Excellent question Ken. I suspect that that is because many (e.g -
Wood128) sold by exotics, and occasionally directly on IAP, are one-offs. We don't typically make 20-40-100+ segmented blanks of the same design, so if one is turned, there may not typically be another to match it.
There are probably other reasons. I have seen a few vender photos, and typically they are still prey to "user errors" like not centering the ends, and using a kit with a natural taper between bushings that will also leave a taper in the design. Folks would get REAL TESTY if their turned blank is of less quality than a picture. Is this fair, no, but it is reality.
These are some blanks constructed by Wood128 that I tinkered with just to show some of the needed modifications I thought logical and attractive. Similar blanks are available. Can others take similar blanks and do this - of course. But I would say a bit of experience with segmenting would be helpful.
As a further example, the kit "Blingless Roman Harvest" ava at times from Timberbits is a very advanced kit. They actually say that if you need instructions (which they do not provide), then you should not try the kit! Thus, they have few sales and the kit has gone in and out of availability for several years. The difficulty is too high for the vast majority. The same with adapting one-off segmented blanks at times.
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