Where do you get your pen turning wood?

[whatwoodido]

I know this question is a real problem[}] as we all use multiple sources. Select the source for the largest number of blanks, then follow up with a post identifying other sources.

 

[Fred in NC]

My first and major source is scraps. I have lots of maple, cherry, walnut, oak, purpleheart, and a little bit of others. These scraps come mostly from cabinet shops.

Most of my other blanks have been purchased from internet vendors.

 

[tipusnr]

Just started harvesting my own but so may get a good quantity down the road as I learn more. Also have done quite well on e-bay as well as buying grab bag pen blanks or other exotic cutoffs when they are on sale. Still the majority has come through friends, acquantances, and dumb luck.

(P.S. It's amazing how many pen blanks I cut from bowl blanks given to me to encourage me to turn bowls which I have no interest in doing at this time!)

 

[whatwoodido]

Bill-
You can just send the bowl blanks to me and I can send you other scraps.

Drew

 

[Scott]

I get wood everywhere I can! But I will admit that if I COULD only get my wood from one place, I hope that place WOULD be from Bill Baumbeck at Arizona Silhouette.

Scott.

 

[darbytee]

I'm like Scott, I get it anywhere I can. I am fortunate enough to have one good local vendor in Raleigh who gets good stuff at reasonable prices. I've also never been disappointed buying wood from Bill at AS or Ryan at Woodturningz.

 

[Bev Polmanteer]

I've had good luck on Ebay with one exception (got bit for $25 order once) but lately I have been getting all mine from trades and from a friend that turns large bowls that gives me his cut-offs. These are mostly local woods, like eucalyptus, salt cedar, red cedar and a little bit of ironwood.

 

[Daniel]

I collest alot of my wood. My really good stuff came from the suppliers we all know and love from this and other groups.

 

[samm47]

I have done a little ebay plus I harvest my own from my area, but I guess my greatest was trading with a lot of you wonderful members of this forum. I want to thank you all. I just got a box elder tree and a walnut tree, good wood on them when they are dry.

 

[DCBluesman]

I've made a few very good trades...SAMM47, Old Griz, Doghouse and Serge out in Oz. Bill B and POC have always done me right. David Borek's stuff always knocks me out. I also have bought a few stray boards here and there and cut em up. But no chain saw for me...not nearly enough room. [8D]

 

[jrc]

I get a good part of my wood from local sawyers with portable mills. A year ago a friend milled a soft curly log and I got enought for a few years. This morning I went down to a local mill and got enought beautiful hard curly maple to make 300 or 400 pens. It was wood that was not worth selling for lumber. I'll give him 3 or 4 pens for it. Mills always have wood like that, you just have to butter them up with a few pens to get them started. I'm going to a cabinet shop tomorrow to see what they have in there scrap box. I always get some of my best wood there.

 

[its_virgil]

My favorite place to purchase has to be Bill B. at http://ww.arizonasilhouette.com but I also trade with local turners, yahoo penturners members and .org members. I know a couple of cabinet makers who save drops for me that are of particular interest( i.e. any thing except popular or redoak. mostly maple, walnut, cherry and recently some nice mahagony, bloodwood and hickery) I salvage wood from any source available. Mesquite is very prolific here and I get all I want. I have salvaged some nice maple (birdseye and fiddleback) from the gym floor at the school where I teach. An osage orange tree was cut down and headed to the dump and I obtained6 10" logs about 4 feet long. Just keep your eyes open. Wood is everywhere!
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[Chips n dust]

In the past I have gotten my exotics from places like WC but going to try some of the sources mentioned on this site, but after Hurricane Ivan, I have an abundance of white oak, red oak, magnolia, chinaberry and several types of maple. Chainsaw required.
Trevor


A day without sawdust is like a day without sunshine.

 

[Gregory Huey]

I buy most of mine as boards from Wood Craft and then cut my own blanks. I am getting ready to give BB my next order.

 

[wayneis]

I turn almost exclusivly exotics and Acrylics so I go to several places. I take turns between Johnsons workbench (local wood supplier), BB, David Borek, Gilmer, CSUSA and Que Components. For my Acrylics I go to CSUSA, Berea, Hut and Martin. I'll also pick up a few blanks here and there if I see something that really strikes my fancy like osage orange and super duper curly maple from Rich. Any time I need Cocobolo I only go to one person period, Bill Jacobs from Idaho because he has the best that I've ever seen. I shop for wood all the time, I'm always on the look out for anything rare, different and exotic. I guess that you could say that I'm adicted to fancy woods but I don't smoke or drink so this is my biggest vice.

Wayne

 

[jwoodwright]

Not many choices locally. Birch is about the best. So Mail Order and Some Club Buying.[]

 

[dougle40]

My choise would have to be twofold - Woodworking shows and Mail order . But I think that I pick up more at shows because I tend to pick up as much as I can while I'm there even if I don't have an imediate use for it.

 

[RockyHa]

I haven't turned anything yet as I only have a lathe, but I have been collecting wood. I have picked some good looking yellow birch, apple and beech out of the wood shed that looks interesting. I have also traded some firewood for interesting scraps from a local cabinet maker. He usually burns his scraps, so I'm trading for his interesting scraps. Mostly curly maple, birdseye birch, and cherry (all harvisted locally). I will be saving most of the cherry untill I have some experiance. I also have scrounged some 100+ year old mahogany (from the stage) and birdseye birch (from the basketball court) of the old highschool I went to that was recently demollished.
Rocky

 

[goldentouch]

I have a small mill and take my scraps and turn them into blanks. I also buy my exotics as boards at Woods of the World. Buying it by the board foot and being able to sort through it before hand gives a lot of options. They also carry 100's of different woods. But still some are way out of my league still. I have also bought some from Daniel just because I didn't have that type and wanted to look and play with it before I bought a large board. I did place one order on ebay but wasn't too inpressed with it. Too high and not that good a quality. I had better laying in my scrap pile.

 

[Woodbutcher68]

I chose other since I get it from many different sources. I've gotten wood from every place in the poll!

 

[wpenm]

I get alot of my exotic boards from a couple local places. Turn About Wood and Paxtons. I get it in boards and cut my own blanks. I have won a few auctions on e-bay. Also a few cabinet and counter top companies.