Why Precision Hardwood Matters — Choosing Species, Form and Dimensions
A working reference for modellers, luthiers, laser cutters, CNC users and carvers: what precision hardwood actually is, which species does which job, and how to pick a thickness that arrives right.
Most timber sold to makers is sold as a species and a nominal size. Precision hardwood is sold as a tolerance. The difference matters the moment a part has to fit something else: a 3 mm laser sheet that is really 3.4 mm throws your focus off, a planking strip that wanders 0.2 mm across its width shows as a wavy seam on a hull, and a fingerboard blank that moves after gluing is a warranty claim rather than an instrument.
This guide covers the hardwoods we mill in Tallinn — Swiss pear, Castello boxwood, black hornbeam, coloured hornbeam, Alaskan yellow cedar, European white maple and alder — and the four forms we supply them in: lumber, sheets, strips and blanks. Every dimension appears in millimetres and inches, because plans in this trade are drawn in both. Where a species is the wrong answer for a job, the guide says so and points to the one that is right.
If you already know the species you want, the species deep dives below link straight to the product pages. If you are choosing by job — violin fittings, CNC prototypes, Glowforge inlay, marquetry, ship planking, knife scales, chess pieces — start with the application sections and work backwards.
Why precision hardwood matters
Precision hardwood is defined by four things: moisture content, thickness tolerance, grain scale and surface finish. Take any one of them away and the wood becomes ordinary stock that happens to be an attractive species.
Moisture content comes first because everything else depends on it. Timber dried to roughly 6–8% and then allowed to settle is dimensionally quiet in a heated workshop. Timber at 12–15% — normal for construction-grade or air-dried boards — will keep shrinking after you machine it, which is how a perfectly square blank becomes a diamond overnight and a laminated fingerboard develops a hairline glue gap three months after the instrument leaves the bench.
Thickness tolerance is what you actually pay for in sheet and strip stock. Our modelling sheets and strips are milled to ±0.10 mm (±0.004 in) and our 3 mm laser sheets to ±0.20 mm (±0.008 in). On a laser those numbers translate directly into focus consistency and repeatable cut-through power; on a hull they translate into planks that sit flush without endless sanding; on a CNC they mean you can zero once and trust the Z height across a whole sheet.
Grain scale is the one beginners underestimate. A wood with beautiful figure at furniture scale is visual noise at 1:48. Fine, even, close-pored species — pear, boxwood, hornbeam, maple — stay believable when the part is three millimetres across, hold a crisp arris when carved, and photograph without distracting streaks. Open-pored woods like oak or ash simply cannot do this, whatever their tolerance.
Surface finish closes the loop. Stock sanded to 120 grit arrives ready to work: you are removing your own machining marks, not the mill's. On laser sheets a consistent surface also means consistent engraving contrast across the whole panel.
| Property | Hobbymill standard | Typical hobby-store stock | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moisture content | 6–8%, settled | 12–15% or unstated | Post-machining movement, glue-line failure, warped blanks |
| Sheet / strip thickness | ±0.10 mm (±0.004 in) | ±0.3–0.5 mm | Flush planking seams, predictable CNC Z, even laminations |
| Laser sheet thickness | ±0.20 mm (±0.008 in) | ±0.5 mm on 3 mm ply | Focus drift, inconsistent cut-through, scorch variation |
| Surface | Sanded 120 grit | Saw-marked or planer-rippled | Less prep, even stain and engraving contrast |
| Grain scale | Fine, even, close-pored | Mixed, often open-pored | Believable scale detail, crisp carved edges |
| Batch consistency | Milled from one board run | Mixed origin | Colour matching across a project or a restoration patch |
Lumber vs sheets vs strips vs square strips vs blanks
The same species behaves very differently depending on the form you buy it in, and buying the wrong form is the most common way to waste money on good timber. Lumber gives you freedom and requires machinery. Sheets, strips and blanks give you accuracy and save you a day at the saw.
