Florida Wood?

[NittanyLion]

Greetings,

I'm traveling to the Naples area in two weeks for vacation, then will be in Ft. Lauderdale in September and Orlando area in October, both on business. With a lot of leisure time, I plan to do what I do here......collect interesting wood to turn. Knowing nothing about the local timber, I'm interested in what kinds are interesting and what I should be looking for. Any specific citrus? I plan to talk to locals, and of course ask permission before taking anything. Can anyone give any advice or tips on "hot spots"? Anything interesting wash ashore to watch for? I appreciate any help you can give! Hope the TSA doesn't mind a bag full of wood!

 

[ken69912001]

Look for some blue mahoe.

 

[panamag8or]

Head south of Orlando a little, and there should be plenty of dead citrus wood. Other than that, not much interesting here. Find a place that sells cypress slabs for furniture, and maybe you'll find an interesting piece.

 

[OOPS]

I have seen some very interesting spalted Grapefruit before. But many fruit trees have interesting grain patterns.

 

[mredburn]

Most of Florida in the summer is hot. Naples is no different. temp forcasts are for low 90s about this time of year. Other than the beaches, They have a water park, a zoo, both of which are underwhelming. Orlando and Tampa have the big attractions. Miami has the best zoo. I havent really done the tourist stuff in years. They may have an orchastra. summer is off season down here. Gator wrestling? The wood down here is so so, slash pine, citrus trees, Malaluka (paper Tree) an invasive exotic, Australian Pine again an invasive tree. Palm trees some of which are protected. live oak and water oak, an olive tree of some sorts thats mostly an ornamental, Gumbo Limbo might have interesting wood. Cypress.

Maybe an airboat tour of the everglades or a boat tour down in Everglades City of the coastal region.

 

[Longfellow]

Dead citrus trees usually are spalted, but I think all citrus woods are beautiful. Camphor is a beautiful wood to turn, but not wild and crazy grain. Pecan wood, mostly in northern Florida is nice. I have many Florida woods listed on Ebay, if you would like to see what they look like. My username is Deltakong. Also on the Show your Pens forum here on IAP is a picture of a pen made of Grapefruit wood, Dale Parrot, made from a blank he purchased from me. All the wood I post on Ebay is salvaged wood found here in Central Florida near Disney and Orlando

 

[joeatact]

Here in lakeland Camphor is nice but I have turned some nice spalted Florida Oak.

 

[bruce119]

My favorite Florida wood is Camphor.

I see you are going near Naples (don't know about Ft. Lauderdale) So you should be close to the coast.

Mangrove...I know it is a protected speices...BUT there is a way to get it. Keep in mine you CAN NOT cut it alive or dead. You can not knock down a dead Mangrove don't even have a knife in your pocket.

What you can do is collect driftwood...here's the tip way back 20-40 years ago a LOT of tall Mangrove was cut down to open the view for development along the coast. You have to develop an eye for seeing an area. Kind of looking at the mangroves like hedge bushes if you see an area where the tree has a been cut and then sprouted. Look in the mud around around there chances are the log will be there. A big log would be about 4-6" diameter. The wood would be very dense and hard some have a nice blue color to them I think from the minerals of the water.

 

[panamag8or]

My favorite Florida wood is Camphor.

I see you are going near Naples (don't know about Ft. Lauderdale) So you should be close to the coast.

Mangrove...I know it is a protected speices...BUT there is a way to get it. Keep in mine you CAN NOT cut it alive or dead. You can not knock down a dead Mangrove don't even have a knife in your pocket.

What you can do is collect driftwood...here's the tip way back 20-40 years ago a LOT of tall Mangrove was cut down to open the view for development along the coast. You have to develop an eye for seeing an area. Kind of looking at the mangroves like hedge bushes if you see an area where the tree has a been cut and then sprouted. Look in the mud around around there chances are the log will be there. A big log would be about 4-6" diameter. The wood would be very dense and hard some have a nice blue color to them I think from the minerals of the water.

Mangrove makes a nice pen. Do a google image search for mangrove pen, and you'll see a few.

 

[txpaulie]

Rob and Zoe have bunches of nice wood sitting around...

http://funktionhouse.com/

You're welcome!:wink:

p

 

[Ed McDonnell]

In Southeast Florida the list of desirable woods is extensive..mahoganies, rosewoods, norfolk island pine, albizia, acacias, poinciana, sea grape, olive, buttonwood, crabwood, orchid, jacaranda, avocado, mango, citrus, sapote, bottle brush, brazillian beautyleaf, wild tamarind... dozens more.

