“Where do you get your wood?” It’s one of the most common questions people ask me when they look at my work. In the beginning when I was first taking classes in woodturning, I struggled with finding wood to work with, even though an instructor pointed out that in the northeast US, we have to pay to dispose of wood. Now that I have been doing this for a number of years, I have such a stockpile built up that I pass on most offers for more logs.
My best source of wood is my woodworking community. Me and all the other woodturners that I know are wood hoarders. So, when I have a need for a specific species, I call on them. I’ll either trade a log of their favorite tree from my stock or I’ll make them something special.
Another strategy I have used since some of my first classes is to fill a niche. The other people in my woodturning workshop classes preferred to make large bowls. I picked up their off cuts, and scavenged the garbage bin next to the bandsaw for scraps to make small things like wands and acorn ornaments. Later, when I learned spoon carving, I would keep the slice of a log containing the center pith that’s left over after cutting it up for two bowls, which is perfect for spoons.
My community now knows the variety of things that I make and will save wood pieces for me that they otherwise wouldn’t use. A friend of mine cut up a bowl blank and in doing so, found a large rotted area ruining its potential to be a bowl. He passed it along to me and I’ll recut it to make a couple of wooden vases.
I also find logs on the side of the road, such as the cherry logs below. I kept two for myself and brought the third one to share with my woodturning group. Some species are always worth stopping for, such as yew, cherry, or walnut. With the amount of logs that I have in my garage right now, I pass on oak and maple.
My last option is to buy wood, but I prefer to avoid it if at all possible. I did once buy some scraps of woods that I had not worked with before, but that was a few years ago, and I still haven’t used them. Another time I paid for an applewood log because I had never worked with apple before. It sat for a year before I made a bowl. I’m nowhere near running out of the wood that I currently have, so buying wood now just doesn’t make sense.
It’s helpful that with woodturning, you can use either fresh-cut logs or kiln-dried boards. One of my goals is to avoid buying wood ever again. Right now, I have enough to keep me busy.
Coming up this month, I’m finishing up an order of spoons and then I plan on making more vases and spinning tops. Be in touch if there’s something you’d like me to make for you.
