Young wood turner looking for scrap wood to turn! HELP

Beyond-the-summit

New User
Burn
Hello, my name Brian and I live in the mountains of NC near Boone/Wilksboro. I recently purchased a 12 x 36 woodturning lathe and I’m having a hard time finding good hard wood to turn in my area. If anyone has any scraps or blanks they would be willing to sale or donate, it would be greatly appreciated. I am willing to travel within a reasonable distance or pay shipping costs in addition to paying for the cost of the wood. Or if anyone knows of any places online that has good materials or tools for wood turning and could let me know, any help would be appreciated!
 

cyclopentadiene

Update your profile with your name
User
You live in the Mecca.
Green wood is excellent for turning and actually very good for learning as a catch is generally easier to remedy. This is especially true if you start with bowls and transition to hollow forms
There are a lot of sources on the web for cutting a log into a bowl blank.
This site as well as the web has numerous approaches to drying and most work well.
Spindle type turning like pens, bottle stoppers handles or table legs are generally best with kiln dried material.
Alternatively, there should be a lot of sawmills in the area with air or kiln dried lumber. I have driven from the piedmont to purchase air dried slabs in your area.
 

bowman

Board of Directors, Webmaster
Neal
Staff member
Corporate Member
Another source would be to find a kitchen countertop shop and scrounge through their cut offs.
 

Willemjm

Willem
Corporate Member
I have offcuts all the time, if you come this way to Pinehurst.

At first I kept them for a wood fireplace, which could not stay ahead. I dump or burn around four 70 gallon bins a month.
 

beloitdavisja

James
Corporate Member
As far as online places, I've ordered from Got Wood and Woodturning Blanks 4 U. Got Wood is in SC so shipping is really quick. They have a rotating stock, so sign up for their newsletter or follow them on facebook to get updates on what they have coming in.

Locally, if you can know anyone that does tree service, you can have them give you a heads up. Most are happy to let you have anything if you come and get it so they don't have to haul it away. Or just put the word out to your neighbors if they have any trees that come down. Free wood is free wood.
 

SabertoothBunny

SabertoothBunny
Corporate Member
Free wood is always best. Keep an eye on facebook marketplace as people reguarly put posts for free wood for you to haul away. That will almost always be green wood. Another option is woodworking stores like Klingspore's have discount turning blank containers. The wood isn't identified but it is cheap blanks that are dry. Or there is a website www.turningblanks.net from Got Wood? LLC as they sell a LOT of varieties and are usually the cheapest for blank. They sell green and dry.
 

Brantnative

Jeff
Corporate Member
My favorites to buy from online have already been mentioned but another is Green Valley Wood Products (gvwp.net). I've had trees taken out on my property several times by a service I trust. They have green wood every day and usually are headed to the dump with it. Contact one of them and see if you can visit one of their work sites.
 

Mountain City Bill

Mountain City Bill
Corporate Member
Hello, my name Brian and I live in the mountains of NC near Boone/Wilksboro. I recently purchased a 12 x 36 woodturning lathe and I’m having a hard time finding good hard wood to turn in my area. If anyone has any scraps or blanks they would be willing to sale or donate, it would be greatly appreciated. I am willing to travel within a reasonable distance or pay shipping costs in addition to paying for the cost of the wood. Or if anyone knows of any places online that has good materials or tools for wood turning and could let me know, any help would be appreciated!
Hi Brian,
If you want some green, freshly cut wood, I will have some white oak and cherry. I plan to cut the trees down in the next 3 -4 weeks.

The white oak should have blanks to make bowls up to 12 inches. The cherry is smaller but it may be big enough for 6 - 8 inch bowls or other projects.

Let me know if you would be interested. I live in Mountain City, TN.

Good luck,
Bill
 

Beyond-the-summit

New User
Burn
Hi Brian,
If you want some green, freshly cut wood, I will have some white oak and cherry. I plan to cut the trees down in the next 3 -4 weeks.

The white oak should have blanks to make bowls up to 12 inches. The cherry is smaller but it may be big enough for 6 - 8 inch bowls or other projects.

Let me know if you would be interested. I live in Mountain City, TN.

