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Online Source for Spindle Blanks

R

Rick Daigneault

Joined
Jan 9, 2023
Messages
9
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8
Location
Houston, TX
I am constantly looking for a good, well supplied supplier for spindle blanks. I am looking for 3"x3"x12" right now. Where do some of you source turning blanks?
Thanks.
 
I am too cheap to buy them. Any wood store would have 12/4 or 3 inch thick stock. If you have a bandsaw, then fairly simple to cut into lengths, and then cut to width. You may end up with some scraps. I don't know if the wood store would cut widths for you or not. Ask them.

What are you going to use blanks that size for? I know baseball bat blanks are available, but not sure where, and they are generally 3 inch diameter.

robo hippy
 
Bell Forest has most of those in stock.

3" x 3" Exotic Wood Blanks | Birdseye Maple, Curly Maple, Tiger Maple, Exotic Wood

3" x 3" Exotic Wood Blanks | Birdseye Maple, Curly Maple, Tiger Maple, Exotic Wood
www.bellforestproducts.com www.bellforestproducts.com

Here is the link to the 3x3's

Walnut, Wenge, and Rosewood in stock

Exotic Wood Zone has Ambrosia Maple

exoticwoodzone.com

Ambrosia Maple Pepper Mill Blanks 3” x 3” x 12”

Ambrosia Maple pepper mill blanks are a great addition to any kitchen. These wood blocks can be turned on a lathe to create the perfect pepper mill. Purchase your best from Exotic Wood Zone with Free Shipping.
exoticwoodzone.com exoticwoodzone.com

Both suppliers are large and offer good quality wood. I have ordered from both suppliers
 
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I got really nice material from tablelegs.com in Vermont when I made 20-some "reader rails" for the museum where I volunteer. They were great to work with and the prices were pretty reasonable, at least until we got to the shipping. We ended up driving up to get them, one of the guys there came in on a Saturday to make the transfer.
 
There's also KJP Select Hardwoods, based in Canada they do have some quite nice stuff , as I recently found. IMHO however, most of the "pre-cut" (I.E. 3" x 3" x 12/24/36") Spindle blanks (and bowl blanks) are a bit overpriced - for the same prices, I would just run by Muterspaw and order in a 10 Bd Ft lumber pack of 12/4 lumber and cut my own (Plus, if I get some in wide enough widths I can also cut some bowl blanks from it) Even if you don't have a bandsaw or table saw, if you get a good quality handsaw (or buy at an estate sale and learn to sharpen rip teeth with a bit of fleam) it is easy enough (and good exercise to boot) to cut the blanks by hand if you are only going for square-ish spindle blanks.

(Or, better yet if you can get some small logs or "FOG" wood , you can chainsaw your own blanks from that too!)
 
Brian Gustin said:
There's also KJP Select Hardwoods, based in Canada they do have some quite nice stuff , as I recently found. IMHO however, most of the "pre-cut" (I.E. 3" x 3" x 12/24/36") Spindle blanks (and bowl blanks) are a bit overpriced - for the same prices, I would just run by Muterspaw and order in a 10 Bd Ft lumber pack of 12/4 lumber and cut my own (Plus, if I get some in wide enough widths I can also cut some bowl blanks from it) Even if you don't have a bandsaw or table saw, if you get a good quality handsaw (or buy at an estate sale and learn to sharpen rip teeth with a bit of fleam) it is easy enough (and good exercise to boot) to cut the blanks by hand if you are only going for square-ish spindle blanks.

(Or, better yet if you can get some small logs or "FOG" wood , you can chainsaw your own blanks from that too!)
Click to expand...
I own a nice chain saw. It works great when I use it. I'm scared to death of it though. Chop my head open. I wear a helmet, gloves etc. Ugh. Is it hard to cut logs for turning because I can get all I want. Bowl blanks would be nice too. I have a 17" bandsaw too so I outa be using FOG wood. Thanks.
 
Brian Gustin said:
There's also KJP Select Hardwoods, based in Canada they do have some quite nice stuff , as I recently found. IMHO however, most of the "pre-cut" (I.E. 3" x 3" x 12/24/36") Spindle blanks (and bowl blanks) are a bit overpriced - for the same prices, I would just run by Muterspaw and order in a 10 Bd Ft lumber pack of 12/4 lumber and cut my own (Plus, if I get some in wide enough widths I can also cut some bowl blanks from it) Even if you don't have a bandsaw or table saw, if you get a good quality handsaw (or buy at an estate sale and learn to sharpen rip teeth with a bit of fleam) it is easy enough (and good exercise to boot) to cut the blanks by hand if you are only going for square-ish spindle blanks.

(Or, better yet if you can get some small logs or "FOG" wood , you can chainsaw your own blanks from that too!)
Click to expand...
Watch some of there woods though, the African Blackwood is really tempting with the price but the wood is terrible. Way too hard, chippy and very abrasive to the point of nicking tools. Order from Gilmer Wood and it cuts like a dream!
 
Second on Got Wood? They started small and have grown a lot, and added exotics, and now are selling stabilized stuff on ebay. They may outgrow their roots, so to speak, but they've always been good to deal with. To minimize cost, get real familiar with the exact internal size of flat rate PO boxes.
 
Gabriel Hoff said:
African Blackwood is really tempting with the price but the wood is terrible. Way too hard, chippy and very abrasive to the point of nicking tools.
Click to expand...
Umm, One would tend to think that "wood is wood" so if you're getting actual blackwood (ive never seen it or used it) , one or the other may be genuine while the other may be a "look alike" ?

I would think if you had a given wood that was "too hard", any other wood from same species would also be "too hard" - Likewise for "chippy" and "abrasive"

- Example: actual black walnut (Northeastern U.S. species) I can pretty much guarantee your tools going to dull fast, almost always going to see similar qualities to the wood no matter where you get it from..

But then I came across some "walnut" on ebay (offcuts box) that when I got it, was VERY different from walnut I am used to. Don't know if it was maybe claro walnut or some other species of walnut , but it was rather softer, it tore out easily, and just did not seem like "Real Walnut" to me - It very well could have been just some other cheaper species that happened to have similar coloring to black walnut.

In short, I wouldn't be blaming the supplier for the wood's natural tendencies - Poor kiln drying, poor grading (or non-existent grading - shipping wood with excessive defects, etc), or mis-identifying the species , sure that'd be a supplier issue, but not the tendencies of the wood itself to be splintery, abrasive or hard.. ?
 
I have turned a lot of Blackwood over the years and it definitely was not the quality I get from other suppliers. It doesn't cut smoothly and it has really swirly grain. I agree though that wood "consistency" really varies. Maybe the wood was the problem... Oh well, it's gone now:confused:
 
Perhaps a wood supplier slipped them a dark wood that was not actually Blackwood. Your description sounds like some ebony I tried years ago. Their experience with exotics is fairly recent and they may not have recognized the substitution. Gabriel--give them some feedback.
 
lots of choices posted here but this is a place a ran into by accident a couple years ago when looking for some good wood to use for teaching a clase. Green Valley Wood Products I ended up getting 16 6x6x3" Honey Locust bowl blanks for $100 shipping included. I was so happy with the quality I ordered another 16. then Covid happened and I haven't taught a class since. got lots of honey locust blanks though!
 
I third the above for Green Valley Wood Products, over the years I would send them special orders for blanks I was needing
and they would cut them when they had logs of proper size to cut the size of spindle blanks I was needing. Good Company!
 
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