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Bowl Blanks?

T

Thom Schuck

Joined
Mar 4, 2023
Messages
33
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33
Location
Portland, OR
Fellow Woodturning geniuses,
Can anyone give me some solid leads on where i can order quality blanks for turning?
Anyone care to help me out?
Thanks,
Thom Schuck
Portland, Oregon
 
A lot of big cities have drop off sites where you are allowed to drop off yard waste and such. They will usually chip up the branches and stuff, but some have a side area where wood too large to go through a chipper is placed and can be picked up. While not all do this, some do and is a good source for wood.
Also. a lot of woodturning clubs will have drawings for wood at the start of the meetings where you usually buy tickets for 2 bucks or so. I used to bring a lot of wood for them to raffle off but rarely make it to my club anymore as the wife and I have pool league on the same night as our woodturners meet.
When I wintered by Corpus Christi, I would go to their woodturning club there and bring down 3 or 4 hundred pounds of maple for them, and they would load me up with Mesquite for my trip home. Really great group of guys there and I went to a couple of SWAT conventions with them. I really enjoyed SWAT.
 
You've got several options right there in your area. Big commercial dealers are Gilmore and Gobi Walnut. Hamilton Lee in Vancouver. You've got some smaller guys too: There's a fellow just over the river in Vancouver - Marshal Wade aka Double Diamond Slabworks. There's a guy from the Portland Symphony who deals in wood - Mark Dubac aka windwood llc. There's a family out near Tillamook - C Jacob Woods. Traveling through Oregon, I've bought at least one thing from all of them except Hamilton Lee (they were closed when I went through). Depending on your interest, your budget, and their stock, you should be covered.
 
Ed Sandle said:
A lot of big cities have drop off sites where you are allowed to drop off yard waste and such. They will usually chip up the branches and stuff, but some have a side area where wood too large to go through a chipper is placed and can be picked up. While not all do this, some do and is a good source for wood.
Also. a lot of woodturning clubs will have drawings for wood at the start of the meetings where you usually buy tickets for 2 bucks or so. I used to bring a lot of wood for them to raffle off but rarely make it to my club anymore as the wife and I have pool league on the same night as our woodturners meet.
When I wintered by Corpus Christi, I would go to their woodturning club there and bring down 3 or 4 hundred pounds of maple for them, and they would load me up with Mesquite for my trip home. Really great group of guys there and I went to a couple of SWAT conventions with them. I really enjoyed SWAT.
Click to expand...

I did this and found some nice chunks of flaming box elder. Another item to call local tree services to see what they do with the wood they cut down. One service has a site about 45 minutes from me where you can go and take the logs and / or wood chips. You just need to load it yourself.
 
Thom Schuck said:
Fellow Woodturning geniuses,
Can anyone give me some solid leads on where i can order quality blanks for turning?
Anyone care to help me out?
Thanks,
Thom Schuck
Portland, Oregon
Click to expand...
Local clubs are a great source. I assume you have already connected with one or both:

NWWT - Home

www.northwestwoodturners.com www.northwestwoodturners.com


If you are looking for some exotic woods.
Florida is home to many - Norfolk Island pine, Camphor, rose wood, eucalyptus, Cuban mahogany are all available:

www.viablelumber.com

Viable Lumber

Viable Lumber salvages urban trees in central Florida and gives them a second life as art, bowls, furniture, custom woodwork, live-edge slabs, bar tops, musical instruments and more.
www.viablelumber.com www.viablelumber.com

Turning Wood - Our Quality is TOP NOTCH

Quality selection of turning wood from the southeastern states including Norfolk Island Pine, Spalted Woods, Ambrosia Woods, Camphor and more.
www.woodturningblanks4u.com
 
I am sure there will be some at the upcoming Oregon Woodturning Symposium. Me, I will not buy blanks because none of the ones that are available are cut the way I would do it. I know there are 3 clubs in the Portland Metro area, and I am sure you could get some help finding some. I guess it depends on if you have a chainsaw and hand truck (don't leave home without them!). If you don't have any way to process raw wood, then most clubs have "work parties" where you can help in exchange for wood.

robo hippy
 
Thom Schuck said:
Can anyone give me some solid leads on where i can order quality blanks for turning?
Click to expand...

Just an idea - you might describe the kind of blanks you might be interested.

First of all, blanks for bowls or things like plates, platters, lidded boxes, Christmas ornaments, pens, etc.?

Green or dry wood? (if it matters)
Species/color?
Domestic/exotic?
SIzes?
On a budget or is cost no concern?

Around here green wood of many types is usually free for picking up when someone has a tree cut or one down in a storm. All that is needed is a chain saw to cut pieces. If you have a bandsaw and might be interested in cutting up short log sections into nice blanks I made a video of how I do it:
View: https://youtu.be/4Rbdas-jtD0

I can highly recommend this method. I've cut green wood into many hundreds of blanks into all kinds of sizes and shapes. I usually only turn dry wood so I cut, seal and dry before use. If you want to turn dry wood, start processing soon since large blanks can take years to dry. You are a bit limited in size by the wood you can find and the size of the bandsaw. Drying large blanks can be tricky.

bandsaw_blank_IMG_20180312_161447_777.jpg ambrosia_maple_IMG_20171202_175649_933.jpg

And if you make your own blanks, you control the quality!

If you have a local independent sawmill near you, they often can provide blocks or slabs you can cut into blanks. I've used my own sawmill to make large blanks for friends here and cut many slabs for drying, some I cut into turning blanks.

If you have a woodturning club near you, that can be a great resource. Some clubs have month wood draws from donated wood. Our club also has a big wood auction every year. Individual members may have blanks to sell or share.

If you don't have a bandsaw, one of the dealers mentioned here might be your best bet.
Pete at Big Monk is an excellent resource but I don't think he advertises wood for sale. He does go to lots of symposiums with a trailer full of wood. Best bet is to call him or send an email to see if he has anything you might use. He often has a variety of both domestic and exotic. I bought some good sized exotic blanks from him recently. Somehow he finds the best Olivewood but it's getting increasingly expensive and hard to find in larger sizes.

JKJ
 
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The OP is in Portland, Oregon. Gilmer Woods in NW Portland has all sorts of turning woods and exotics. Not sure if they have pre-cut turning blanks. I seem to remember they have a wood shop on site that might be able to saw blanks round.

There's also a place about mid way up to Seattle that advertises turning blanks on CL. Probably only western woods I would assume.
 
It’s a Burl on the road to the coast (199 ?) from Grants Pass often has recently harvested burl - mostly big leaf maple. I haven’t been by there in quite a while, but used to stop there often and came away with some good chunks. A very funky place, but nice wood and lots of slabs, too at decent prices (negotiate).
 
Do people not bring blanks to your local turning meetings? Every month when we get together people bring all kinds of stuff that they don't want to our meeting and you can usually get them for a small amount of cash. Also being very social at your meetings helps a lot cause you learn what kinds of things your other members like to do and they learn what you like and when they run into something they know you will like the usually will bring it for me...I do the same for them. To be fair though everyone at my club knows I like wood that's generally rejected by most folks because of major defects because I like turning(no pun intended) those defects into features.
 
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