Where does everyone find these nice large pieces of wood to put on your lathe? In Denver, it seems we are limited to what little woodcraft or rocklers has on hand. All of these are generally 6x6x3 or maybe if lucky
8x8x3.
I've done a few of these and now I'm ready to move on. However, short of getting a chainsaw and finding a scrape pile or visiting a neighbors yard when they are away on holiday, there is little to be had that is any good (unless you want cottonwood).
Do you find stuff on ebay? or are there suppliers that have larger than normal chunks for turning?
The only answer I have for you will still require a chainsaw. Find a local tree trimmer and have them (ASK them as they may already have other revenue producing avenues available to them) send some wood your way. You need to make it really easy for them though. They are usually really busy and mostly just have time to dump and run. IF you can get lucky, you'll find one that'll just unload a few good pieces a week. Most that I know wants to dump truck loads all at once.
You'll still need to have a saw to cut it into blanks unless you would like to get into turning large endgrain pieces.
As to nice burls and such pieces of wood ... well ... I just go out and cut those myself. Not an option for you, I guess.
Well, it helps to live in a state that has forests. The Desert, while lovely in its own way, does not quite have the proliferation of trees that make it easy to get stock for turning. I will go out in my front yard and whack a limb off a tree, if necessary, however, in the fall and such, the local tree-trimmers are so snowed under with wood that they will almost buy YOU a six pack to take it away. However, I live in East Tennessee. Ebay is a source, but, it can be pricy. Actually, to get anything sizable at all is going to cost, mainly because of shipping. I have a chunk of maple on my back porch right now, waiting to be turned. It is about 20" across and 8" thick (in a rough octagon). I suspect it weighs at least 40 lbs even after drying a while. That makes shipping a tad expensive. Maybe you could make contact with some of the other turning clubs out in the area, and see if it might be possible to work out some sort of "care" package...or a field trip... Beyond that, I would suggest that you explore the exciting world of segmented turning. That allows you to use many small pieces to create as big a blank as you want. Regards Dave Mundt
Contact arborists through the yellow pages - you'd be surprised at the wide range of trees they cut down.
The City Council should have an arborist, probably several, who look after the trees on city land. They can be very obliging and can sometimes tell you when they will be cutting down a particular specimen in your area. Mine let me know of a huge burled maple that was due to come down. HTH Graham
unless of course they already have a deal with the local woodworkers guild to give it to them... in article d1GRb.307311$X%5.108102@pd7tw2no, graham at snipped-for-privacy@shaw.ca wrote on 1/27/04 7:30 PM:
William, You're in one of the best parts of the country to find downed wood. After the thaw comes to the higher altitudes take a ride up to some of the areas above 7,500 feet and you should find a lot of fallen trees. A small rented chainsaw (or a big bowsaw) will allow you to recover all you can carry in a car in a day's time. The last time I was in the Fort Collins area, I went up Buckhorn Canyon, and there was literally tons of trees down after the winter(s).
Most of us own chainsaws and bandsaws, you'll need one of each, at the least. Arborists and county trimming crews are good sources of wood, so is th eside of the road after a snow, wind, or ice storm. If you had a chainsaw, you could drive around in your truck, you do have a truck, right, and offer to take down the limbs that look like they're about to go. You shouldn't be paying for wood in CO. Get some anchorseal or endgrain sealer (Woodcraft) and use it diligently. Also do a Google search on LDD in this NG. Get a saw you like, 'cause you're gonna need it.
I have gotten some wood from local cutters. There is a wide selection of wood growing around the denver metro area. For example, I have some chunks of hackberry waiting for spring and I've also got some russian olive and aspen.
My wife gave me a little electric chainsaw for christmas (used to cut up the hackberry into usable blocks)
However, I'll give you a for instance.
A friend in Texas has seen some of my smaller bowls and would like one out of mesquite. A family member wants one out of buckeye and another also wants a bowl from a wood not available locally in colorado.
I did give > > Where does everyone find these nice large pieces of wood to put on your
The electric chainsaw probably won't last very long, but use it while you can. Taht's a nice selection of local woods, perhaps the model to use is when someone asks for a wood you don't have, tell them to send you some and you've send it =back in a different shape. A person in Texas shouldn't have any problem coming up with mesquite. Someone in Ohio should be able to come up with Buckeye, etc. If you take requests it'll lead to people not getting what they had in mind, and a lot of cost. Something to think about.
