Pacific yew

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NOTE: there is rarely any "standard" or "typical" look for a wood so take what's in this table with a grain of salt
the REST of the pictures on this page will give you a better overall feel for this wood

Pacific yew / Taxus brevifolia
of the family Taxaceae
Also known as common yew, Oregon yew and western yew

3" x 3" flat cut, 2" x 2" quartersawn, 3/4" wide end grain, and a 1/4" x 1/4" end grain closeup.

This softwood has no resin canals. Swirly grain on the face is quite common and straight grain quartersawn is the exception rather than the rule. Identification of yew is mainly just by virtue of the fact that there aren't any other woods that look like yew. As to which particular species of yew a piece might be, well ...

Or as a friend of mine once put it, "The thing about yew is that it just never looks like me, it always looks like yew". (OK, he's not a close friend)

my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions

Pacific yew veneer sheet with half moistened with mineral oil to show how a finishing agent can enhance the beauty of this wood

both sides of a sample plank of Pacific yew / Taxus brevifolia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Western yew / Taxus brevifolia

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

several small planks of Pacific yew, all freshly sanded --- all are from the same tree and have the same color; the 3rd pic show a little too much red tint and the other pics have very accurate color.

the web pic for part of a batch of yew that most of my plank samples directly above came from. The planks are very rough-cut in these pics and in mine they have been sanded down.

small planks

one of the small planks from the set above, but shown closer up (oh, and I seem to have flipped it to the other side)

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank given to me as Pacific yew --- HUGE enlargements are present

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a piece of Pacific yew / Taxus brevifolia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Note that the first face was sanded to 240 grit and the second face was not and this accounts for the better resolution of the detail characteristics as seen in the first one.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Pacific yew / Taxus brevifolia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Note that the second face was sanded to 240 grit and the first face was not and this accounts for minor differences in color between the two and the better resolution of the detail characteristics as seen in the first one.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of old growth Pacific yew / Taxus brevifolia --- HUGE enlargements are present.

end grain and HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above

The following are all veneer from many different veneer lots and show a wide variety of color (from pale tan to honey-golden brown) and grain (from clear to grainy and some with knotholes and some with pippy areas). Some of these pics have 2 levels of enlargement; all have at least one.

NOTE: the colors are just a bit too rich on most of my veneer pics

veneer --- color is a bit too rich

veneer --- there is just a little too much red tint in these pics.

veneer with accurate color

The Wood Book pics

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
California yew (Taxus brevifolia, also listed as Pacific yew and Oregon Yew) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are present for all 3 views

web pics:

log end

planks, dry and wetted down, listed as Pacific yew

pacific yew planks

planks, all from the same vendor, listed as Pacific yew / Taxus brevifolia

misc pieces of Pacific yew, all from the same vendor

bowl blanks listed as Pacific yew / Taxus brevifolia

both sides of a set of Pacific yew planks ... pics provided by Daniel Dill, whom I thank for these excellent pics ... both levels of enlargement are available so you can really see the grain.

Pacific yew plank and closeup

three pieces labeled "American Pacific yew veneer". All three of these are of the same set of pieces and are presented just to show how differently the color can be presented for a given piece. I'm confident that the last one is the closest to the true color. These sheets are from the same vendor as the ones directly below

veneer listed as Pacific yew --- the actualy wood probably has some orange in it

turning stock listed as Oregon yew burl

pacific yew burl plank, two views. Actually, this is not technically a burl but rather a plank with some burls on the edges, but that's the kind of honest distinction that is not made by the BogusColorVendor

Pacific yew burl and closeup

bowl listed as Pacific yew

pen turned from Pacific yew / Taxus brevifolia. Photograph contributed to the site by the pen turner, Bruce Selyem, whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The pen is finished with shellwax.