The rule of thumb: if the part is thinner than about 6 mm and you need more than a couple of them, buy it milled. Resawing thin stock accurately needs a fine-kerf saw, a thickness sander and practice, and the offcut loss on a 0.6 mm sheet is brutal. If the part is chunky — a knife handle, a chess piece, a turned pen, a carved figure — buy a blank or lumber and rough it out yourself.
| Form | Typical sizes | Best for | Skip it if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lumber | 40×40×400 mm up to 52×155×500 mm (1.6×1.6×16 in – 2×6×20 in) | Carving, turning, knife handles, chess pieces, resawing your own stock, restoration patches | You only need thin parts and have no bandsaw or thickness sander |
| Sheets | 100×500 mm and 40×400 mm, 0.6–8 mm (0.024–0.315 in) | Bulkheads, decks, marquetry grounds, laminations, scratch-built parts | The part is thicker than 8 mm — use lumber |
| Planking sheets | 45×500 mm, 0.6–1 mm | Hull and deck planking cut to width by you, veneer-scale work | You want ready-cut plank widths — buy strips |
| Strips | 500 mm and 400 mm long, 3×0.8 mm to 7×2 mm | Hull planking, deck planking, wales, framing, trim, stringing lines | You need widths we do not stock — order a custom mill run |
| Square strips | 500 mm and 400 mm long, 2×2 to 10×10 mm | Masts, spars, yards, framing, model structural members | You need round dowel — turn it from square stock |
| Laser sheets | A4 297×210, 150×300, 100×300, 100×250 mm at 3 mm (1/8 in) | Glowforge, CO₂ and diode lasers, engraving, inlay, signage, model kits | You need thinner than 3 mm — use modelling sheets |
| Pen blanks | 19×19×130 mm (3/4×3/4×5.1 in) | Pen turning, small turned items, inlay stock, miniature furniture legs | You want a larger turning blank — use lumber |
| Knife blanks | 40×30×140 mm (1.6×1.2×5.5 in) | Knife handles and scales, tool handles, small carving | You need a full block for a hidden tang — ask for lumber |
| Species | Lumber | Sheets | Strips | Square strips | Laser sheets | Blanks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swiss Pear | Yes | Yes 0.6–5 mm | Yes | Yes | Yes 100×250 mm | Pen, knife, unique |
| Castello Boxwood | Yes | Yes 0.6–5 mm | Yes | Yes | No | Pen, knife, unique |
| Black Hornbeam | Yes | Yes 0.6–8 mm | Yes | Yes | No | Pen, knife |
| Coloured Hornbeam | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Alaskan Yellow Cedar | Yes | Yes 0.6–5 mm | Yes | No | No | Unique pieces |
| European White Maple | No | Yes 0.6–1 mm | No | No | Yes 3 mm | No |
| Alder | No | No | No | No | Yes 3 mm | No |
Anything not in stock can be milled to order — dimensions, quantities and pricing through the Custom Quote Calculator.
Species deep dives
Seven species cover almost everything a precision maker needs: two pale fine-grained workhorses, one warm all-rounder, a near-black ebony substitute, a dyed decorative set, a light stable softwood and a fast-cutting laser timber. Each entry below covers what the wood is, how it machines, what it is genuinely best at, and — just as important — what it is wrong for.
Swiss Pear (Pyrus communis)
Steamed European pear is the most versatile wood on this list. Density sits around 700–720 kg/m³, the grain is fine and diffuse-porous with no visible ray flecking at model scale, and the colour is a warm pinkish-brown that deepens slightly and evenly with UV exposure — it ages, it does not blotch.
It planes, carves and scrapes with almost no tear-out in either direction, which is why carvers and restorers reach for it. It takes dye and stain uniformly (its traditional use as an ebony substitute in furniture depended on that), glues without starving joints, and holds a crisp edge on parts a millimetre thick. On a CNC it is forgiving: small-diameter cutters leave clean walls, and it does not fuzz the way many temperate hardwoods do.
Where pear is not the answer: it is not a structural tonewood, it is not hard enough for a chess piece that has to survive a century of handling the way boxwood is, and it is too soft for a knife handle that will see hard use without stabilising. It also darkens more than maple, so it is a poor choice when you need a permanently pale contrast element.
- Best for: hull and deck planking, marquetry and inlay grounds, carved detail, architectural and museum models, dollhouse and miniature furniture, restoration patches on 18th–19th century European furniture, instrument fittings and bindings.
- Working notes: sharp tools and light passes for the finest detail; sands to 400 grit and takes oil beautifully; steam-bends well in thin strip sections.
- Avoid for: high-wear handles, structural instrument components, anywhere you need a wood that stays cream-white.
