I've told ya'll about this before but it seems that a pool cue company had a lot of wood (a LOT!!! of wood!) that they could not use and gave it to my school district to use in shop classes. That would be fantastic . . . except that we don't have shop classes!
I was told today that I could come by and pick up some wood for the Freedom Pens Program. After work I went to the warehouse and saw 20 pallets of this stuff!! It is the square blanks used to make the butt end of pool sticks and is all Brazilian Hardwood . . . whatever that is! The pieces are unsuitable for the pool sticks because they are slightly bent, twisted, or have a water stain on them. There is absolutely NOTHING that would prevent the wood from becoming pens!
I picked out the smallest pallet and they loaded it on my pickup with a forklift. You should've seen my truck squat when then sat that pallet on it!!!
I called a friend who has some extra storage space and met him there. He used his forklift to offload the pallet and put it in storage for me.
A quick count was made . . . 25 pieces across times 15 pieces high . . . and double that because it's stacked two deep . . . carry the ought . . . I came up with about 750 pieces of wood!
Each piece of wood is 1 1/2" by 1 1/2 inches by 21 1/2 inches . . . Hmmmm . . . resaw them lengthwise both directions . . . that makes 4 pieces divided by the blank length means each piece will make 16 pens . . . multiplied by the 750 pieces . . . carry the ought again . . . WOW . . . I have enough pretty wood to make 12,000 pens!!!!
Anyone wanting any wood for Freedom Pens I can FIX YOU UP!!! Warning, though, this stuff is HEAVY! It has a high oil content and close grain similar to cocobolo. Shipping won't be cheap.
I don't have a clue as to what it will cost to mail it anywhere. What may be better than mailing is to bulk truck to a specific area where a large amount can be distributed locally to save on shipping costs. If there is anyone in the DFW area who wants some of this wood for Freedom Pens, I'll be happy to have you come and get it, or I can meet you somewhere to deliver it.
I really prefer, however, for the wood to be used for Freedom Pens and not a commercial venture (I know . . . I know . . . you'll make a couple of pens or so for yourself, friends or family and I'm OK with that. I just don't want to misrepresent to the school district what is being done with the wood, plus I really don't want to work hard on this thing for someone else to make money off of it).
If you have a turn-a-thon or demo coming up and need some wood . . . this is it! The wood turns great and finishes nicer than anything else I've worked.
Here's a photo of the pallet:
Reply With Quote