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News flash -“ trip to local wood store startles new turner “

Joined
Jun 2, 2018
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So I went to a local hardwood supplier today to get some BF I could cut up for bowl blanks. They have a huge selection of standard and exotic woods. I looked at their options for 12/4 and hey have several choices but I was surprised at how much a the wood costs. I suppose this has happened to us all. But when I think of a small bowl to practice (since I only have a 10” swing ) I didn’t think he blanks would be $25+ for wood that I like.

My question is this, do you guys see anything here that offers value for the “price to beauty” ratio? I haven’t turned any of these yet so I’m not sure what to expect in terms of workability either.

These prices are all for 12/4 dried:
$7.95 BF Eastern Maple (not sure what this is)
$12.50 BF White Hard Maple
$3.95 BF Poplar (I assume to soft to be useful?)
$12.50 Cherry
$6.25 Eastern Ash
$15.50 walnut
$7.50 Khaya (no idea, but nice grain and color)
 
Joined
Jun 13, 2017
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OKC, OK
I rarely buy blanks and when I do, it's typically at symposiums. Symposia? But, when my wife asks me for gift ideas, I just tell her to go to Woodcraft and pick out a little blank that she likes. I get to turn something interesting and she gets a little bowl out of it. Everyone is happy.
 
Joined
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Jasper, Alabama
Those prices seem a little to me Robb IMO. I have bought dried bowl blanks in the past but where I live I'm blessed to have a lot of fallen trees of different types in a very rural area.
 

hockenbery

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If you can find a local club they may have good supplies of local trees. Also many clubs have harvest sessions when someone calls about a tree. I love turning green wood.

Poplar is a good practice wood. I think it is too soft for bowls. Most poplar is uninteresting in color and grain.
Below are 3 seed jars are 7” diameter split hollow forms.
Poplar0AFF4DB3-9B1A-402E-898C-BACDFBC44D64.jpeg PoplarE7A002D8-54AF-489F-ADA4-3901625E5DAF.jpeg red gum eucalyptusC45150F7-96D7-46CB-973B-32A7207B0CDB.jpeg

These little forms are ideal do a small lathe. When you make one you basically turn 2 bowls then Glue the rims together. I’ve been doing these in demos and for a club workshop. You learn a lot doing them and get a nice little piece out of it. If you have nice wood like the red gum it stands in its own, the poplar I sand carve and carve. The red gum was also free wood.
It is from Australia but fairly common here.

The poplar was from 3x8 cut offs free at our club. One of the guys brings a pickup load of cutoffs from a cabinet shop every other month. I used to find lots of usable turning wood in the scrap bins of lumber mills. Most of them now charge by the pound. I still go through the Exotic hardwood scrap bin when i’m In the neighborhood.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 2, 2018
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Snoqualmie, Washington
Good ideas guys. Thanks. Guess I'll bite the bullet now and buy some lumber for blanks and look for local chapters that I can join.

Hocknnbery - those carved poplar are really cool. You can carve too? double threat!
 
Joined
Jun 2, 2018
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Snoqualmie, Washington
How long would I have to dry this wood (the wood in the link below) before I could turn it dry? I've seen a calculation about diameter and length and I remember it being many years for a log this size. This must be why I see so many videos of guys turning their bowls wet, then finish turn when totally dry. Guess I'd need a bigger lathe for wood like this or else someone is getting a lot of pepper grinders and ornaments :)

https://seattle.craigslist.org/est/grd/d/apple-wood-logs/6610776470.html
 
Joined
Apr 1, 2015
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Location
Sitka, Alaska, United States
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www.zachlaperriere.com
Hi Robb,

Give an arborist a call and ask them to keep an eye out for interesting wood. I've seen some amazing maple from your area. If you offer to give them a free bowl the right arborist will shower you with wood. The fruit woods are great too, such as the apple you posted.

As for drying...it's just an experiment to see what you can get away with. 3 months is on the skinny side, 6 months is common. It just depends on so many factors: size and species being the main ones. Or turn bowl to final dimensions and let it warp. I can turn smaller bowls and sell them a week or ten days later.

The other option is to get in touch with a shipwright...endless sapele and purpleheart scraps, or perhaps a furniture maker.
 

Bill Boehme

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How long would I have to dry this wood (the wood in the link below) before I could turn it dry? I've seen a calculation about diameter and length and I remember it being many years for a log this size. This must be why I see so many videos of guys turning their bowls wet, then finish turn when totally dry. Guess I'd need a bigger lathe for wood like this or else someone is getting a lot of pepper grinders and ornaments :)

https://seattle.craigslist.org/est/grd/d/apple-wood-logs/6610776470.html

Rough turn some bowls while the wood is wet. Turning freshly cut green wood is an incredible confidence builder for a new turner. Generally the wood will be dry enough to finish after 3 to 6 months drying time. After I turn wet wood to rough dimensions I coat it with Anchorseal and then put it in my pile of drying bowls. The rule of thumb for rough turning is to make the wall thickness at least 10% of the diameter (1" for a 10" bowl).
 

john lucas

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Glue up blanks. Look at all the segmented work out there. When I first started turning I didn't know you could use green wood and could not find dry wood in blanks large enough to make bowls so I stacked it up to get the thickness. Then I got into segmented rings so there wasn't as much waste after I got a bowl glued up. turned a lot of segmented vessels, bowls, lamps, platters and other things before I ever got into turning thicker green woods. I can count on my hand the number of bowl blanks that I've actually purchased over the years.
 