Swiss Pear lumber · Pear sheets · Pear strips · Pear laser sheets
Castello Boxwood (Calycophyllum multiflorum)
Castello is the reference wood for miniature carving. At roughly 800–850 kg/m³ with an exceptionally tight, almost invisible grain and a pale cream colour, it does something no other affordable species does: it holds detail smaller than the grain of most woods. A 0.5 mm carved bead survives handling; a 1 mm turned finial keeps its profile.
It cuts crisply rather than compressing, takes a burnished surface straight off the tool, and turns superbly at small diameters. Chess players know it as the traditional light-side wood for good reason — it wears rather than dents. Luthiers use it for pegs, end pins, purfling and rosette elements where boxwood's pale colour and hardness are both wanted.
Where Castello is not the answer: it is expensive to use as bulk planking when pear or cedar will do, it is harder on edge tools and small router bits than pear, and on a laser it needs more power for a given depth while showing char more visibly against the pale surface — a reason we do not sell it as a laser sheet.
- Best for: fine carving and miniature detail, ship model fittings, blocks and deadeyes, chess pieces, turned finials and pen work, instrument pegs and purfling, jewellery-scale inlay.
- Working notes: keep tools razor sharp; drill pilot holes for small fasteners; burnishes to a satin sheen without filler.
- Avoid for: bulk planking on a budget, laser engraving where char contrast matters, anything needing a warm-toned wood.
Castello Boxwood lumber · Boxwood sheets · Boxwood square strips
Black Hornbeam — the ebony substitute
Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) is one of the densest European hardwoods at roughly 750–800 kg/m³, with a grain so fine it is nearly featureless. Dyed through to a deep black, it gives you the visual role of ebony — wales, keels, dark trim, contrasting stringing, chess pieces, instrument fittings — without CITES paperwork, without ebony's price, and without the dust sensitisation problems some workers have with the real thing.
Because the colour is in the wood rather than on it, edges and end grain stay black when you sand, carve or route through them. That is the whole point: a surface-stained black part shows a pale line the first time you touch it with a file.
Where hornbeam is not the answer: it is not real ebony and it is not sold as such — it is slightly less dense, and a luthier building to a traditional spec for a fingerboard should know that. It is also hard on tooling and it burns easily on a router if you dwell.
- Best for: wales, keels and dark trim on models, black chess pieces, contrasting inlay and stringing lines, tool and knife handles, instrument fittings where CITES-free black is required.
- Working notes: sharp carbide, moderate feed, no dwelling; wipe with oil to bring the black up to full depth.
- Avoid for: anything demanding certified genuine ebony, or a part where the seller must declare species-specific tonewood properties.
Black Hornbeam lumber · Black hornbeam vs real ebony · Hornbeam strips
Alaskan Yellow Cedar (Cupressus nootkatensis)
AYC is the exception that proves the softwood rule. At roughly 480–500 kg/m³ it is light, but the grain is straight, tight and remarkably even, and it carves with a crispness most softwoods cannot manage. It is exceptionally stable — it was the traditional choice for pattern making and boat building precisely because it does not move.
Modellers use it for planking where weight and bendability matter, for framing, and for carved detail that will be painted. It bends readily with heat and water, holds glue well, and its pale straw colour takes paint evenly without the resin bleed you get from pine.
Where AYC is not the answer: it dents. It is not a handle wood, not a chess-piece wood, and not a good choice for unpainted parts that will be handled. Its aroma is noticeable when machining and a small number of people find it irritating.
- Best for: hull and deck planking, model framing, pattern making, carved parts destined for paint, bent components, lightweight structures.
- Working notes: bends beautifully at 0.6–1 mm; seal before painting for the most even finish; keep tools sharp to avoid crushing the early wood.
- Avoid for: handles, high-wear surfaces, fine turned detail that must resist dents.
Alaskan Yellow Cedar lumber · AYC planking sheets · How to bend planking stock
Coloured Hornbeam — dyed decorative stock
The same fine-grained hornbeam, dyed through in brown, red/pink, green and yellow. Because the dye penetrates the full section, you can turn, carve or resaw a blank and the colour holds all the way through — which is what separates it from surface-dyed veneer.
It exists for accent work: marquetry and intarsia elements, inlaid stringing, segmented turning, pen blanks with a colour band, decorative chess sets, jewellery boxes and any project where you want a saturated colour that behaves like solid wood rather than plastic.
