Another trip to West Penn Hardwoods

[sorcerertd]

Technically, I was visiting a friend, but how could I just drive by without stopping? I got out of there under $100, so that's quite a victory. Granted, I only had an hour to roam the warehouse before they closed. I scored some pretty nice stuff, but that Arg. Lignum Vitae "pen blank"... wow, that's a loooong blank. It was actually listed as a 3/4 x 36" pen blank on the receipt.

You can never go wrong with Olive and these blanks are exceptional. I always pick out a couple "ugly duckling" blanks and this time they were Padauk. Hopefully some interesting patterns will show up in those. One of the Chechen pieces has some wormholes and spalting, too. The Tamboti smells absolutely amazing, but I'm glad I researched it before doing anything with it. The dust can be extreeeemely nasty!

 

[Jmaxcy]

I'm going to be in that area next week, planning on stopping by, very excited!

 

[sorcerertd]

I'm going to be in that area next week, planning on stopping by, very excited!

I'm not kidding when I say this. Give yourself at least a couple of hours the first visit. You could get through there faster, but I'm betting you'll want to look at everything. They have a ton (well, probably even more) of burl caps and slabs, too. Man, if I ever get into casting...

 

[mark james]

Nice stash! It's hard to pass up seeing blanks in person. So often things look great online, but...not so much in person. But to be able to pick what you want in person... that's magic!

 

[MPVic]

Technically, I was visiting a friend, but how could I just drive by without stopping? I got out of there under $100, so that's quite a victory. Granted, I only had an hour to roam the warehouse before they closed. I scored some pretty nice stuff, but that Arg. Lignum Vitae "pen blank"... wow, that's a loooong blank. It was actually listed as a 3/4 x 36" pen blank on the receipt.

You can never go wrong with Olive and these blanks are exceptional. I always pick out a couple "ugly duckling" blanks and this time they were Padauk. Hopefully some interesting patterns will show up in those. One of the Chechen pieces has some wormholes and spalting, too. The Tamboti smells absolutely amazing, but I'm glad I researched it before doing anything with it. The dust can be extreeeemely nasty!

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Wow!! That should keep you off the streets for awhile!!!!!

 

[Jmaxcy]

I'm not kidding when I say this. Give yourself at least a couple of hours the first visit. You could get through there faster, but I'm betting you'll want to look at everything. They have a ton (well, probably even more) of burl caps and slabs, too. Man, if I ever get into casting...

I will make sure to give myself a ton of time. Do they have a lot of already cut blanks? Or is more boards / slabs? I have a table saw so I can cut them down but like getting a variety of woods when possible

 

[sorcerertd]

Wow!! That should keep you off the streets for awhile!!!!!

Between this and the couple hundred I dropped on burls and hybrids a month or two ago... It will not only keep me off the streets, but probably keep me from doing other things I really should be doing, too.

 

[sorcerertd]

Do they have a lot of already cut blanks? Or is more boards / slabs?

The red is their turning stock, though they do have some flat boards in that section, such as 3/4 x 3 x 24, that can easily be cut into blanks. The green is dimensional board stock and live edge slabs. The place is huge, as you can see by the tiny cars in the lot. I've never made it all the way to the back. Check for boxes of random cutoffs, too.