YES, keep an eye on ebay - search for 'greenwood' 'green wood' 'turning' and a bunch of other words. Nobody seems to have standardized on what keywords to use. You will be able to find some "exotic" (not what you have in your 'backyard'.
Sending a bill won't fly unless they are contracting with you to produce a piece to spec. Don't do that, BTW, people don't know what they want and can't describe it, they also change their minds. It just isn't worth the frustration, we've had that discussion here before, I think
1/2 a year back was the most recent. OTOH, Telling them that you don't have access to that neat wood that they want it made out of, but would be happy to send one back if they send you two, should make a fast way to tell who really wants something. Tell them it HAS to be uncracked on the ends, fresh cut and sealed (tell them how). It'll give them a better appreciation of what you have to do to make the bowls. People who don't make them figure that it's asa easy as going to the store and picking one off the shelf.
yea, the sending a bill 'joke' was intended for my brother in boston who upon receiving a 7 inch bowl made from black walnut wanted to order a set of 6 more.
I've described the process needed to seal a log to people and their eyes tend to glaze over. If local I tell them they can also bag it in a plastic bag and get it to me quick. I've carried some of the sealer in the back of my truck ever since being given the russan olive.
I keep a chainsaw and some sealer on the floor of the supercab I've got. Hope springs eternal. I gave one of the girls at work a bowl and she wanted me to make 6 more for her friends for Xmas. Nope, I told her I'd make a salad set for her, for home, but I don't sell and I don't provide presents for people I don't know. Amazing what some peoples' children come up with. Dave in Fairfax
how does the russian olive turn (in your opinion)? when i saw a cross section, it looked like it had really huge rings and i thought that meant it was soft wood.
my parents have a large one in the yard that needs some "love" and i thought i might "preserve" some of it, if it turns well.
I've done a couple bowls on my crappy grizzly lathe (1/2 hp that probably is not). As a result I cant really relate how difficult it is except that I had to sharpen my chisels more often to keep a good edge. However, compared to other woods I've turned russian olive is tough.
The bowls turned out really beautyful. My first I did not make a deep enough mortis in the bottom so it popped off my chuck and went bouncing across the driveway. About the third time it cracked but not bad enough that I could not finish it. I later clamped it with some tightbond before finishing. My second I turned down to about 1/8 of an inch or less and held together better.
Russian olive needs to be turned wet. It is proned to cracking so you have to finish it quckly to avoid fractures.
If you go to the last pic at
formatting link
bowl on the far right is russian olive.one thing I learned about after doing the russian olive is roughing out a wet bowl first down to about 1 inch and then bagging it in a paper bag with the shavings to let it dry slowly. The aspen bowl in the front center and the ambrosia maple bowl behind it were done in this manner before I got wrapped up into finishing some 40 boxes for christmas. The advantage of this is the wood then drys slowly, distorts, and hopefully does not crack. Once it dries remount it and round it again and finish it. The russian olive bowl is really badly out of round because I did it in one session and then let it dry. Part of me wants to try the roughing out of the russian olive and see if it does not split while in a paper bag.
There are so many big russian olive trees out there that are be>how does the russian olive turn (in your opinion)? when i saw a cross
Russian olive helps keep the wind from drying the fields, though.
BTW, aspen is in that group of woods which are bullet-proof at drying. If you like, a cool, shaded spot will be all you need. If your spot is cool and shaded enough, like the floor of my basement, it's all you need for almost anything.
Short of steaming and forming in the microwave, which I've done with some success, you can't control what the wood's going to do, any more than you can control your spouse when she releases her stresses, though even there a sauna helps....
Russian olive is an agressive introduced species. If your trying to manage native habitat you make an effort to control and remove them. Much of the open space around Denver is managed prairie habitat. In managed habitat you try to control and remove non-native plant and animal speices.
The people that manage such land that I know are tickled at the sight of a bowl made from russian olive.
The process usually goes like this....How can such a thing that they spend so much of their time trying to get rid of be made into such an attractive object? They had no idea.? Then they tell me of the really large russian olive trees they have taken down and sent to a trash heap. Even people I work with are astounded...they see the bowl then they tell me of the huge olive tree in their yard they wish they could get rid of.
InspirePoint website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.