Juniper wood

[willstewart]

I have just acquired some juniper wood from a trimmed old prostrate bush - and the timber looks rather interesting (see pic). Searching online produces advice but I am not quite sure that the many US sources are actually describing the same wood.  I will keep for a while and experiment but any suggestions are welcome!

[Paul Hannaby]

I have turned it in the past, it looks a little like yew but is softer. Nice wood to turn!

[willstewart]

Paul - thanks!  I put some 20mm square pieces on a radiator to dry for a few days (they seem from weight to dry very fast) and made a pen - the colours are lovely!

[Bryan Milham]

That honestly looks like aromatic cedar. You will know because it has an amazing scent if it is.

[willstewart]

dr4g0nfly - the wood just scents of pine really which is a bit disappointing, but the timber is quite definitely just trimmed from a prostrate juniper perhaps 50+ years old and the branches/foliage scented the whole garden of juniper whilst the (pros) were chipping them up.  The remaining tree does look rather amazing - twisted like a bonsai but about 2m high!  We hope it will do well (it has been trimmed before - albeit not quite so much).

[willstewart]

tree (post pruning)

[willstewart]

dr4g0nfly - I see that aromatic cedar is listed in Wikipedia as 'Juniperus virginiana' - so a US juniper.  Obviously hardly any cedar wood comes from actual cedar trees so perhaps this is not so surprising!  So it will be closely related to our garden prostrate juniper I think.  I am not sure how much UK juniper wood is actually cut - the trees/bushes I remember in the Scottish highlands looked pretty wizened and small. The US sources talking about juniper wood seem to be talking quite large pieces (fireplace lintels and the like) which fits with this being the same as your aromatic cedar which wiki says is quite a big tree.  But a lovely wood much like your description anyway!

[Twisted Trees]

Two things I a envious of from across the pond, the space they have for workshops and the trees, though we have better Oak and Yew!