Jamaica Dogwood

I picked Jamaica Dogwood as the first wood to write about for a couple of reasons; none of which are objective.

Jamaica Dogwood isn’t from the Dogwood family of trees. The thought is the name comes from the making of “dogs” in ship building according to Gil Nelson in “The Trees of Florida.”

Jamaica Dogwood is what I’d consider a sustainable hardwood. The things grow like weeds. They’re popping up all over my parents’ yard and there’s dozens of them. They just want tons of sun. They’ll grow straight toward the closest spot to get sunshine even if that means growing at a 90 degree angle to get out of the shade.

. A volunteer outside my fathers shop.

Volunteers, as we call bird propagated seedlings, have giant round leaves about 3 inches in diameter. As the tree grows and reaches into the sunshine, the leaves become more oval in shape and get smaller, maybe 2 inches by 1-1/2 inches. 

  Stripling Jamaica Dogwood

Jamaica Dogwoods top out at about thirty feet. They provide great amounts of shade and hold up good in stiff winds. Hurricane Andrew kicked the ass of the thirty footer in my yard but he’s back to where he was before that storm in 1992.

 Diagonal tree bottom left to upper right in the middle is a planted tree about thirty years old in my parents yard. He was severely damaged during hurricane Andrew but has since regained his former stature.

Jamaica Dogwoods bloom this thing that looks like a seed pod straight away. Not much of a flower to look at and being color blind, I don’t even notice them. The flowers look kind of like two paper thin snow peas glued perpendicular to each other down the middle.

I love Jamaica Dogwood for the main reason that as a kid dragging through the woods, I could tell what it was. I could tell that it wasn’t Mahogany. I could tell that it wasn’t Lignum Vitae either. The stuff that we were looking for wasn’t alive.

Mature 30 year old tree. (top)  Century old cured log at the shop (center log, bottom pic)

None of the books that I’ve checked into tell what to look for when you’re looking for the dead stuff. I could tell what it was by the simple fact that it has these little conical projections that stick out of the heart wood all along the trunk. The heartwood, long exposed to the elements by the time we found it, was silver on the outside. The Mahogany we were looking for was silver too. The dogwood though has these little conical nodules. Once we’d found the Dogwood, the real test was smelling it. Jamaica Dogwood has a very strong sour acidic odor. When my father would crank up the chain saw there was no mistaking what he was cutting and there as no standing down wind while he was cutting it. The dust would leave an awful bitter taste in my mouth and throat. A.S. Hitch, in Sargent’s ‘Manual of the Trees of North America,’ says “In the West Indies the bark of the roots, young branches and powdered leaves were used by the Caribs to stupefy fish and facilitate their capture.” I could believe it just by smelling it and tasting it.

Another reason I’m writing about this wood is that it’s probably one of the most beautiful of the South Florida hardwoods. It has an amazing grain pattern and a crazy yellow brown color. You’re maybe thinking that because I’m colorblind I wouldn’t be able to see the colors, but in my own way I do see them.

My first woodturning project in the new studio was the head piece for my tribal bench. I was able to use a log I had and made the head piece bigger then I’d planned just so I wouldn’t waste any more of the wood then I needed to. When finishing it, I only needed 100 grit sandpaper. The grain is so tight that no more sanding was needed. I’m glad it needed little sanding as the dust collector only gets so much and wearing a respirator in ninety degree weather isn’t pleasant. I polished the turned piece with hand fulls of it’s own sawdust.

So, if you live in South Florida, the Keys, the Bahamas or the islands stretching south, plant a Jamaica Dogwood if you can. I know where I can get my hands on a couple of volunteers. If you’re going to build something using Jamaica Dogwood, just make sure you wear your PPE (personal protective equipment). Whatever you do, enjoy this versatile sustainable hardwood.