Joined
Dec 7, 2012
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Albuquerque, NM
Poplar turns pretty easily. While it's one of the softer hardwoods, it's still harder than basswood :) (Basswood is also a good practice wood, actually...)

Up in your neck of the woods (so to speak), I'm surprised I didn't see big leaf maple or silver maple in your list. That should be reasonably inexpensive, and a nice easy to turn wood.
 
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
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Location
Pueblo West, CO
Sounds like you are willing to buy wood if the price is reasonable. If so, check out Johnson Wood Products on the internet. Randy offers a 65 lb. box filled with bowl blanks (or spindle blanks if you prefer). I got one when I started many yrs back and I thought it was a good deal. The blanks are not large but all were quality wood and it gave me something to turn besides 2x6s. As I recall I got 30-40 blanks. Allyn
 
Joined
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Eugene, OR
I turn mostly bowls, and most of that is FOG (found on ground) wood. Once you start looking, it is everywhere. It does require a chainsaw most of the time, or friends. Cabinet shops have lots of scraps, and so do flooring installers, but you may need a wood shop to process it so you can turn it. That wood is a bit spendy.

robo hippy
 

Bill Boehme

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Here's my news flash from fourteen years ago. I went into the local Rockler Hardware and having only turned one really ugly bowl announced that I wanted to buy some turning blanks. They all stared at me (they knew me well enough to know what I would do to a nice piece of wood) ... and then somebody spoke up and said, "Nobody buys wood ... free wood is everywhere". Sure enough, when you get into wood turning you start to see wood everywhere that you never even noticed before. And it never occurred to me that I have 25 acres of trees and turning blanks actually grow on trees ... it's true.
 
Joined
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Cleveland, Tennessee
So wood grows on trees? Or is it in trees? I didn't realize that! All we need to do is take a piece of wood and turn off anything that doesn't look like a bowl.
Quip- If God wanted us to have fiberglass boats, he would have made fiberglass trees.
 
Joined
Sep 27, 2017
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Location
Windsor, Pennsylvania
Turner's clubs, yard sales, furniture factories, saw mills, arborists, home owners cutting down trees, craig's list, Facebook area sales groups, Electric company line men. orchards culling trees, Estate sales, auctions, my own back 40 in the woods, Doesn't cost anything to ask politely and to say thanks. Or even offer a trade. (A farmer I know carries a little notebook in which he writes down trades as contracts. Both parties sign,. He has gotten incredible stuff just for permission to hunt, or permission to pick up dead falls in his wood lot.).

It is amazing what can be made from just yard trimmings. Maybe not bowls, but one of the coolest things I saw was sideways turned pieces of black locust branch made into fancy chain pulls for light fixtures, handles for coffee scoops etc. The guy took a piece of 2 inch diameter black locust branch about two inches in length and mounted it from side to side instead of end to end. The contrasting grain made strange eyeball designs in the finished product.
 
Joined
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Interesting. FWIW, I had a limb break off a tree in my back yard. The tree guy said it looked like a persimmon tree. Anyone turned it after it had dried? I will try to post a photo for you.
 
Joined
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Bozeman, MT
Robb, I agree with those who have suggested those prices are pretty high for lumber. In addition to the good suggestions for free wood sources, check for "urban forestry" or "recycled lumber" in Seattle. There used to be some custom mills and people who would turn the city of Seattle's many trees that get cut down into usable wood. Sustainable Northwest Wood is in my bookmarks (snwwood.com) and they may be a source, too. You may be surprised to find hardwood logs on Craigslist under "Free" and "Wood". You'll get a bunch of construction waste and junk, but sometimes a homeowner has cut down a usable tree.
 
Joined
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Nebraska
The more spalting you have in a bowl blank can increase the level of end grain tear-out depending on wood species, The spalting process is fungi spores consuming several components in the wood which breaks down the stability of the wood the longer the spalting is growing in the blank. You can apply several coats of wood sealer to the blank when you are making finishing cuts to help support the end grain from tearing out. A freshly sharpened tool will assist in making cleaner cuts. This can be the most challenging time when turning a bowl, you need to take light cuts and use the proper tool at the proper angle for the grain you are cutting. Some turners are forced to sanding there way through whatever grain tear-out is left in the turned piece, you make multiple attempts to make a clean cut in the wood grain, but sooner or later you run out of wood to make these attempts. Slow and Steady wins this race.
 

Emiliano Achaval

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If you can find a local club they may have good supplies of local trees. Also many clubs have harvest sessions when someone calls about a tree. I love turning green wood.

