Wood....

[Heather Deans]

Ok All- So- I'm hooked on the whole turning thing, but I'm frustrated by wood. When I was first introduced to turning, I asked someone where to get good wood, and was told "anything free!"--- which is a great answer, but I'm frustrated by the results.... I have several pieces that have been scavenged from different places, but most of them have air dried in the woods somewhere, and have cracks I don't find until I start turning them. I can't afford to buy wood all the time.... where do you get yours? I suspect it isn't hard to find green wood, but if you want dry wood, where do you go? Any woods that are better to collect (less likely to have cracks inside) than others? Any suggestions? Thanks!
Heather

[Quinn McCarthy]

Heather

I have a friend who is a firewood dealer/ logger. He keeps me in mind when he gets some good looking wood in. I also hit up logging site where there is hardwood slash around. Some people dig up an arborist who is taking down urban trees. Most of my wood just stay outside in a pile sheltered with good ventilation. I have brought a few pieces inside so that I have a supply of wood handy in the shop in the winter. The last thing I want to do when it is -40 is to go out and cut up some wood for turning. Below -20 you really notice it on the chain saw. The wood I keep indoors in the winter I seal the ends with hot paraphyn or watered down titebond wood glue.

Being from MO you should be able to find yourself a source of wood.

I hope that helps you out.

Quinn

[Reed Gray]

Finding green wood is one thing, finding dry wood is another. Arborists, construction sites, excavators, city dumps, firewood cutters, and just plain driving around are all sources for green wood. Put out the word, and you will eventually have more than you know what to do with. You will have to have and know how to operate a chainsaw. My motto:"have chainsaw and handtruck, will trade" gets me a lot of wood. For turning green wood, you have 2 choices, turn to final thickness (1/4 to 1/2 inch) let them dry and warp, then sand and finish, or turn and leave thick (10% so a 10 inch wide bowl should be left 1 inch thick), seal and dry slowly for a couple of months, then return it and you will have a round bowl. Either way works.

For finding dry wood, you have to get lucky. A lot of people will squirrel away wood for years, and finally get rid of it at very low cost, or after they die, it goes to auction/estate sales. Quality can vary greatly from firewood to treasure for life. Again, that is luck. Other than that, you have to go to the store. Some times if you find a place that gets pallets from foreign countries, you can find some nice wood. Most of our local ones will be second grade reject wood.

robo hippy

[Dan Oliphant]

Heather,
Let me try to answer your question from my perspective, here in the high desert of Southern CA. wood will dry much too fast if allowed to air dry without sealing the ends and quite frankly an inch or two down the sides. With that said, I prefer green wood that is rough cut into smaller pieces, sized for what I will use them for such as hollow forms or bowls. These rough cuts can then be sealed for future use, bagged for future use, or rough turned, then bagged to allow slow drying for furture turning. Talk with a turning club if you're not already involved with one, and see what methods work well in the area you live.

[Rich Souchek]

Heather,
Your id says you are in Columbia, Mo., right in the middle of great wood.
One really has to train themselves to find the wood that is all over.
My mother and sister live in Columbia, and early last fall my wife "allowed" me to pick up and broing back one piece of wood from the recycle center at the old rock quarry on the SE side of town. Found one piece of something, looked promising, and could get the trunk closed just barely.
Turned out it was box-elder maple with beautiful red streaks and curl thru the piece, which was big enough to get 5 - 16" platters out of. Just pure luck, but also because I keep looking and trying.
Try the recycle place for lawn and tree cuttings. Firewood dealers have stock which can be used for spindle turning as is and is slightlly dry. The firewood dealers get their wood ususally in large pieces, which they have to split. So, if you want bowls, buy the larger piece before they split it.
Our phone and electrical service companies are always trimming the trees on the side of the roads to prevent trouble in bad weather. Our trimmers leave the cuttings on the ground for a short time, till their pick-up truck gets it. I get a lot of ash with wild grain that way down here, but you could get all sorts of hardwood.
If you keep an eye on the woodworking forums, you will find several hardwood dealers around your area. This takes looking in the truning sections, the flatwork sections, the for sale areas, google searches, and reading a lot.
I also get a lot of trees from land development projects. Someone has to go in the land parcels and clear the site prior to any work. Everywhere I drive, I'm on the lookout for free wood, downed trees or big limbs, development or land clearing, easment clearing, and tree trimming in general. That doesn't even include asking the tree service companies.
Hope this gets you started. If you don't have one, you will probably need a small chainsaw. I use a Craftsman electric one for inside the shop to trim up bowl blanks, knock corners off stuff, etc.
Rich S.

