How do you acquire your wood? (Poll)

[Gabriel Hoff]

I am really curious on how you guys acquire wood..

This is just for fun, so no judging...

I exclusively buy all my wood because my specialty is exotic, burls and highly figured woods.

 

[Daniel Warren]

I find fallen trees locally on private, commercial, and city locations then ask for the wood. I've posted ads in CL and Nextdoor with positive responses. Some of the best wood (burl et.) has been given to me by other turners who have excess stock but I have done the same for them.

When I hear chainsaws or chippers in my area, I hop in my truck with my chainsaw. Recently came across some pepper wood that a nearby neighbor was removing, sadly I missed the burls. I also connect with arborists/tree guys and ping them once and while.

 

[Todd A Williams]

Word of mouth that you’re looking for wood works great. I also check Facebook marketplace people post on there often about free wood.

 

[Tim Connell]

I walk out back behind the shed with a chainsaw and drop a tree or two.

 

[GRJensen]

Yard waste drop-off for green wood, for kiln-dried there are a few small-town sawmills that stock domestic hardwoods. If I want exotics, I shop a couple of mail order suppliers.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Since only 2 options allowed for voting, I just went as it applied to turning wood, which is most entirely FOG, Traded-for, or Harvested wood. I just about never buy for turning wood, but often buy for flatwork projects - leftovers and offcuts from those may often turn into turning wood as well.

 

[Kalia Kliban]

I've made connections with a lot of the local tree services, and often get calls from gallery customers and friends letting me know about trees coming down in their areas. Our club also shares info about downed trees and available wood. With a truck and a chainsaw, I almost never need to buy stock.

 

[hughie]

Wood, mainly from friends in the country, sometimes whole trees and occasionally trading. Then there is my two friends who are always on the lookout for stumps, logs and trees and will drop them off on the driveway. No idea of the species, they just know hughie is a woodie that needs wood. Its been going on for years now and I havent the heart to discourage them.
I will buy burls but I am very selective and just deal with the same people every time.

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

It sounds like local connections with folks and tree companies is the best bet for sourcing wood.

 

[Bill Blasic]

One of my club members owned 68 acres most of which was treed. For about a five year period we cut mainly Cherry, Walnut, Ash and some others on occasion. We prepared slabs and bowl blanks and he even ran the big saw for the day each year we called the Wood Gathering for the club members. I'd say that there were easily a thousand pieces available. All that was asked was a donation to help cover the cost of the material used (the big in shop bandsaw and the LT37 bandsaw mill blades were $25 each). Folks were allowed to take as much as they wanted and our club even supplied wax to coat the blanks if they wanted. Unfortunately it got so that when guys took a truckload and just put in two bucks it was a point that it was time to stop (you know there are those who just like to ruin things). I still have a lot of that wood. Pics for example.

 

[Paul M. Kaplowitz]

Tree services call me. I am a retired General Contractor and used various tree services over the years. I gave them a list of the species of trees I wanted and the minimum diamiter.

 

[Brian Gustin]

It sounds like local connections with folks and tree companies is the best bet for sourcing wood.

Yep, for turning wood if you want green.. if you are on facebook, look up your local tree service guys , loggers, etc (and facebook marketplace)

Here in Rural P.A. we have probably a good dozen tree service guys , most of whom I know (or went to school with) since I used to work on chainsaws for a living... My brother was a pro logger, and I pretty much grew up on granddad's farm where we'd cut & split several cords of wood a year, so it was easy enough to "friend" and make contact with a lot of those tree guys, and every so often they bring me free wood, or let me know where they are cutting something they also have to clean up (if I go grab some, saves them a little cleanup work!) , or I can give 'em "Firewood price" for what amounts to roughly a dumptruck load dropped off in my driveway... , probably make about a face cord if cut and split...

I'm also lucky enough to live diagonally across the street from a commercial lumber mill (they do specialty rounds & squares - basically spindle turning blanks ) and often they'll have piles of offcuts and rejects (kiln dried) that they'll set out for people to just help themselves for firewood so I can walk over sometimes and dig through their offcuts if I need some spindle blanks...

 

[Jim Woods]

All of my turning wood has been from neighborhood trees coming down, hearing the whine of a chain saw and offering a place for them to drop off the big trunk sections or picking some up to take home. Another was felling some ash and soft maple, but had some 24" dia walnut in his yard and was tickled to get a medium bowl for his wife. My cash generating turning is Native Amderican style flutes which I get my cedar 5/4 decking from Mednards and walnut/cherry from a local lumber mill.

