Natural boxwood cochonnet

The natural boxwood jack is the spare target for a game of pétanque: the small wooden ball (the cochonnet) you throw first and then aim your boules at. It gets lost in the grass; you always keep one or two in the bag.

It is turned in the Jura from boxwood left natural, with no paint or varnish. Boxwood is a dense, close-grained wood and the traditional timber for the jack: heavier than a softwood, it rolls more predictably.

The rules allow a jack in wood or synthetic material; boxwood remains the choice of players who prefer the feel and sound of wood. Over time it takes on a blond and then brown patina from contact with hands and earth. A stroke of felt-tip pen makes it easier to spot on a pale pitch.