Good luck,
Bill


Hey bill thank you for replying, I live just outside of Boone so you are close to me so that would be great. Definitely let me know when you cut those trees! Also I am newer to the site so I’m not sure if I can private message yet. But I do know they don’t like for people to leave personal info on the forum so how can I get your information?
 

Beyond-the-summit

New User
Burn
I have offcuts all the time, if you come this way to Pinehurst.

At first I kept them for a wood fireplace, which could not stay ahead. I dump or burn around four 70 gallon bins a month.

Pinehurst is about 3 hrs from me sadly. If you ever come out this way I would take as much as you could bring thanks for the reply!
 

Beyond-the-summit

New User
Burn
Pinehurst is about 3 hrs from me sadly. If you ever come out this way I would take as much as you could bring thanks for the reply!
You live in the Mecca.
Green wood is excellent for turning and actually very good for learning as a catch is generally easier to remedy. This is especially true if you start with bowls and transition to hollow forms
There are a lot of sources on the web for cutting a log into a bowl blank.
This site as well as the web has numerous approaches to drying and most work well.
Spindle type turning like pens, bottle stoppers handles or table legs are generally best with kiln dried material.
Alternatively, there should be a lot of sawmills in the area with air or kiln dried lumber. I have driven from the piedmont to purchase air dried slabs in your area.


Honestly I didn’t know you could turn green wood I am learning more everyday about this. I’ve wanted to branch out to turning and. Finally got a lathe. I started out in carpentry and ended up making custom furniture from there. Also a lot of the sawmills in this area have shut down sadly. But I will definitely keep that in mind thank you for the reply!
 

bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
Practice turning with ornamental mushrooms.
Get a somewhat fat tree limb. Cut to a convenient length.
Chuck it up and go for it.
My son got good at it years back and made money selling them at local craft fairs.

1     mushrm b - 1.jpg

1     mushrm c - 1.jpg

1     mushrm c - 2.jpg

1     mushrm c - 3.jpg

1     mushrm c - 4.jpg
 

Mountain City Bill

Mountain City Bill
Corporate Member
Hey bill thank you for replying, I live just outside of Boone so you are close to me so that would be great. Definitely let me know when you cut those trees! Also I am newer to the site so I’m not sure if I can private message yet. But I do know they don’t like for people to leave personal info on the forum so how can I get your information?
I (think) I sent you a private message.

Bill
 

beloitdavisja

James
Corporate Member
Honestly I didn’t know you could turn green wood I am learning more everyday about this. I’ve wanted to branch out to turning and. Finally got a lathe. I started out in carpentry and ended up making custom furniture from there. Also a lot of the sawmills in this area have shut down sadly. But I will definitely keep that in mind thank you for the reply!

Most of the bowls I turn are green. However, there are caveats. For bowls, what is done most of the time is "rough turn" the bowl - basically turning it roughly to shape but oversized. This exposes the interior of the bowl to dry, and it will warp, and possibly crack. But if you left your bowl thick enough, when you turn it there should be enough to turn the warp out, and cracks can be filled with epoxy or CA depending on the size.

There are also various methods of letting the rough turned bowl blanks dry with various degrees of success:
  1. Leave it in a bag of shavings (months-year)
  2. Sealing the end grain and letting it dry on a shelf (months-year)
  3. Letting it sit in a bath of denatured alcohol (weeks?)
  4. DIY Kiln or drying box (days)
  5. Microwaving on low power for a few minutes at a time until dry (hours)
I usually do #1 or #2, but I've also done 4 & 5 when I've been impatient. I've never done #3 but have heard others suggest it.

Some will turn green wood to the final thickness with the intention of letting it warp just to see what crazy shapes it will turn out. Usually for the crazy warping you have to turn it real thin, which can be tricky for a beginner.

You might head to the library and check out a few books on turning. A lot of them will have chapters about turning green wood. A lot of knowledge on Youtube as well (Carl Jacobson, Mike Peace, As Wood Turns, and Mike Waldt are a few YouTubers with a lot of good information and a large catalog of videos). You can also look for a local AAW chapter.

Hope that helps.
 

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