Where coloured hornbeam is not the answer: anything structural, and anything that must be UV-stable outdoors over years. Dyes are more light-fast indoors than out.
- Best for: marquetry, intarsia, segmented and laminated turning, decorative inlay, coloured pen blanks, contrast elements in boxes and instruments.
- Working notes: seal with a clear finish rather than a tinted one; wipe glue squeeze-out promptly as dye can migrate into pale neighbours on a wet joint.
- Avoid for: exterior work, structural parts, food-contact items.
European White Maple and Alder — the laser pair
European white maple is the photo-engraving wood. Very pale, extremely even, and low in resin, it produces the widest tonal range between untouched surface and engraved char of anything we stock — which is exactly what a raster photo needs. It also cuts cleanly at 3 mm and gives sharp inlay edges.
Alder is the cutting wood. Lighter and softer, it cuts through 3 mm quicker, at lower power, with less edge char, and it is the more economical choice when you are producing kits, boxes, signage or fretwork in volume. Its engraving contrast is good but not maple's.
Both are stocked at 3 mm (1/8 in) with a ±0.20 mm tolerance, which matters more on a laser than most people expect: thickness variation across a sheet moves your focal point and changes both cut-through and engraving depth. Maple is also available as thin 0.6–1 mm modelling sheet for laminations and marquetry.
- Maple: photo engraving, high-contrast raster work, inlay, awards and signage, marquetry veneers, pale contrast elements that stay pale.
- Alder: production cutting, kit parts, boxes, fretwork and scroll work, prototyping, anything where cut speed and cost matter more than engraving contrast.
- Avoid for: structural parts, anything needing hardness — neither is a handle or chess wood.
All laser sheets · Maple 3 mm · Alder 3 mm · Thin maple sheets
Species comparison tables
The tables below condense the deep dives into the numbers people actually compare before ordering. Densities are nominal for kiln-dried stock at 6–8% moisture and will vary a few percent board to board.
| Species | Density (kg/m³) | Density (lb/ft³) | Hardness | Grain scale | Colour and ageing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swiss Pear | 700–720 | 44–45 | Medium-hard | Very fine, diffuse-porous | Warm pinkish-brown, deepens evenly |
| Castello Boxwood | 800–850 | 50–53 | Hard | Extremely tight, near invisible | Pale cream, ambers slightly |
| Black Hornbeam | 750–800 | 47–50 | Hard | Very fine, featureless | Deep black, dyed through, stable indoors |
| Coloured Hornbeam | 750–800 | 47–50 | Hard | Very fine, featureless | Saturated brown / red / green / yellow, dyed through |
| Alaskan Yellow Cedar | 480–500 | 30–31 | Soft | Straight, tight for a softwood | Pale straw, mellows to honey |
| European White Maple | 620–650 | 39–41 | Medium | Fine, very even | Near-white, stays pale |
| Alder | 480–520 | 30–32 | Soft-medium | Even, slightly open | Light tan with pink cast |
| Species | Hand carving | Turning | CNC routing | Laser cutting | Laser engraving | Scroll saw | Steam bending |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swiss Pear | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| Castello Boxwood | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Black Hornbeam | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Coloured Hornbeam | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Alaskan Yellow Cedar | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| European White Maple | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| Alder | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
Laser ratings apply to 3 mm stock. Boxwood and hornbeam are workable on a laser but need more power and show more char, which is why we stock maple, alder and pear as laser sheets.
