It's going to be a long 2 weeks...

[Joe Tedesco]

Well, Santa made an early stop at our house...I guess to free up some room in his sled. But said I cannot open it until Christmas morning!

Being kind of new to turning I do not have any turning stock in the shop. So, in preparation, I ordered some pen blanks online. I would also like to try and find some seasoned bowl blanks to play around with. Is there such a thing? If so, could anybody point me in the right direction.

Thanks
-Joe

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Joe,

Congrats! That lathe will last your life time and you will never find it lacking I'm sure!

I have never ordered seasoned or dried bowl blanks. You could just buy some hardwood at a nearby lumberyard and glue up some.

Good luck and enjoy!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Yes it is going to be a long couple of weeks. I don't know about seasoned wood. You could try wood craft and I think Rocklers may have some. I would rather turn green wood myself as it is a lot easier to turn, let dry and then finish turning. Not so much hard dry wood to work with. One DVD I would highly recommend is Bill Grumbines "Turned Bowls Made Easy". Takes you from cutting the log right thru to different types of finishes. I still go back once in a while and watch it after 4 yrs.

[Dave Rudy]

http://www.roughoutbowls.com/.

That wouldn't happen to be a big heavy yellow thing, would it?

Dan sells already roughed-out blanks that are kiln-dried. You can just true up the tenon and finish turn and finish them and have completed bowls fast.

Or, if you want blanks, just get any blank that has been kiln-dried (I'd do a search for kiln-dried on google). Woodcraft has some. Clay Johnson at Choice-woods.com has a bunch. I'm sure there are lots and lots of others.

But I'm with Bernie -- wet wood is so much easier and more fun to turn. You can turn it straight to finished dimension -- as long as it's a 1/4" or less and you bag it and keep it on the floor with little airflow for a few days or so, you might have some warping but should have little cracking.

[Dan Forman]

You must have been a very good boy this past year!

You can spend the nest couple of weeks doing research. The Grumbine video is a great place to start. I agree with the others that green wood is much easier, as well as more fun to turn than seasoned. If you make your location known, maybe there is a Creeker nearby who can give you some wood to play with. Start reaching out to tree services, landscapers, anyone who deals with trees. Maybe your city or county government can point you toward some wood.

Dan

[Bill Bolen]

Looks as if you started off at the top of list for lathes. Will save you some $$ over countess upgrades !! ebay has a bunch of bowl blanks all the time but friends and neighbors wood piles can get you started pretty quick...Bill..

[John Keeton]

Another lucky member of the mustard club!! Congrats, Joe!! Now the rest of these guys can help you spend every spare dollar you can get your hands on!! And, they are good at it!!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Joe - Congrats on your new lathe! Looking forward to seeing photos of it once it is set up!

Being new to turning - I highly suggest you get with your local turning club as they will have local wood sources for you as well as give you some pointers/lessons on how to turn.

[gary Zimmel]

Welcome to the Mustard club Joe.
How many more sleeps till you get to set her up....

[Rob Cunningham]

Congrats on the new lathe Joe. Tree trimmers are a good source of wood. So far I haven't had to buy any wood for bowl blanks.

[Thomas Canfield]

Joe,

I second what Steve said about getting with a local club. There are ususally members there more than willing to help your get started and often have wood to share. Green wood is always good in my opinion to start with and then work up to dry blanks - it usually is also free or require minimal work. One other suggestion is to start with shallow bowls and thick walls until you can get the feel for working in deeper bottoms. That "box" has a monster in there that can do a lot. It will also allow your to aquire a lot more toys and accessories.