 

[Breck Whitworth]

Tree services are the gentlemen you need to go meet and I've even given a bowl to the owner when he provided me with a log. Now he will call me if he has any hardwood I might want or I call him or other tree services. Sometime you have to be ready to go harvest the wood when they call because once they haul it to a land fill it's too late unless you know someone there. Friends are one of the greatest sources and when someone gives me a tree I always make them a bowl from the wood. Now people are always calling me asking if I might want their tree. I get to choose what I need many times. I just harvested a 115 year old walnut tree from a good friend in Alabama. Then I took the logs to a bandsaw mill and got them slabbed

 

[robo hippy]

I used to go for FOG wood exclusively. Then a friend turned me on to a logger who supplied the coastal shops with myrtle/California Bay Laurel. He dropped off 3 logs last spring, about 10 feet long, and 24 inch diameter for $180/log. Can't beat that type of price. Since I don't look for wood now, I do have to buy my fire wood.... Still figure I am money ahead...

robo hippy

 

[Richard Coers]

Here's a picture of some of my free wood. If you buy and are going to the Penturner's Gathering in Hoffman Estates, IL. stop by my booth. An another picture of me harvesting. That's the biggest Husky made with a 36" bar on it. Of course there will be a mark up beyond free! LOL

 

[Monty Ivy]

Giving away a bowl to someone that gave you wood does wonders. I get texts and phone calls when anyone in their neighborhood is downing a tree. The city's landfill allows you to take wood for free others have dumped and will even help you load it with their tractor.

 

[odie]

I used to go for FOG wood exclusively.

What does FOG stand for?

-----odie-----

 

[odie]

I exclusively buy all my wood because my specialty is exotic, burls and highly figured woods.

Gabriel.....

At this point, I think you and I are the only 2 votes for the first option.

Very few appropriate local woods available to me, so I have very limited choices.

-----odie-----

 

[James Seyfried]

What does FOG stand for?

-----odie-----

Found On Ground

 

[hughie]

It sounds like local connections with folks and tree companies is the best bet for sourcing wood.

Ideally, buddy up with local tree surgeons. I have found suburbia has many exotics, many bought for the flower or how it looks etc and if the house changes hands and the little lady aint fond of the tree then its gotta go.

 

[hughie]

Gabriel.....

At this point, I think you and I are the only 2 votes for the first option.

Very few appropriate local woods available to me, so I have very limited choices.

-----odie-----

I would probably be in the same boat but for some good friends. I picked up the best part of a large Blackwood filled the 4 tonner, and a local church had a very big old Redgum stump filled with quilting did it for free. It was about then I realised I really couldnt store any more, I think my Grandkids wont need to buy any wood if they get into turning.

 

[Isaac Fisher]

Technically, I buy most of my turning stock. In reality, I’ve bought nearly all of it in lumber form for other jobs and a lot of the offcuts and scrappy bits go to the lathe. I’m voting none of the above

 

[Isaac Fisher]

Also occasionally use client-supplied wood, most often for architectural turning jobs for contractors.

 

[Paul Hackworth]

Word of mouth that you’re looking for wood works great. I also check Facebook marketplace people post on there often about free wood.

Marketplace and OfferUp have provided some of the sweetest wood finds I have ever had. Here is some Maple I picked ip last weekend and a couple of vessels that were green turned. The tree selection and climate of the Seattle area are awesome for woodturning. These logs were soaking wet, but after hollowing, I was able to sand and finish them them within 48 hours. That is not always the case but the humidity/temp were just right.

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

Gabriel.....

At this point, I think you and I are the only 2 votes for the first option.

Very few appropriate local woods available to me, so I have very limited choices.

-----odie-----

We probably are! I just don't like working with green wood and besides, making boxes, which is my primary focus, does not require large pieces. Most of my wood is under $30-35 a piece.

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

Marketplace and OfferUp have provided some of the sweetest wood finds I have ever had. Here is some Maple I picked ip last weekend and a couple of vessels that were green turned. The tree selection and climate of the Seattle area are awesome for woodturning. These logs were soaking wet, but after hollowing, I was able to sand and finish them them within 48 hours. That is not always the case but the humidity/temp were just right.

Wow! Nice figure and color contrast

 

[odie]

We probably are! I just don't like working with green wood and besides, making boxes, which is my primary focus, does not require large pieces. Most of my wood is under $30-35 a piece.

I'd say better than 75% of the wood I buy is not fully seasoned. Sometimes very wet.

At this point, I've paid over $400 for a single piece of wood!

-----odie-----

 

[Neil S]

Like the majority of those that have polled I chose swap, barter or take free wood as the closest answer.

Because of where I live I have never had to purchase wood specifically for turning. Decades ago I would buy firewood and select some pieces from the wood pile for turning, but nowadays it works the other way around... I haven't bought firewood in the last thirty years and what I don't turn from the wood that I'm given becomes firewood, which is a fair bit as we run a wood heater for seven months of the year up here in the Adelaide Hills where we live.

At last count I have six chainsaws that I keep a sharp chain on ready to respond immediately to offers of freshly fallen trees. I have never had a need (or inclination) to fell a tree myself, but I'm very proficient at bucking and processing freshly felled trees ready for green turning or putting aside for firewood.

I always give a turned piece from a tree to any new donors and invariably get a call from them if there are further offerings. Over time you become a wood magnet.