| Job | First choice | Second choice | Avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hull planking (ship models) | Swiss Pear | Alaskan Yellow Cedar | Coloured Hornbeam |
| Wales, keels, black trim | Black Hornbeam | Swiss Pear stained | Maple |
| Masts and spars | Castello Boxwood | Swiss Pear | Alder |
| Fine carved fittings | Castello Boxwood | Swiss Pear | Alaskan Yellow Cedar |
| Marquetry and inlay | Swiss Pear | Coloured Hornbeam / Maple | Alder |
| Photo engraving | European White Maple | Alder | Black Hornbeam |
| Production laser cutting | Alder | European White Maple | Castello Boxwood |
| CNC prototypes and models | Swiss Pear | Alaskan Yellow Cedar | Coloured Hornbeam |
| Knife handles and scales | Black Hornbeam | Castello Boxwood | Alaskan Yellow Cedar |
| Chess pieces | Castello Boxwood (light) + Black Hornbeam (dark) | Swiss Pear | Alder |
| Pen turning | Swiss Pear / Boxwood / Hornbeam | Coloured Hornbeam | Alaskan Yellow Cedar |
| Instrument fittings and purfling | Castello Boxwood | Swiss Pear / Black Hornbeam | Alder |
| Architectural models | Swiss Pear | Maple sheets | Coloured Hornbeam |
| Museum restoration patches | Swiss Pear | Castello Boxwood | Alder |
| Species | Oil | Shellac | Water stain | Paint | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swiss Pear | Excellent | Excellent | Even | Good | Traditional ebonising wood — takes black dye uniformly |
| Castello Boxwood | Excellent | Excellent | Slightly resistant | Unnecessary | Burnishes to satin without any finish |
| Black Hornbeam | Excellent | Good | Already dyed | Not needed | Oil deepens the black noticeably |
| Coloured Hornbeam | Good | Good | Already dyed | No | Use clear finishes only; avoid tinted oils |
| Alaskan Yellow Cedar | Good | Good | Can blotch | Excellent | Seal first for the most even paint film |
| European White Maple | Good | Excellent | Can blotch | Excellent | Use a wash coat before staining |
| Alder | Good | Good | Blotches | Excellent | Historically a paint-grade timber for exactly this reason |
Applications — which wood for which craft
Below, each craft gets the short version: what the job demands, which species answers it, and which form to buy. Laser work, CNC and instrument making each have a dedicated guide linked at the end of their section.
Wood for ship models
Ship modelling is the most demanding scale-wood discipline because a single hull uses four or five roles at once: planking that must bend, wales that must be dark and dead straight, spars that must stay round and slender, fittings that must carry carved detail at 2 mm, and decks that must show consistent seam lines across a metre of length.
Pear and Alaskan yellow cedar carry the planking; boxwood carries the fittings and spars; black hornbeam carries the wales, keel and any part that would historically have been ebony. Buy planking as strips if you want ready widths, as planking sheets if you prefer to cut your own, and square strips for masts and yards.
Planking strips · Square strips · Complete ship model timber packages · Full ship-model species guide
Wood for architectural models
Architectural models live or die on grain scale and edge quality. At 1:200 a visible pore reads as a crack; at 1:50 a fuzzy laser edge reads as sloppy construction. Pear is the default because it holds a razor edge in 0.6–2 mm sheet and photographs without figure noise. Maple gives you a cooler, near-white palette when the presentation calls for it.
Buy thin sheet for facades, floor plates and screens; square strips for structural framing and mullions; 3 mm laser sheet where the model is cut rather than knife-built. Keep a consistent species across a single model — mixing pear and maple reads as an accident under photographic lighting.
Wood for marquetry and inlay
Marquetry needs three things: stock of consistent thickness so the assembled picture lies flat, species that cut cleanly across the grain in narrow slivers, and a colour palette that stays legible after finishing. Our 0.6 and 0.8 mm sheets are the marquetry thicknesses; 1 mm suits sand-shading and thicker parquetry.
Pear is the backbone — it cuts without splintering and its warm mid-tone reads well against both dark and pale elements. Black hornbeam gives you the dark voice without ebony's cost, coloured hornbeam supplies saturated accents that stay coloured through the thickness, and maple supplies the highlights. For stringing lines and banding, square strips down to 2×2 mm save an enormous amount of ripping.
Wood for wood carving
Carvers ask for two contradictory things: a wood soft enough to cut all day and hard enough to hold the cut. Castello boxwood and Swiss pear sit either side of that line. Boxwood is the choice for miniature and netsuke-scale work where a 0.5 mm feature must survive; pear is the choice for larger relief work, chip carving and anything you will spend hours on, because it is kinder to your hands and your edges.
Buy lumber for carving. 40×40×400 mm hornbeam and boxwood billets and pear lumber up to 52 mm thick cover most bench work; knife blanks at 40×30×140 mm are a convenient size for practice pieces and small figures.
Wood for museum and furniture restoration
Restoration work is a matching problem before it is a woodworking problem. European pear was used extensively in 18th and 19th century cabinet work, both solid and as a stained ebony substitute, and it remains the most useful patch stock for that period because its colour is consistent board to board and it ages predictably rather than blotching.
