Source for boxwood

[Sean Rainaldi]

Can anyone reccomend a good supplier of boxwood? Either turkish or japanese?

[Montgomery Scott]

Boxwood is tough to find, particularly European. Try contacting Gilmer Woods in Portland, OR. They might have some or know of another supplier that may carry it.

[Sean Rainaldi]

OK Thanks Montgomery I just spoke with them.

This brings me to another question. I need to create an end grain boxwood block. What i need to do is create a roughly 9 x 12" block of end grain boxwood, a bit under an inch thick, with the end grain facing up. This would be for purposes of engraving - printmaking. I will be carving into the end grain surface of the boxwood with hand engraving tools, and then inking up the surface and running it through a press to pull prints. The surface needs to be extremely smooth and flat, and the boxwood block needs to have a uniform thickness (just less than an inch thick), because it will be run through a press. if I have more than about a .005 - .010 inch variation in thickness, the prints will not come out very well. Ideally I would like to keep it under .003 variation.

Because I would be gluing up smaller pieces of boxwood, I would need to cut up small pieces and then clamp them - if there are any glue joints that are not square or flush, they will show up in the print.

The stock I will be using for this (if it's practicle to do) is a boxwood half log - sawn down the middle lengthwise, about 2 feet long and about 4-5 inches in diameter.

I have a table saw, surface planer and jointer, however the pieces will obviously be to small to run through a jointer and planer. The edges need to be perfectly square so that the ink will not get caught in the glue joints and ruin the print.

What would be the best way to accomplish this?

[Lucas Bittick]

Is it absolutely necessary that you use boxwood? If so, why?

[Montgomery Scott]

Tropical Hardwoods of Latin America has Turkish boxwood in stock now.

http://www.anexotichardwood.com/newstuff.html