Poplar is a good practice wood. I think it is too soft for bowls. Most poplar is uninteresting in color and grain.
Below are 3 seed jars are 7” diameter split hollow forms.
PoplarView attachment 25807 PoplarView attachment 25809 red gum eucalyptusView attachment 25808

These little forms are ideal do a small lathe. When you make one you basically turn 2 bowls then Glue the rims together. I’ve been doing these in demos and for a club workshop. You learn a lot doing them and get a nice little piece out of it. If you have nice wood like the red gum it stands in its own, the poplar I sand carve and carve. The red gum was also free wood.
It is from Australia but fairly common here.

The poplar was from 3x8 cut offs free at our club. One of the guys brings a pickup load of cutoffs from a cabinet shop every other month. I used to find lots of usable turning wood in the scrap bins of lumber mills. Most of them now charge by the pound. I still go through the Exotic hardwood scrap bin when i’m In the neighborhood.
Al, I wonder if you have a handout for the demo. I'm looking for ideas for demos for our club. Looks like a great idea, one that I have never done. Was nice to have met you in Portland. Odd I only run into you once... Aloha
 

hockenbery

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Al, I wonder if you have a handout for the demo. I'm looking for ideas for demos for our club. Looks like a great idea, one that I have never done. Was nice to have met you in Portland. Odd I only run into you once... Aloha

@Emiliano Achaval -Aloha- Glad I met you too.

I’m doing a seed jar demo for the Florida symposium next Feb. Below is the link to the handout on their web site.
You are welcome to use it.
http://floridawoodturningsymposium.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/seed-jar-ho-hockenbery.pdf

Also I posted a thread in the techniques with a video of a demo I did for tri-County woodturners.
http://www.aawforum.org/community/index.php?threads/turning-a-seed-jar-split-hollow-form.13584/

Its a demo that gets a lot if interest. Appeals to all skill levels. Fits on mini lathes. Has a few tricks that can be used on other turnings.

At the symposium I agreed to do an article on it. Not sure if it will go in the Journal or Fundamentals.
Stay tuned.
 
Joined
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Windermere, British Columbia
Found a really nice local (well, 100 miles away but I like to drive) guy on Craigslist who has 300 bowl blanks for sale.

Drove there today. Learned a ton from him. And, had to stock up. Turned my second bowl today (from his stock) View attachment 25857 View attachment 25858 came out decent but I’ve got to figure out how to deal with end grain tear out.
Negative rack scraper good for tear out.
 

Emiliano Achaval

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@Emiliano Achaval -Aloha- Glad I met you too.

I’m doing a seed jar demo for the Florida symposium next Feb. Below is the link to the handout on their web site.
You are welcome to use it.
http://floridawoodturningsymposium.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/seed-jar-ho-hockenbery.pdf

Also I posted a thread in the techniques with a video of a demo I did for tri-County woodturners.
http://www.aawforum.org/community/index.php?threads/turning-a-seed-jar-split-hollow-form.13584/

Its a demo that gets a lot if interest. Appeals to all skill levels. Fits on mini lathes. Has a few tricks that can be used on other turnings.

At the symposium I agreed to do an article on it. Not sure if it will go in the Journal or Fundamentals.
Stay tuned.
Thank you very much. Greatly appreciated. Looking forward to the article! Aloha
 
Joined
Jul 19, 2017
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Roscoe, Illinois
turningblanks.net may be a good source. I found spalted maple 8" round blanks for just over $13 apiece plus shipping which, for me was about another $5 per blank; so total $18 apiece. I haven't been able to find spalted maple up to that size before and the smaller pieces I found were more expensive. However, I haven't received them yet so can't tell you whether they are good quality or not. Just a suggestion for a source. They have a wide variety and the prices don't seem too bad. Of course, getting the wood free locally is a much better price if it's available.
 
Joined
Jan 11, 2019
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Jacksonville, Florida
I bought a Harbor Freight lathe about three years ago and started turning after I retired. I have never paid for turning wood. It is literally laying all over the place. From dead fall limbs and trees to broken furniture made of solid cherry, hickory, etc. I have turned beautiful bowls that I give away. I think that part of the fun is finding the wood and getting it free. Part of it is I am just so cheap that I can't bring myself to pay for something that I know I can find for free. I will admit that I would like to try turning some of the beautiful exotics that I have seen you fellas post. I'm blessed to live in Florida where many beautiful species live.
 
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Story- read of someone cutting burls out of trees in a park in a major city. Big reward offered for the arrest.
 

Bill Boehme

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Story- read of someone cutting burls out of trees in a park in a major city. Big reward offered for the arrest.

My back yard adjoins a park and there is a gnarly tree covered with burls. I have coveted those burls ever since I started woodturning and have been hoping that the tree would die of natural causes ,,, and even envisioned death by unnatural cause. I could tell the park board that the burls are harmful to the tree and that I would, as my civic duty, volunteer to remove those harmful warts.
 
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