Boxwood covers stringing, banding and turned elements; black hornbeam substitutes for ebonised details where the original was stained pear or true ebony; coloured hornbeam matches later Victorian dyed inlay. Because our stock is milled from single board runs, a batch ordered together will match — which matters when a repair has to disappear.
Pear lumber for patching · Custom Quote Calculator for matched batches
Wood for knife handles and scales
A handle wood needs density, fine grain that will not chip out around pin holes, and enough stability that scales stay flat against a tang through humidity swings. Black hornbeam is the standout: dense, dyed through so filing and sanding never expose a pale core, and it takes an oil finish that deepens rather than sits on top.
Castello boxwood gives a pale, hard alternative with a traditional look, and pear works for display and kitchen handles that will not see abuse. Knife blanks come at 40×30×140 mm (1.6×1.2×5.5 in), which resaws into a pair of scales with margin for a liner.
Wood for chess pieces and turned games
A chess set is a hardness test with a deadline. Pieces are handled thousands of times, and a soft wood dents at the crown and the base ring within a season. The traditional pairing is boxwood light against ebony dark; Castello boxwood and black hornbeam reproduce it exactly, with the hornbeam dyed through so a knocked edge does not flash pale.
Turn from lumber billets at 40×40×400 mm, which yields several pieces per billet, or from 19×19×130 mm pen blanks for pawns and smaller pieces. Both species burnish off the tool, so a set can be finished with wax alone.
Wood for prototypes and design models
Product designers use wood for appearance models because it machines faster than metal, sands truer than most polymers and photographs warmer than resin. The requirement is predictability: a blank that mills to size, holds it overnight, and takes primer without raising a fuzzy grain.
Pear is the default appearance-model wood for exactly that reason, with alaskan yellow cedar as the light, easily carved option for larger massing models and maple sheet for laser-cut layered studies. Anything can be milled to your dimensions if the stock sizes do not suit a particular model.
Wood for pen turning and small turnery
Pen blanks at 19×19×130 mm (3/4×3/4×5.1 in) are the standard, and the species choice is mostly aesthetic — all four of ours turn cleanly at speed and finish without filler. Pear gives warmth, boxwood gives a pale traditional look that ambers with age, black hornbeam gives a deep near-black barrel, and coloured hornbeam gives saturated colour through the section for segmented and banded work.
Mixed packs are the cheapest way to try all three natural species before committing to a species pack.
Laser, CNC and instrument making — the short version
These three deserve more depth than a section can carry, so each has its own guide. The summaries here are enough to place an order; the guides cover settings, tooling and the failure modes.
Laser cutting and engraving
For a Glowforge, xTool, CO₂ or diode laser, the practical choice is 3 mm European white maple for engraving contrast and 3 mm alder for fast, economical cutting, with pear when you want a warmer finished part. Solid hardwood beats hobby plywood on edge quality and consistency because there is no glue line to burn and no void to swallow your cut.
Thickness tolerance drives everything on a laser: ±0.20 mm across a sheet keeps your focal point where you set it, which is why a nominal 3 mm sheet that actually varies half a millimetre wastes both material and time.
CNC routing and carving
CNC users need three things from a blank: it must hold dimension between setups, it must not fuzz on small-diameter cutters, and it must cut without burning at the feeds a hobby machine can manage. Pear is the best all-round answer, boxwood for the finest detail if your spindle can take the load, cedar for large soft carving, hornbeam when the finished part must be black.
Sheet, strip and blank stock all mill to your specification if the standard sizes do not fit your fixture.
Violin, guitar and instrument makers
We are honest about scope: we supply fittings, fingerboard-scale blanks, purfling, bindings, rosette elements, pegs and inlay stock — not spruce tops, not figured maple backs, not necks. What we do supply is precision-milled, CITES-free and dimensionally settled, which is what matters for the small components that ruin an instrument when they move.
Boxwood for pegs, end pins and purfling; black hornbeam as an ebony substitute for fittings and dark bindings; pear for bindings, linings and inlay grounds.
How to choose the correct dimensions
Ordering the wrong thickness is more expensive than ordering the wrong species, because a species can usually be repurposed and an over-thin sheet cannot. Work from the finished part backwards: finished thickness, plus sanding allowance, plus any bend-related compression, rounded up to the next stocked size.
