English Boxwood

[Tom King]

It's about three times as dense and hard as Hard Maple.  I like to use it for tooling like backup pieces for making molding and sash parts.  I already have a good supply of it.  These two didn't make it through the Winter and were laying on the ground, so I brought them home.  

Some descendants of Edward Dromgoole, who built the 1798 house that I have worked on several times, came by today for me to give them a tour of the place.  Nothing has been done there for several years since the Board members of the Foundation that owns it, who did all the funding out of their own pockets passed away.  I hadn't been back in there for a while, but didn't want to let these lay there and go to waste.

They must be over 200 years old.  It's been confirmed that they are English Boxwoods.

[phinds]

It's about three times as dense and hard as Hard Maple. 

Uh, actually, it's almost exactly TWO times as hard, by the Janka scale, not 3 times as hard

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_jankaCOMMON.htm

Still, a reasonably hard wood.

[Tom King]

Thanks.  I guess my memory is not as good as it once was.  These backup parts show no wear after running hundreds of parts and parts come off with perfectly clean edges.

[phinds]

 I guess my memory is not as good as it once was.

Hell, my memory never was as good as it once was 

[Tom King]

Here is a picture of what was left of those Boxwoods.  They were buried in a jungle of Wisteria and Laburnum when I first saw this place.  Efforts were made to save them, but chances given were not good.  This picture was taken about 7 or 8 years ago.  They were trying, but only a couple still hang on.  New bushes have been started from cuttings.

Even the ones at the White House are nothing like as large as these were.

They formed a lane approaching the 1798 house.  They were over 20 feet tall when I first saw them in 2011.  There is a picture from the 1920's with people standing next to them when they were still alive and complete giant bushes but I haven't found it yet.

[Mark J]

How well does English Boxwood mill?

[Tom King]

It's hard but really smooth.   More like Corian than wood.  I just cut small pieces of it.  I'll cut these up and quarter the pieces with the big bandsaw when I get the chance.  Chunks this large are very rare.  There are other Boxwoods that grow more like trees, like the wood in old Marples chisel handles.  It's not anything like the same stuff.

[Coop]

Tom, what did you clad the outside of this house with? 

[Tom King]

That was the one thing done there that I didn't do.

Soon after they bought the place in 2008 they had someone wrap in in OSB and put that cheap Tyvek substitute house wrap on it.  Since there was no roof overhang on the gable ends, they wrapped flashing over the edge, nailing it on top of the roof with regular roofing tacks.  It's done more harm than good.  Those roofing tacks all caused leaks.

I was not called there until 2011.

Now, the OSB is rotting off the house, and the house wrap is all in tatters and streaming off in stings.  That picture was taken years ago.

When we caught a chimney that was starting to fall I had to take that OSB off the end.  One piece had 50 nail gun nails in it.

Just an example of someone doing something who had no idea what they were doing.

I fear it will all just fall down due to the ownership problem.  I kept the grass cut there for over ten years until I had to stay at home to care for my invalid Mother for over three years.  The weeds are waist high all over the place now.  I can't do what needs to be done there just because it needs to be done. I subsidized everything I have done there so far, but won't any more.

If you Google "edward dromgoole house picture"  you will find many pictures of it in various states.

[William R]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. 

[roughsawn]

Tom, I love hearing about the history behind things like that old house, trees, and yard. Thanks for sharing!

[Tom King]

Here is an article in a local publication some years back that goes into more detail:

http://www.olivebranchumc.org/Edward Dromgoole House Olive Branch.pdf

[luanaroly]

If you have any plans for these boxwood pieces, such as using them in restoration projects or making new tools, I'd love to hear about them.

[Tom King]

I don't have any plans for them other than using pieces in the shop.  I have several other smaller ones that I've saved the good parts of from the same place.  I just didn't want these to go to waste.  I don't currently have an easily useable woodworking shop set up.  There are plans to build one here, but it's a few years down the to-do list.