Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Sources for bowl blanks
Alan Tolchinsky
>Due to a back problem I've given up trying to harvest my own bowl blanks. Man, that's heavy work but I loved it almost as much as turning. There's something about using a chainsaw. Tim Allen wannabe I guess. :) Oh, I can still do it but I'd be nuts to keep pushing it.
Could anybody recommend a good source for bowlblanks. I've heard mentioned here Ebay but I don't know which sellers are good. Any other ideas much appreciated. Alan in Md.
Re: Sources for bowl blanks
Steve Antonucci
>Depending upon what your threshold for $$$ is, I only buy stuff on eBay that I can't get locally. Wood is heavy and relatively expensive to ship, so I only buy "exotics" from the West Coast.
Two eBayer's that I highly recommend in the wood department at Rocky Bemis (rockb) and Barbara Johnson (blackoakind). Rokcy gets his hands on a lot of redwood burl and manzanita burl, and Barbara sells Madrone. Both are absolutely safe to buy from, and a pleasure to do business with...
and the disclaimer: I'm not affiliated...
S
Re: Sources for bowl blanks *LINK*
Wally Dickerman at Green Valley, Az.
>Alan, I've been buying From Gilmer Wood Co in Portland, Or. for many years. He imports wood, lots of it, from all over the world. Also a good place to buy big leaf maple and myrtlewood.
Local turning clubs
John Trant (aka Boxes-n-Bowls)
>On eBay, I like burl.quilt for figured big leaf maple but he sells other NW woods if you are interested. Have him accumulate a lot of your winning auctions so that he can ship it all at once via "hundred weight". It is much cheaper that way.
At our wood turning meetings (Capital Area Woodturners), we usually have wood available in our silent auctions. Also, I will occasionally bring a truck load of local wood for sale (waxed and cut into blanks) for about a $1 per inch of diameter. Nothing spectacular but very plentiful (ash, poplar, walnut, cherry, maple, maple, and more maple). Proceeds help pay for chainsaw maintenance and Anchorseal.
Most of us have too much wood and are not particularly possessive (unless the logs are highly figured or beautifully spalted). I give away or trash (split because I let it sit too long) more than I turn.
John
Re: Sources for bowl blanks
Glenn Hodges
>Our club, North Florida Woodturners, has free wood at almost every meeting. We even gave some camphor to a guy that drove down from Atlanta to pick it up. If you are not a member of a club this might be a good place to get turning blanks.
Nashville, Georgia
Re: Sources for bowl blanks
Mike Rubes
>Hi Alan,
I've bought quite a few blanks from my local Woodcraft. I find their stuff to be of good quality and reasonable prices. There are lots of places on the web to get them as well. Just search google (www.google.com) for turning blanks or wooden bowl blanks and you will get lots of hits.
I've not tried the ebay thing for wood, but I know that others have with success.
Also, I'll second Wally's suggestion for Gilmer Hardwoods in Portland. They have a great selection of some really exotic stuff. They are primarily a web/mail order kind of place, but if you are in Portland you can stop by their shop and poke around until your heart's content. I did that last summer while in Portland on vacation and was amazed at the huge supply of really beautiful woods there.
I've only been turning for about 2 years and don't have a chainsaw myself, and while it is a little limiting, you can still get some great wood.
Good luck,
Mike
Re: Sources for bowl blanks
jim reasoner
>I just ordered some bowl blanks from Dan Bailey. His site is http://www.roughoutbowls.com. His bowl blanks are rough cut then kiln dried. He has a good selection, his prices are reasonable, he ships almost immediately, the shipping is very minimal and he is a swell guy to deal with. I got two box elders, one maple, one locust and and elm and was very satisfied. He also has a variety of sizes.
Now Alan...
Mike Schwing from Maryland
>With a guy like me in the vicinity there is NO need for you to wonder where your blanks will come from. I've got over 100 blanks waxed on shelves, some of which I've promised to folks here, but just this past weekend I harvested over 1000 pounds of tulip poplar, and have 500 pounds of white ash waiting, plus another trip or two to Gettysburg for apple when the weather breaks. I also have an ENTIRE silver maple at nearly 40" wide all for me. Its in a bad spot on a hill so I'm going to pay to have it moved/bucked safely but its all ours after that. Soon as spring gets here. Of course, thats also when I have to build that new fence out back...
Email me and we'll figure out how to meet up. I'd be happy to supply you with blanks.
Re: Now Alan...
Alan Tolchinsky
>Thanks Mike, you da Man. I'll email you. Alan
See, I told you!
John Trant (aka Boxes-n-Bowls)
>
Thanks all for your great help!
Alan Tolchinsky
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