Exotic Hardwood Lumber — Boxwood, Swiss Pear & Black Hornbeam
Dried solid stock for modellers, luthiers and turners — rough sawn boards in nominal sizes
Solid exotic hardwood boards dried in our own EU workshop — Castello boxwood, Swiss pear, black hornbeam and Alaskan yellow cedar, rough sawn or planed. For modelling, lutherie, carving and turning.
Our hardwoods
Quick comparison
Swipe to compare →| Property | Castello Boxwood | Swiss Pear | Alaskan Yellow Cedar | Black Hornbeam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grain | Very fine | Fine | Straight | Almost not visible |
| Colour | Pale cream | Pinkish cream | Warm yellow | Deep black, ebony substitute |
| Density | Very hard | Hard | Light | Very hard |
| Best for | Fine detail, carving, instruments | Planking, general | Planking, large areas | Knife handles, billiard cues, dark details |
| Available sizes | 120–200 × 50–80 × 500–550 | 50–300 × 40–50 × 500–550 | 155 × 52 × 500 | 40 × 40 × 400 / 800 |
| Workability | ★★★★★ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★☆☆ |
Which hardwood for which job
- Swiss Pear —
- Swiss pear suits model making, restoration and marquetry, CNC and scroll saw work, and instrument making — an even-grained all-rounder that machines and finishes predictably.
- Castello Boxwood —
- Castello boxwood is for the finest detail: museum-quality models, delicate inlay, CNC and carved work, chess pieces and turned parts that need a near-ivory polish.
- Alaskan Yellow Cedar —
- Alaskan yellow cedar is the planking and carving workhorse: light, stable and forgiving to bend, quick on CNC and scroll saw, ideal for hulls and carved detail.
- Black Hornbeam —
- Black hornbeam is the ebony substitute: dark ship-model detail, inlay contrast, fingerboards and knife handles, with the colour dyed through the full thickness.
- Coloured Hornbeam —
- Coloured hornbeam adds permanent through-dyed colour for inlay, turning, knife handles and decorative work — dense, hard and unaffected by sanding.
Exotic hardwood lumber, milled and dried in our own EU workshop
We stock five solid hardwoods chosen for modelling, carving, lutherie and turning: Castello boxwood for the finest detail and carved work, Swiss pear for planking and general use, Alaskan yellow cedar where you need a light, easy-cutting wood over large areas, black hornbeam as a CITES-free ebony substitute for wales, dark details and knife handles, and coloured hornbeam dyed right through in brown, red, green and yellow for inlay and accents.
Every board is supplied at 8–12% moisture content and stored indoors in Rapla, Estonia, so it stays stable once it reaches your bench. Lumber is sold rough sawn or planed. Typical sizes run 120–200 × 50–80 × 500–550 mm in boxwood, 50–300 × 40–50 × 500–550 mm in Swiss pear, 155 × 52 × 500 mm in Alaskan yellow cedar and 40 × 40 × 400 or 800 mm in black hornbeam — exact stock varies by board, so the table below is a guide rather than a fixed size list.
Need a size that is not listed, or the same species as sheets, strips or blanks? Send the dimensions through the custom quote calculator and we will mill it to order — sheets and strips are held to ±0.10 mm, square strips to ±0.20 mm, as set out in our quality rulebook. We ship worldwide from the EU.
Need a custom size?
Can't find the dimensions you need? Use our Custom Quote Calculator for an instant estimate.