The probability of you finding really great wood on the side of the road in Southeast Florida, just waiting for you to pick it up, is about zero. There are no "forests" where you can wander and cut your own. The wood is all urban salvage and most turners develop relationships with arborists to insure a supply of local wood.

There are plenty of people / places that will sell you Florida wood. You don't have to visit Florida for that.

I think your best bet is to check the AAW website for local turning clubs where you will be visiting. They will be the best source for local woods. How helpful they will be will depend on you. Really nice visiting turners who take an interest in the local turning community and offer to trade their local wood can score some amazing specimens of local Florida wood. Entitled, demanding yankees who act like they are doing us a favor by taking our wood tend not to do so well.

Ed

P.S. Skip the gumbo limbo and australian pine. Many of the beautiful South Florida hardwoods (e.g. mango, albizia, silky oak) can create respiratory / skin problems for some people. Pen blanks are probably not much of a worry. Logs with any sap remaining will be a much dicier prospect.

 

[healeydays]

Rob and Zoe have bunches of nice wood sitting around...

FUNKTIONHOUSE // Urban Lumber & Furnishings // Live Edge, Slab, Decor |

You're welcome!:wink:

p

I would 2nd Rob & Zoe's place. They are Urban Lumber and specialize in all type of local and exotic woods. The nice thing about their business is folks in Florida use to import all type of trees for their urban homes, and when they get too large or die, Rob comes and recycles them, so you will find unusuals that you won't find in most other places. They are up in St Pete and I'm not sure you were going up that way, but worth the trip...

Mike B

 

[bruce119]

Just for some reference here are a few photos of Black Mangrove.

Remember Mangrove is highly protected so if you collect watch where you go. I stay clear of parks and privet propriety that doesn't leave much but there's still land out there. Look for condos along the shore line in Mangrove country which is any salt marsh.

What you would be doing is collecting driftwood perfectly legal...You don't know what species it is.

Enjoy our nice HOT HOT weather down here in sunny Florida.

Black Mangrove

 

[orlandopens]

As long as you are going to be in Orlando I would visit Amazon Exotic Woods, 328 Commercial St. in Casselberry. (407) 339-9590. Owner is a turner and sells a great selection of blanks along with a variety of exotic woods. Very knowlegable guy. My favorite is the "scrap box" where you can buy really interesting cutoffs for a couple of bucks if you hit it at the right time.

 

[triw51]

When I visited my daughter last year (she is in Jacksonville) My granddaughter and I went beach combing and found some wood that had washed up on the shore. One piece looked like an arm of a deck chair from the Titantic (IF you can't prove it didn't then we believe it did) LOL Anyway have fun and do go beach combing and use the shells to make a beatiful blank

 

[cnirenberg]

You may want to take drive to Alva Hardwoods on SR 80. They have some beautiful wood from everywhere not just local, Here is the contact info:
Owner Merrill Morrison
with
John and Vicki Manser.
7307 State Road 80 West
Labelle Florida 33935
Hours: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Tuesday thru Friday
9 a.m. - 12 noon Saturdays
(239) 728-2484

Merrill may know of some local wood sources. Just give him a call.

 

[log2lumber]

you should read the rules about transporting local wood out of Florida. There is a thread on the AAW website for the symposium this year.

 

[NittanyLion]

Wow! Awesome information and a lot of help. I've been to Florida a dozen times in the past 3 years, so I feel I already have a head start. This is my first however as a new pen turner....so I've never thought about collecting wood while there. I'll use all of this information.....and it gave me a great idea to pack up some local burl to take with me and find some local turners to trade with. Thanks to all of you....really a bunch of special people here!

 

[bruce119]

Here's another easy to get Florida sorta wood.

Palm fronds that is the stem of Palm leaf. Find an old wild Palmetto Palm there everywhere here. Look around the ground there should be a ton of the dryed up "stems" from the fronds. The steam is just thick enough to get a blank out of. The wood has a light color turns very well looks good when finished. Not much more Florida then that.

The Florida state tree is the Cabbage Palm.

These sketch pencils where made from Palm Fronds.


.

 

[panamag8or]

Here's another easy to get Florida sorta wood.

Palm fronds that is the stem of Palm leaf. Find an old wild Palmetto Palm there everywhere here. Look around the ground there should be a ton of the dryed up "stems" from the fronds. The steam is just thick enough to get a blank out of. The wood has a light color turns very well looks good when finished. Not much more Florida then that.

The Florida state tree is the Cabbage Palm.

These sketch pencils where made from Palm Fronds.
View attachment 95890

.

I always thought those would be too fibrous, and I'd have to stabilize them. Now, I need to go find some and see.

 

[Tom T]

Wow so many pen turners in Florida I had no idea.
Thanks for the list of wood from me also and I live here.