Allow about 0.1–0.2 mm for finish sanding on a visible face, and remember that anything you steam-bend tightly will compress slightly on the inner radius. On a laser, order the exact nominal thickness — do not add allowance, because your settings are calibrated to it.
| Metric | Imperial (approx.) | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 0.6 mm | 0.024 in (~1/42) | Marquetry, second planking, veneer-scale detail, laminations |
| 0.8 mm | 0.031 in (~1/32) | Planking at small scales, marquetry, fine bulkhead skins |
| 1.0 mm | 0.039 in | General planking, deck sheet, model floors and facades |
| 1.5 mm | 0.059 in (~1/16) | Bulkheads, structural sheet, sub-decks |
| 2.0 mm | 0.079 in | Frames, bulkheads, small structural parts |
| 3.0 mm | 0.118 in (1/8) | Laser sheet standard, model baseboards, structural parts |
| 4.0 mm | 0.157 in | Heavy frames, jigs, thick structural sheet |
| 5.0 mm | 0.197 in (~3/16) | Keels, backbones, machining stock |
| 6.0 / 8.0 mm | 0.236 / 0.315 in | Hornbeam heavy sections, small blocks, carving stock |
| Scale | First planking | Second planking | Deck | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1:96 and smaller | 0.8 mm | 0.6 mm | 0.6 mm | Keep widths narrow — 3–4 mm reads correctly |
| 1:72 – 1:64 | 1.0 mm | 0.6–0.8 mm | 0.8 mm | 4 mm strip is the workhorse width |
| 1:48 | 1.0–1.5 mm | 0.8 mm | 0.8–1.0 mm | 5 mm strip for hull, 4 mm for deck |
| 1:32 – 1:24 | 1.5–2.0 mm | 1.0 mm | 1.0–1.5 mm | Consider 6–7 mm strip widths |
| Display / large scale | 2.0 mm+ | 1.0–1.5 mm | 1.5 mm | Custom widths usually make more sense than stock |
| Product | Thickness tolerance | Width tolerance | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modelling sheets | ±0.10 mm (±0.004 in) | ±0.20 mm | Sanded 120 grit |
| Planking sheets | ±0.10 mm (±0.004 in) | ±0.20 mm | Sanded 120 grit |
| Strips | ±0.10 mm (±0.004 in) | ±0.10 mm | Sawn and sanded |
| Square strips | ±0.10 mm (±0.004 in) | ±0.10 mm | Sawn and sanded |
| Laser sheets 3 mm | ±0.20 mm (±0.008 in) | ±0.50 mm | Sanded both faces |
| Pen and knife blanks | ±1.0 mm | ±1.0 mm | Sawn, kiln-dried |
| Lumber | Nominal, oversized | Nominal | Rough sawn |
| Product | Sold as | Minimum order |
|---|---|---|
| Modelling and planking sheets | Single sheet | 1 piece |
| Strips | Pack of 10 or pack of 50 | 1 pack |
| Square strips | Single piece | 1 piece |
| Laser sheets | Single sheet | 5 pieces |
| Pen blanks | Mixed pack of 9, or species pack of 5 | 1 pack |
| Knife blanks | Single blank | 1 piece |
| Lumber | Single billet | 1 piece |
Ten common mistakes
- Buying by species alone. A gorgeous board at 14% moisture will move after you machine it, whatever the label says.
- Ordering nominal thickness for laser work and adding a sanding allowance. Your settings are calibrated to the nominal size — order it exactly.
- Using figured wood at small scale. Figure that looks superb on a guitar back is visual noise at 1:48.
- Choosing a soft species for a handled part. Cedar and alder dent; hornbeam and boxwood do not.
- Surface-dyeing black instead of buying dyed-through stock. The first file stroke exposes the pale core.
- Resawing 0.6 mm stock without a thickness sander. The loss rate is higher than the cost of buying it milled.
- Mixing species within one visible assembly without planning the contrast. Two mid-tone woods read as a mistake, not a design.
- Gluing dyed stock wet against pale stock. Dye migrates across a wet joint — wipe squeeze-out immediately.
- Bending thick planking dry. Below 1 mm most species bend with water and heat; above that, plan for steam or edge-bending.
- Ordering one of everything. Order enough of one board run to finish the project — batches match within a run, not necessarily between runs.
Frequently asked questions
- What is precision hardwood?