My wood storage is almost always full and I've recently been working through some of it that has been there for over thirty years on a project that required some very seasoned and hard blanks. Meanwhile fresh wood is still being added that I don't expect to get back to myself, so the grandchildren or someone is going to get a good stash of pre-turned blanks for re-turning or use as firewood... :~{

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

I'd say better than 75% of the wood I buy is not fully seasoned. Sometimes very wet.

At this point, I've paid over $400 for a single piece of wood!

-----odie-----

Yikes! As long as the figure is amazing then maybe it is worth it!!

 

[Paul Hackworth]

Wow! Nice figure and color contrast

Thanks. I lucked out on this batch of wood!

 

[Byron Patterson]

I live on 20 acres with 500+ black walnut trees.

I put all the box elder in my burning pit, I will not even burn box elder in the house in the fireplace.

 

[Ric Williams]

I'm lucky enough to have 5 acres of various Michigan hardwood trees behind our house. No maple or walnut though, darn it. I've got a good stash just harvesting the downed trees. When possible, I'll trade for other interesting wood that I don't have growing here. Haven't bought any blanks in quite a while.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

My current home is in West central MN lake country about 80 miles due east of Fargo ND on 5 acres of lake shore surrounded by mostly public forest land. The most prevalent trees are red & white oak, black ash, birch, basswood, poplar and eastern white pine. The red oak I have harvested on or near my property make excellent natural edge pieces if harvested live in the dormant stage and turned thin & green. This crotch bowl is my favorite that came from a tree that was too close to my driveway, note the annual rings are so close together you would need a magnifying lens and a sharp pointer to count them.

Most of my shore line is a high bluff on the southeastern shore with ice berms that undermine the roots of the trees that grow in the berm and this is a small black ash that leafed out then died when the water was low. When I cut it down the simplest way was to drop it in the lake, cut it into 100" lengths and tow over to my dock area, where I could winch it out with my ATV.
This is a white oak burl that I bought from a local logger Note the trailer bed it is sitting on is 5 feet wide.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

On the subject of giving bowls to folks who give me wood, I keep a logbook of all my wood sources, with a section marked “owe bowls to”. I tell folks that it may be anywhere from 6-12 months before I can give them a bowl, but I will. I do that for folks who give me leads (i.e. “I saw a tree being taken down on xyz street.”) as well as the actual donors. On rare occasions when they finally get it, they act like it was owed to them, but most are tremendously appreciative. The rest of the logbook is a list of who I’ve given or sold turnings to.

 

[Michael Anderson]

I get most of my wood from trees that have been cut down and left on the side of the road. Mainly in residential areas, where it pays to be quick to beat the cleanup crews. Saddest moment was when I saw a good sized walnut tree being cut down in someone’s yard. I was leaving for work, and assumed I would be able to pick up some chunks when I got home. Well, when I returned I saw that the crew had chipped nearly the entire tree. A pile of useless walnut mulch sat in that front yard, nearly as tall as the house. Couldn’t believe it!

 

[Lewis Elliott]

Anybody near South Jersey (Moorestown, Cherry Hill, Haddonfield area) with more wet wood than they need or can use, at a reasonable price?

 

[Paul Hackworth]

My current home is in West central MN lake country about 80 miles due east of Fargo ND on 5 acres of lake shore surrounded by mostly public forest land. The most prevalent trees are red & white oak, black ash, birch, basswood, poplar and eastern white pine. The red oak I have harvested on or near my property make excellent natural edge pieces if harvested live in the dormant stage and turned thin & green. This crotch bowl is my favorite that came from a tree that was too close to my driveway, note the annual rings are so close together you would need a magnifying lens and a sharp pointer to count them.
View attachment 51556
View attachment 51557View attachment 51558 Most of my shore line is a high bluff on the southeastern shore with ice berms that undermine the roots of the trees that grow in the berm and this is a small black ash that leafed out then died when the water was low. When I cut it down the simplest way was to drop it in the lake, cut it into 100" lengths and tow over to my dock area, where I could winch it out with my ATV.
View attachment 51559 This is a white oak burl that I bought from a local logger Note the trailer bed it is sitting on is 5 feet wide.

That NE bowl is beautiful. That is an interesting story about the Black Ash in the water.

 

[Byron Patterson]

I should also say some of my wood just came from Menards (a Midwest store like Lowes/Home Depot) and was pine.

A 12" round glued boards of pine which was recently demoed at my clubs meeting for cheap material for making platters.

 

[Andrew Hale]

My wife and I are fortunate enough to live on 54 acres in Central Ohio. About 30 acres are wooded. We have substantial stands of hickory, walnut, cherry, pin oak, shingle oak, red and silver maple, sycamore along the creeks, honey locust, black locust, and a fair supply of dead stand ash and elm. The boss won’t let me touch the beech trees…..It’s like grocery shopping, only 1000% more fun.