Thread: Polyscias murrayi - Pencil Cedar

Interestingly, Bootle lists Polyscias murrayi as a synonym for Basswood, White.
GD about 610 kg/m3 ADD about 400 kg/m3


Shrinkage 3% radial, 6% tangential

The entries listed under Pencil cedar are
Cedar, Pencil - Palaquium spp
Cedar Pencil, Virginian - Juniperus Virginiana L.
Cairns Pencil Cedar (Silkwood, Red) Palaquium galactoxylum.

Hope this helps, Jeff

The perenial problem of timber common names arises yet again.

I know Palaquium amboinense as pencil cedar.

Bootles calls Polyscias murrayi white Basswood, but wikipedia says it is also called pencil cedar. Here is bootles summary of Polyscias murrayi:

Bootles - Basswood.jpg


Please note the change in the Latin name => Tieghemopanax murrayi.

Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate the information.
if I could brother you for one last question, there is the potential for it to be Polyscias Elegans which I think is commonly known as Celery Wood or Black Bass Wood.
I’m hazard a guess they would be close in data being from the same family and distribution.

I’m looking to make an electric guitar body out of the timber.I think it would suit a solid colour as the grain isn’t particularly striking. However, it’s super light and has a decent tap tone. It’ll be a blessing for anyone hating on heavy old guitars.

Here is Bootles entry for T elegans, which he calls silver basswood:

Bootle - T Elagensis.jpg

Thank you very much.
i really appreciate the information.
maybe it’s time to buy a few books.

Basswood is way to soft for an electric guitar body. You will be flat out trying to get the screws to hold in the timber. Pick something denser and lighten by design would be my approach.

I grow trees on my farm and have sawn up some Polyscias elegans. P e is much more common than P murrayi. The wood superficially looks like hoop pine, uniformly white and of moderate density and hardness but does suffer a little from the lyctus borer. To say that it cannot take screws I believe is quite wrong. To me it seems a quite legitimate species of wood but in very limited supply. Whether it is good for guitar backs is something totally different. I do have a couple of boards here if anyone is interested.

Bob, I thought the same as you until I tried inserting short, small gauge screws. The holding power was pathetic.