[OP]
Contributor
While assembling the tools and equipment necessary to get started turning I thought the easiest item to find would be wood. Apparently I was wrong. As someone with the Arizona Woodturners Association stated, being in the desert provides challenges for wood turners seeking wood. Am I limited to buying supplies online and if so, what would be a good source?
Moderator
That's a hard one, especially from the perspective those of us who live parts of the country where hardwood is abundant. There is so much wood available here much of it goes to waste. I have a huge stockpile of local woods and they were all free for the taking. Just last week a gentleman brought me some holly logs and I spent about 5 hours cutting up maybe 10% of a truck load of sugar maple.Originally Posted by Steve Mathews
Many people who live where hardwood wood grows on trees turn the wood while green, making mostly bowls. I prefer to turn dry wood and I do a lot of spindle turning. While I harvest much of the wood I use I can't get in a hurry. I cut up logs into turning squares and let the air dry for years. Much of the Dogwood I'm turning now has been drying for over 10 years.
I don't know what most turners in your area do, but some ideas:
- Turn segmented pieces and glued up blocks. Kiln-dried boards of a variety of species are often available at local wood dealers. Many people cut up these boards into small segments, glue them together, and turn some amazing pieces. This is best accomplished with a table saw. The first bowl I ever turned was made from pieces of an oak board glued together.
- You can turn wood sold for building materials. I recently turned a 26" long thin spindle from a piece of a 3/4" pine board from Home Depot.
- Buy on-line as you mentioned. I sometimes buy exotics that way, woods from South America, Africa, Europe, etc. I bought slabs of northern basswood, some 4" thick, that was shipped UPS from Wisconsin. The shipping wasn't as much as I thought it would be.
- Take a road trip. A friend from your neck of the country visited here once and when she left her station wagon was nearly dragging, loaded down with slabs of walnut, cherry etc. (I have a sawmill behind my barn.)
- Make a deal or trade what you can get (do you have mesquite?) with someone with lots of wood. The USPS flat rate box is a favorite way to move wood around, either one big chunk or a number of turning squares. I've traded boxes like this with people from all over, Texas, Alaska, etc.
One thing I also suggest to people - turn small. There are a lot of reasons to turn small things but with limited wood resources it makes even more sense to turn small. For example, I have a block of Bloodwood about 8x10x4": I could make one bowl or 20-50 small things.
JKJ
Member
What kinds of projects do you want to start with? If I'm under the correct impression, you're just starting out, right? You can practice beads and coves on spindle stock made from construction scraps cut to 2x2's (hopefully, you have a table saw? band saw can be used, just more tedious). There's a video somewhere on practicing bowl technique using 2x6's -- I'll find it and post the link. IMHO, at the beginning, turning takes just a lot of practice, practice, practice, hopefully with help from someone with experience.
Outside of the desert, urban wood (trees cut down or fallen) is a great source of "free" wood (labor doesn't count) If you get to the point you want practice wood for bowl technique, I might be able to send you a flat-rate box of maple or alder -- I'm fairly floating in the stuff right now. I take PayPal for shipping.
This wouldn't be fancy stuff to make bowls for sale, just semi-green wood, but fun to turn!
Last edited by Jamie Straw; 06-23-2016 at 12:09 AM.
Member
John's advice about glue-ups is a good one. When I first started, I was messing around with whatever I could find. Glue-ups let me work with what I already had on hand. I would take any thickness boards, plane them, glue them together with the grain running in the same direction, and then bandsaw the edges to something that looked vaguely circular. For me, that meant cedar and maple most of the time.
Most of the wood I turn now has been given to me by one person or another, but I do live in tree country.
[OP]
Contributor
My impression when posting the question was that I would be turning some of the projects on my to do list right away. But you're right, as a beginner I need to get some practice and if construction scraps and pieces of wood glued together will suffice that's what I'll do. We do have plenty of mesquite around here along with pinion pine. I'll look into those sources, some of which I have on my property. Another resource we have locally is turquoise. I would really like to fuse that into some turned pieces.
Member
HI Steve-
You might consider starting with some pen turning. You'll learn many basic skills without a large expenditure this way. You can probably find some cut offs at a local cabinet shop in their burn box, and while you're there, see if they have some scraps of Corian or other similar countertop. You can order an inexpensive box of blanks from Woodcraft. I've repurposed old cutting boards and wood tools as well. Sometimes cast aside furniture can also yield good pieces. Happy turning!
Member
Pine is great for learning if it's dry. If it's green, well, you still learn a lot, but you end up really really sticky.
Contributor
Suggest you contact a local arborist. Here are 7 listed for your area. http://www.yellowpages.com/kingman-az/arborists
I get free wood of all types this way. Mesquite is very good for turning.
Member
Steve: Dwights suggestion is a very good one. I get some of my wood for turning from arborists in the Phoenix area. There are a bunch of good sources online as well if you are looking for exotic or different woods. Send me a PM and I can give you some links.
I may not have it all together, but together we have it all.
Contributor
You've got a lot of good advice. After a storm, I'd check with your local arborists or drive through developed areas like resorts, hotels and/or golf courses.
Last December I was in Palm Desert at a Marriott (on a golf course) when they had a storm. I suspect that the climate in Kingman and Palm Desert are roughly the same, although Palm Desert is more heavily landscaped. It tipped over a nice Jacaranda tree outside of our unit. I was there telling the tree guys the size logs I wanted. I tipped them $10 for 10 pieces and both parties were happy. My wife wasn't so happy when we drove home with ten nice sized rounds.
BTW, sometimes pallets are made of hardwoods. A friend of mine made a nice compound bow out of pallet hardwoods. But you have to deal with nails and debris. But you can get some nice 2x4 material for glue ups. Just avoid the ones that are stained by chemicals.
Member
For just starting out, I suggest just using some 2x6 construction (non-treated) lumber to learn the basics of bowl turning. I try to find rafter tail drops when they are framing and get a lot of clean blanks for free. Buying a 8' board is pretty cheap compared to regular turning squares. You can learn a lot about grain pattern and also how sharp your tool is and get practice sharpening. After that, do look at different woods from yards from tree trimmers.
Moderator
Even before bowl turning, you can learn tool control by using the same lumber for spindle turning - rip it into squares. When I teach beginners we start with the skew and pine from the lumber yard and/or cedar from the sawmill. Planing, roughing, beads and coves, beads and coves.
JKJ
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