- Hardwood milled to a stated tolerance rather than a nominal size: kiln-dried and settled to 6–8% moisture, thicknessed to ±0.10 mm on modelling stock and ±0.20 mm on 3 mm laser sheets, sanded to 120 grit, and selected for fine, even grain that stays believable at small scale.
- Which hardwood is best for laser cutting and engraving?
- European white maple gives the highest engraving contrast because it is very pale and low in resin. Alder cuts faster at lower power and is more economical for production. Both are stocked at 3 mm (1/8 in) with ±0.20 mm thickness tolerance, which keeps laser focus consistent across a sheet.
- Which wood is best for CNC routing at small scale?
- Swiss pear. It holds dimension between setups, leaves clean walls with small-diameter cutters and does not fuzz. Castello boxwood holds finer detail if your spindle can take a harder wood, and Alaskan yellow cedar suits large soft carving.
- Do you sell tonewood for violins and guitars?
- We supply instrument fittings and small components — boxwood pegs and purfling stock, black hornbeam as a CITES-free ebony substitute for fittings and bindings, pear for bindings, linings and inlay. We do not supply spruce tops, figured maple backs or neck blanks.
- Is black hornbeam a genuine substitute for ebony?
- For appearance and most working purposes, yes: it is a dense European hardwood dyed through to deep black, so machined and sanded edges stay black. It is CITES-free and far cheaper. It is not botanically ebony and is slightly less dense, so it should not be described as ebony on a finished instrument.
- What thickness should I order for ship model planking?
- At 1:48, 1.0–1.5 mm for the first planking and 0.8 mm for the second. At 1:72 use 1.0 mm and 0.6–0.8 mm. Below 1:96, 0.8 mm and 0.6 mm. Add roughly 0.1–0.2 mm of sanding allowance on visible faces.
- Do you supply imperial sizes?
- Our stock is milled in metric, but the common thicknesses map closely to fractional inches: 0.8 mm is about 1/32 in, 1.5 mm about 1/16 in, 3 mm is 1/8 in and 5 mm about 3/16 in. Exact imperial dimensions can be milled to order.
- Can I order custom dimensions?
- Yes. Any species we stock can be milled to your width, thickness and length, including full kit cutting lists. Prices and shipping weight are calculated instantly in the Custom Quote Calculator.
- How stable is the wood after I receive it?
- Stock is kiln-dried to 6–8% and allowed to settle before milling, so movement in a normally heated workshop is minimal. Let it acclimatise in your shop for a few days before machining critical parts, and store sheets flat.
- Which species dents the least?
- Castello boxwood, followed by black hornbeam. Both are the right choice for chess pieces, handles and anything handled regularly. Alaskan yellow cedar and alder are the softest and should be kept to painted or protected parts.
- Which wood is best for marquetry?
- Swiss pear at 0.6 or 0.8 mm as the backbone, with black hornbeam for darks, coloured hornbeam for saturated accents and European white maple for highlights. Consistent thickness matters as much as species — the assembled picture has to lie flat.
- Do you ship outside the EU?
- Yes, worldwide from Estonia with tracked carriers, including duty-prepaid shipping to the United States. Shipping weight is calculated from the actual milled dimensions of what you order.
- What is the minimum order?
- One piece for sheets, square strips, blanks and lumber; one pack for strips (packs of 10 or 50); five pieces for 3 mm laser sheets.
- Is the wood sustainably sourced?
- The European species — pear, hornbeam, maple, alder — come from managed European forestry. None of our species are CITES-listed, which is a specific advantage of black hornbeam over genuine ebony for makers who ship instruments internationally.
Continue reading
The Best Wood for Laser Cutting and Engraving
Maple, alder and pear at 3 mm — contrast, cut speed, char control and settings workflow.
The Best Wood for CNC Routing and Carving
Stability, tooling, workholding and which species holds detail under small cutters.
Wood for Luthiers — Fittings, Purfling and Inlay
Boxwood, CITES-free black hornbeam and pear for the small parts that must not move.
The Best Wood for Pen Turning and Knife Scales
Blank sizes, drilling, stabilising and finishing for turners and knife makers.
Wood for Marquetry, Inlay and Intarsia
Sawn sheet from 0.6 mm, colour palettes and gluing panels flat.
Wood for Architectural Models and Miniatures
Stock sizing by scale, and why fine hardwood beats craft basswood.
Choosing the Right Wood for Your Ship Model
Species comparison focused specifically on hulls, decks, spars and fittings.