Cedar (actually a cypress) is just about the perfect full-scale boatbuilding wood and really a great modeling wood, as well. It's just super stuff.

The "die-off" is a fascinating phenomenon. It's directly related to global warming. AYC's shallow roots are able to survive winter freezes because deep snowpack provides insulation for them. As the climate warms, the snowpack has not been as heavy as it once was. This causes ACY roots to freeze in a cold winter and that kills the trees. In this instance, counterintuitively, it's global warming that is causing the roots to freeze.

The large die-off is sad, but the wood remains suitable for harvest even after standing dead for around a hundred years. The primary difficulty, however, is accessibility for harvesting. The logging industry is relatively dependent upon easily accessible timber and much of the dead standing AYC is in areas that are not accessible to heavy logging equipment.

 

[Walt Zimmerman]

Boxwood is NOT good for long, narrow parts such as planking or masting. Longridges "Victory" Model in the Science Museum was ample proof of this tendancy.

 

[Stuart Little]

I used both, Castillo & Swiss pear for the wales on my Victory (milled to anchor stock profile)

 

[AllanKP69]

true Boxwood is not even a tree it is a shrub and only small pieces can be obtained the biggest piece i have ever had in my collection was a log 4 inch diam by a clear 9 inches long.

Every time I have had the good fortune to visit Annapolis I drool when I see the old boxwoods (buxus sempervirens) in the yards of the old houses. They are the largest boxwood branches I have personally seen and they are pretty much as you describe with a total maximum tree height maintained at about 10-15 feet. I read that a blight hurt the boxwoods in the Carolinas a few years ago. I wonder if this hurt other parts of the US or other countries.

I have enough Castello to last a long long time, but will switch to Alaskan yellow cedar if Castello becomes too dear.

Allan

 

[wmgrimball]

A long time ago I read an article about the virtues of apple wood. I suspect it is more like pear than box. I don't have much experience with apple, but it's a lot easier to obtain if you are into building a collection of woods for modeling. Anybody out there who has used apple wood?

 

[Bob Cleek]

A long time ago I read an article about the virtues of apple wood. I suspect it is more like pear than box. I don't have much experience with apple, but it's a lot easier to obtain if you are into building a collection of woods for modeling. Anybody out there who has used apple wood?

There's a lot of variation even within a single species, but generally speaking, I've found apple to be closer to boxwood than to pear in terms of hardness and closer to pear than boxwood in terms of color, although apple is much more strongly figured than pear.

Save https://www.wood-database.com/ to your favorites list. This database will tell you anything you want to know about any wood species you can think of.

 

[Roger Pellett]

BC, before Covid, my wife and I went on several garden tours to various parts of England. We learned that many of the ancient Boxwoods have been dying from disease. The same as in California?

Apple wood that I harvested many years ago is very hard and dense. The heartwood is medium brown in color. I have read that it was used to make the gears in very old clocks.

My models feature little or no carvings. I have used both Pear and (real) Boxwood to carve 1:32 scale oars. Both work well, Boxwood best.

I have never used Castillo.

Roger

 

[AllanKP69]

When we still lived in New Jersey, there was an apple orchard near by that I would go to in the winter after they pruned or cut down old growth. It really is a great wood for ship modeling. An orchard can be a treasure trove for fruit woods. The most I ever did with it was collect small pieces with branch unions/crotches to make knees. Lots of work and totally unnecessary for a model, but it was fun to make some as was done on the actual ship just for a change.
Allan

 

[Bob Cleek]

BC, before Covid, my wife and I went on several garden tours to various parts of England. We learned that many of the ancient Boxwoods have been dying from disease. The same as in California?

Apple wood that I harvested many years ago is very hard and dense. The heartwood is medium brown in color. I have read that it was used to make the gears in very old clocks.

My models feature little or no carvings. I have used both Pear and (real) Boxwood to carve 1:32 scale oars. Both work well, Boxwood best.

I have never used Castillo.

Roger

Sounds like it: https://www.smcgov.org/agwm/boxwood-blight-disease
East Coast, too: https://www.davey.com/insect-disease-resource-center/boxwood-blight/

 

[Roger Pellett]

I have never tried it but for Florida and California modelers ai believe that wood from any of the citrus trees is supposed to be good.

Roger

 

[Corsair]

I have never tried it but for Florida and California modelers ai believe that wood from any of the citrus trees is supposed to be good.

Roger

I've heard that Lemon and Lime are good. I've never tried them. I've not heard anything about orange, tangerine or grapefruit.

 

[Bob Cleek]

For all intents and purposes, all of the citrus fruit woods are pretty much the same. It's only the fruit that's different.

One wood family to keep your eye open for are the olives, which include Privet (Ligustrum), the widely-seen "hedge" bushes. Large specimens can get up to around 6" in diameter, I expect. Dried, the stuff is hard as a rock and comes close to boxwood. Common olive wood is very hard and carves well, too.

 

[TroyMoore]

Wondering, as far as ship kits go, what are the differences between pearwood and boxwood. Seems there’s a fair difference in price for kits that offer both as an option.

I use oak limbs that I pick up in my back yard. Let them dry and pass them over the portable jointer to flatten two sides. Then slice them with my modeling table saw. I also use scrap walnut, ebony, maple. Here are some pics.