Myrtle Wood Uses, Properties, Pros, and cons

Myrtle Wood Uses, Properties, Advantages, and Disadvantages

What is myrtle wood?

Myrtle that I will discuss here is Oregon Myrtle or also known as California Bay Laurel and Pepperwood.

This is a type of hardwood with the scientific name Coastal regions of southwest Oregon and central California, which is distributed in the Coastal regions of southwest Oregon and central California.

Myrtle tree is 50-80 feet tall, with a trunk diameter of 2-3 feet. Myrtle wood has a pretty good quality, especially its attractive appearance.

Although not exotic, but we think it’s quite suitable for decoration. Myrtle wood is commonly used for fine furniture, veneer, cabinetry, turned objects, and others.

The properties of myrtle wood

You can find Myrtle heartwood colors vary, from light orange-brown to gray or olive, while the sapwood looks pale. Myrtle is less reliable in resistance because heart rot is common.

Not only that, it turns out that various rotting fungi can also infect living Myrtle. This wood also has poor insect resistance.

However, Myrtle’s appearance looks quite attractive, with straight, wavy, or irregular grains. This wood also has a smooth, uniform texture but a low natural luster.

Myrtle is a fairly easy wood to work, although you may have to spend more money to get it.

Myrtle wood advantages

Fairly easy to work: Myrtle is a fairly easy wood to work, although a few things can happen and be quite challenging.

An example of this is tearing, which can occur in a cut with a grain figure and may catch fire during routing and drilling.

Therefore, we hope that you have prepared good quality tools, including sharp cutters. This makes the process easier and faster.

It is also a wood that turns well, glues, and finishes well. Before that, we hope you’ve picked the best Myrtle you can get your hands on for the best results you want.

Appearance: Myrtle is one of those woods with an attractive appearance, although we can’t say for sure that it’s exotic yet.

Although not entirely attractive, and even only interesting after becoming a finished item. This is a wood with a unique and varied grain figure, you can find Myrtle with straight, wavy, or even irregular grains.

We hope you can find Myrtle with a combination of all three types of grains, as it seems to be of great value.

Not only that, but its appearance also makes Myrtle quite recommended as a material for making various decorative items.

Myrtle wood Disadvantages

Low resistance: It seems like you shouldn’t choose Myrtle if you need wood with good resistance, because we don’t think this wood has that.

That’s because our sources of information say that various rotting fungi can even infect living Myrtle trees.

In addition, heart rot is also common. Myrtle wood also has poor insect resistance, so it may not be suitable for some things, such as ground contact or outdoor use.

Because both types of use are usually more susceptible to insect attacks, that’s why we recommend short- and medium-term indoors so that the wood can last longer.

High price: You can’t get Myrtle for a low or moderate price because the price of this wood is high, even among the highest for domestic hardwoods per board-foot. Not only that, figured burls and pieces are also very expensive.

We don’t know for sure what causes the price of this wood to be so expensive Because we did not find any information that Myrtle is vulnerable, endangered, or anything else.

The Myrtle species is not listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species or the CITES Appendices. So, please comment if you know the cause.

Myrtle wood for veneer

Myrtle is sometimes available as veneers, and we don’t think you need to make it manually. Most wood does work for this, and we can’t deny that. Even exotic wood can be made into veneer, although it is not recommended.

We also don’t recommend that you make Myrtle wood into veneer, because it’s not very suitable, although the quality is quite good.

However, it would be best to think about using Myrtle wood for better and more valuable things.

Instead of just coating the furniture, it is better to use it as high-quality furniture and make your home more beautiful.

Myrtle wood for cabinetry

This is an excellent option if you’re making cabinetry, although low rot resistance may be a significant problem. However, we hope that you can work around this in various ways to make the wood more resistant to rot.

If you manage to make Myrtle cabinetry or even buy one, that will be something really good. Myrtle looks quite attractive will be an attraction for your home and as well as a decoration.

You can also make cabinetry to store decorative items with a glass door type. However, it seems that the kitchen cabinetry is also not a bad choice.

Myrtle wood for fine furniture

It is also one of the woods that can be used for fine furniture. Of course, it was because of Myrtle wood’s quality and also because of its high price.

If you also want to make fine furniture from Myrtle, we hope you find the right type. Figured burls and pieces are the most suitable for fine furniture.

However, it looks like you have to spend more money to get it. Just hope it doesn’t cost more than a rare exotic or an exotic wood burl, and opt for something else if that’s the case.

Myrtle wood for musical instruments (guitar backs)

If you need wood for guitar backs, I think Myrtle is the right choice. That’s because Myrtle is used for guitar backs.

This can be a solution if you don’t like Mahogany or if the wood is more expensive than Myrtle. While it looks like Myrtle has the qualities for this, we recommend going for Mahogany if you can get it.

We do not have information about Myrtle for other musical instruments. However, it looks like it can still be used even if it’s just for extra items.

If you know anything about this, please comment below.

Myrtle wood for interior trim

You can also use Myrtle for interior trim, and it looks like a good one for that. It will be fairly solid and reliable hardwood.

We hope it will be great when combined with other woods. Just believe in the quality it has, although Myrtle has low resistance.

We also think that it could be a problem, including making it more prone to breakage. However, it doesn’t seem to matter if it’s just for the interior, as we thought it could be more durable.

The low insect attack resistance doesn’t seem to have much effect either.

Myrtle wood for gunstocks

Although we don’t recommend it, you can also use Myrtle wood as gunstocks. We don’t think any quality is too important here, and it’s just that it requires hardwood.

Not only that, but Myrtle’s smooth texture also affects the quality of the gunstocks. They can be nice gunstocks and are convenient to use.

No need to worry about resistance because we don’t think it matters much for this. Myrtle’s attractive appearance can also make the gunstocks you have look more attractive.

However, it seems like the high price becomes a big enough problem to be used as gunstocks.

Myrtle wood for turned objects

Myrtle is a wood that turns well, and we hope it will create a variety of high-quality turned objects.

The appearance of this wood is also really nice, and the grains are varied, and we think it’s great if you use it for turned objects. You can make various turned objects of high artistic value with an attractive appearance.

The quality of this wood seems unquestionable, despite its low resistance, but we don’t think that’s a significant issue.