[David Wilhelm]

I hate to buy wood and never do except for the exotic stuff that you can't find around here. I'm in NC and have plenty of trees. Know plenty of people who like nice things and I can get just about what ever i need. I dont know how or where you store your wood or what steps you take. I also don't know your climate. Like someone else said may be good to find some local turners and find out what they do. To me green wood is fresh cut but i've learnd that green doesnt' mean the same to everyone so i try not to assume what people mean by green any more. I very seldom turn fresh cut sap dripping green wood. most of the wood i turn comes right out of the woods off of dead trees or either out of and rack in my barn that has been sawn and dipped in wax or had the ends painted. Both these will have more moisture now thatn they will 6 months from now after they have been in the house. So there is a chance that they may crack or split. I use soap to soak my bowls in before i finish turning them and so far i'm well pleased with the results. I'm soaking a wild cherry chunk right now. Ron Kent came up with this for turning green norfolk pine and it works wonders. I talked with him about using it for Spaulted woods and he'd never tried it so i've been working with maple for two years. If you dont have drying space give it a try. let me know how it works. Also try cabinet shops they have scrap boxes and you can score huge figured pieces from time to time.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Heather - lots of good advice for locations to find green wood. You didn't mention what it is that you are turning... but for me - easiest place to find dry wood is at the local home supply store. Up here it is called Menards - most other places have a Lowes or Home Depot - anyway, each of these places have a lumber section and in that area they have a cut-off bin. You can find all sorts of dry wood that for whatever reason was cut off and cast aside and usually everything is dirt cheap compared to the stock prices.

Lots of luck - looking forward to seeing what you turn out of the dry wood!

[Jim Becker]

Get friendly with local tree companies...and be sure to provide some finished pieces in return. It will often generate a lot of wood, too! And of varied species.

[Steve Mawson]

All good information especially the tree trimmers. I know there are a lot of saw mills in Missouri because I used to live on the East side of the state in Troy. There are several places on the internet to look up saw mills. Some of the mills have kiln driers so you can find dry lumber at those places. Those places have cut offs that for whatever reason did not go through the saw. Some are knots and wierd pieces that could work great for turning. If you ever get over around St. Joe a mill called Simpsons has a ton of all kinds of midwest species.


Let us know how the search goes.

[Curt Fuller]

I'm not sure how common this is but in our town we have a green waste disposal site for trees, lawn clippings, etc. I hit it several times during the spring and summer when people are actively doing yard work. I can always get some small pieces and get some nice big stuff sometimes. I get kind of nosey and if I see someone unloading a pickup full of nice turning wood limbs I ask them what they're doing with the rest of the tree. Sometimes you score some nice wood. I've also gotten pretty brave about just walking up to people if I see them cutting down a tree and asking if they want to give me some of it. But as you get into turning you find that gathering and preparing wood can be even more time consuming than the actual turning and also becomes somewhat of a hobby.

I'd also suggest that you find a turning club in your area if possible and join up. As a new member you'll probably have people wanting to give you wood and also hook up to a great network of wood sources, not to mention the other great people you'll get to know.

[Don Vito]

I feel your pain...but be patient. I do this for fun and give away just about everything I make. Many of the my family members, coworkers and friends who have received these items have become the best sources of wood.

Places I get wood:

1. The firewood pile. It is amazing what you can make from small pieces of split wood.
2. Local forestry department: find out where they take trees after taking them down. I have yet to have a city worker say no.
3. Tree trimmers in the neighborhood.
4. Volunteer at a local nature center. I did some invasive species removal at a local nature center. I saw some black cherry in the shed and the staff said no problem, take a few pieces. I then returned a few finished pieces for a fund raiser and now they are on the lookout for me.

Seasoning your wood: When you get the wood, split it down the middle and end seal it if you can. That will preserve it without end cracking.

Wet wood: Forget about turning drywood. I have fun with green wood. For natural edged bowls, I don't worry about it drying. For regular bowls, I'll turn them green most of the way and then let them dry for several months before finishing them off. (You have to be patient). Green turning does not turn up the dust that dry wood does--and the shavings make great mulch.

[Arlan Ten Kley]

This has been a great thread. Thank You. I'm just starting out also, so have the same needs! I had not thought of the local nature center and invasive species angle.

[Roger Bell]

If you work in a setting where you have a bunch of co-workers, such as in an office, put out the word that you might be interested in coming by if they remove trees from their yard. During winter, people lose trees. It is a law of nature.

After you get the wood, make a bowl or make something for the donor. Make sure everyone sees it. And then make something else....and something else. You are thanking the tree donor and you are putting out the word. Next thing you know someone else is talking to you about a tree they are getting rid of. They are your friends, aren't they?

At our Christmas potluck office lunch, instead of bringing food, I brought a great big bowl full of bottle stoppers. Trinkets for the masses. Everybody got one. People "eat this up" you know. They really dig it. And it doesnt have to be especially "good" work, either. By the way, I had much more fun turning stoppers that I would ever had had cooking a macaroni dish. The stoppers resulted from some intense skew chisel practice.

I get a lot of wood coming my way from people I talk to every day. A lot of people are displaying little bitty bowls, etc. on their desks made out of their trees.

[Heather Deans]

Hi All- Thanks for all the great suggestions! I really appreciate the input... My only questions is that what I'm interested in turning right now are lidded boxes, and I suspect I will really need dry wood for those- but a friend just offered to let me look through his stash so I think I'll be ok for the moment while I collect green and wait for some of it to dry out... I know there are turners' clubs in Kansas City and St. Louis, but I'm two hours from each, and I haven't located a group locally yet.... I'd be a little surprised if there isn't one though! Thanks again!
H.

[David Wilhelm]

look in you yellow pages and find cabinet makers clock makers or anyone who would use finer woods. they will have cut offs. You can glue these up and to turn your boxes. I have not tried lidded boxes with my soap but i'd say give it a try. I know with the bowls I've turned i get little to no movement at all. You can also microwave your wood but i've never done this. I like the soap so that's pretty much all i do I've just not tried every type of turning or wood in it as of yet. if you are interested i can send you some info to help you get started.