Silvan asks:

Speaking o' which... I see lots o' references to boxwood in various
contexts. Is this some British/Euro tree species I've never seen, or is it
the same as the ordinary, ubiquitous boxwood shrub I have growing in front
of the house?

Don't know if it's the sampe species you've got aorund the house--Buxus
sempervirens. AKA Turkey boxwood, Abysinnian Boxwood, Circassian boxwood. Grows
in Europe, North America, and western Asia. Tree grows to a height of 20-30
feet, max. Anything over 8" diameter is nearly impossible to find.

If you find your own, dry it slooooooooowly (otherwise, it splits, surface
checks and just generally doesn't work out). Nicely stable once dry, though.

Hard to work because it's hard and sometimes has irregular grain. A very light
yellow, fairly uniform throughout, with heartwood and sapwood hard to tell
apart.

American boxwood is another name for our flowering dogwood. Uses include things
that make me want to bang my head on the desk for all the dogwood I've trimmed
and tossed over the years. Use to be used for spools and bobbin threads,
pulleys, golf club heads (shades of persimmon!), similar jobs that demand a
hard, tough wood that doesn't come in large sizes. I'm going to cut down my
wife's favorite some day...yeah, sure I am.

Charlie Self

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas J. Watson