Buying an Exotic Wood Store

You are getting a lot of good feedback over on the woodworking rec.

I only know of a few turners that actually buy wood. Some small amounts of exotics are usually a purchase for certain special projects, but the type/style and wood choice of turning is almost always directly related to what is available.

I have bought large amount of pieces of curly maple, parrotwood, wenge, bloodwood etc., from a guy that marked it all 50% off.... he was going broke.

The president of our local woodturning club is an importer of woods from South America. He sells 99.9 percent of his stock to custom furniture makers. He sells little or nothing to our club, even though he has made it available at reasonable prices.

Read through this group; many of the "gloats" or excited posts are when a neighbor's tree falls down, the utility company is running their line clearing trucks, or something is discovered when following the sounds of a chain saw. If most turners are like the ones in my local group, half the fun is the idea that you "discover" a piece of highly figured or colored wood in the firewood or on the side of the road. That, BTW, would include me also.

Big pieces cost too much to ship; small pieces may not be worth purchasing to some because of the size of the projects that many want to turn. If you want to see your competition, a mail order only supplier that has an EBAY store that has great reviews is "canebranch". BUT, all his stuff is for turners, and it is all local woods available to him, sized on a bandsaw and sealed.

Good luck.

Robert

Where do I get my wood ???

Have a look

Never Enough M> I'm considering buying an exotic wood store. He caters to furniture

One question which comes to mind -- what do you know about exotic wood?

Bill

snipped-for-privacy@rogers.com wrote:

Only the little bit I've learned as a woodworked for the past 5 or 6 years. I've used some cocobolo, some bloodwood, zebrawood, and lyptus.

I've also used some domestic woods: hard maple, black walnut, oak.

Of course I've read Hoadly's book and have a few books on identification of woods. But, I'll confess, unless it's obvious, I couln't identify many pieces of wood. I could probaly identify easy ones like purpleheart, walnut, curly maple, zebra wood, etc.

I also know many woods have dangerous dust. I'd have to consult a book on various things.

I am not an expert by any means. However, I can prove the minimax theorem so I have a brain. Learning woods can't take too long -- a matter of months, surely.

Cheers -- not trying to sound sarcastic - I appreciate your response.

Bill Rubenste> One question which comes to mind -- what do you know about exotic wood? > > Bill

Yes, indeed. Looks like this group is just as good in that way.

Answering you question as it is stated: I buy most of mine at a local Exotic Lumber store. But I don't buy much wood that way, mainly pen blanks. Most of the wood I turn, as most turners that I know use "Road Kill" - as others have said/ We keep an eye out for fallen trees after storms and have a network to alert each other when we know of a tree that is coming down. One club I belong to actually has a good relationship with the city, we have first dibs on trees that the city needs to take down - most of them have some historic significance. We do return a piece or two to the city and the mayor.

There are guys selling blanks on ebay. Track their auctions and see how they do it and how much money they are making. I know there are a lot of pen blanks sold at the local Woodcraft.

cm

Cook Woods is here in Klamath Falls, OR and he has developed a good business in exotic wood. Sells most of it through the Internet and e-bay. I think over the years he has developed a solid return customer base. I'm sure his base is flat wood but he says he ships a lot of turning wood mostly in blocks under 8".

I think he pretty much buys logs and mills them himself so he really knows his stuff. And while I don't know him personally I know he works very hard at the business!

Earl

He also has a semi and goes to wood-working shows. I know this as I have bought wood from him there

I used to manage the Paxton's Woodcrafters store in Kansas City, Mo. I can tell you from personal experience that turners are tighter than two coats of paint. Since I am a turner myself, I tried to carry a fairly good selection of exotics and turning stock. I managed that store for

Alex