Boxwood source

Mike,
Nearly all the boxwood available today is actually Castello, or Castella, depending on who’s selling it. And the Castello is really nice stuff to use, like boxwood, it’s nearly grain free, and usually nice even color. Works very well.

Unfortunately, it’s spotty to obtain on this side of the Atlantic, but it does come up at various places from time to time. It can be pricy, but there’s really no good substitute for it. My advice is to search the web for “castello lumber” and see what comes up. I like to buy 8/4 material and re-saw to the size I need, particularly for the pieces on the shaped front boxes where the shapes are too sharp to be bent.

Otherwise, I normally use 3mm squares that come 1 meter in lengths that I get from Capitol Crispin in London. They ship internationally, but be advised that they only ship by air, so the freight is costly. The shipping costs about as much as one hundred strips. But a hundred will last a long time. If you are in London, it’s much less costly to stop by their place and carry them home. I know, neither of these work for small quantities.

At the moment I do not know of a specific supplier that has a stock of castello, but a search may turn some up. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t find any right off. Keep checking and it will turn up somewhere. Avoid any pieces with dark streaks in it. The streaky stuff is useless for box edging.

Hope this helps.
Roger

Thanks a bunch Roger- I shall pursue those options, Merry christmas.