# Turning Blanks...



## ScrubPlane (May 22, 2012)

In order to avoid endless hours searching I am turning to you fellow turners in hopes of identifying the best web sites for turning blanks.

Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

thanks…John


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## Kreegan (Jul 10, 2012)

Here are some of my favs:

http://www.turningblanks.net/servlet/StoreFront
http://www.woodturningblanks4u.com/
http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/t/4/-/13/29/Project-Blanks
http://www.oregonburls.com/

I also really like this ebay seller:

http://stores.ebay.com/davidshobbylumber

In general though, your best source for turning wood is going to be FOG wood and your local firewood dealers.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

+10 for Oregon Burls. I tool Rich's advice on another thread and ended up with this:










That blank cost me about 5$ and I got 2 of these bolt action pens out of it. (English Walnut)


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## MonteCristo (May 29, 2012)

One of the nice things about turning blanks is that you can often get them for "free". Free usually means doing a bit of grunt work, like when someone has a tree taken down or one blows over in a wind. Any turning blanks I have seen for sale at a big box store or lumberyard are usually ridiculously overpriced. Also, a lot of pieces of wood that would not be well suited for making a cabinet or similar are just fine for turning. Cabinet makers hate knots (usually); turners (often) invite them.


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## tomd (Jan 29, 2008)

If you own a chainsaw and keep your eyes open you should never have to buy a turning blank, unless you want an exotic wood.


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## Wildwood (Jul 22, 2012)

Like this vendor, Kreegan linked because sells both kiln dry and wet wood. They are up front as to why their kiln dried or green/wet blanks sealed in wax.

http://www.turningblanks.net/servlet/StoreFront

Still buyer beware, just because wood been through kiln drying process does not mean will not pick up moisture later. MC will change with environment due too or lack of relative humidity.

Do check out back issues of their newsletter:

http://www.turningblanks.net/servlet/the-template/newsletterarchive/Page

Scroll down to Understanding MC part 1

http://www.turningblanks.net/servlet/the-template/newsletterjanuary2013/Page

Not a customer but have been to site before stopped going after lost url. Harvest my own turning wood for turning but like site for information.

If do not harvest your own wood because lack chain saw & pick-up, check out those bundles of firewood sitting outside a lot of stores this time of year.


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## ScrubPlane (May 22, 2012)

Thank you to all who responded…it's comforting to know that several of the recommended sites I already had bookmarked and the new ones have also been added.

Thank you one and all.


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## hairy (Sep 23, 2008)

I like to turn firewood into turning blanks.

If I'm buying, I look here first. He's been good to me. http://stores.ebay.com/Davids-Hobby-Lumber?_rdc=1


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## CindyDrozda (Feb 2, 2010)

The best place to get wood for turning is through your local AAW chapter. The members share sources and trade wood, mostly "free" local wood. To find a chapter, go to www.woodturner.org


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## wooddaddy (Sep 27, 2011)

Ditto what Cindy said. I have been turning bowls and vessels approx. 2 years and have not purchased a single piece of wood. I guess I'm one of the fortunate ones who live in the woods, literally, and weep to see all the wood I won't be able to touch. I liken it to our sphere of influence and the people we touch. Enough waxing poetic. Local turning clubs, saw mills, carpenters,even big box stores can be sources of info and contacts for finding wood. Check this article out, http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1103600789564-682/GreatRosewood+Caper.pdf, from AAW newsletter Vol.3 no.7. See what the benefits of joining a club are? If any of you are close to central PA, send me a message and I'll hook you up.


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

Our local club has a 'raffle' at each meeting … members (with wood resources) bring in bowl blanks, logs, etc. which they donate to the raffle.

Tickets go for a buck or two apiece, and the winners get to pick the wood they want.

Works great! At our February meeting, everybody there won two items … we actually had some wood left over.

-Gerry


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## lunn (Jan 30, 2012)

I'm presently working in walnut and mullberry. I give a freind my scraps for pen turning. I've stocked him up so much he doesn't take it any more, so i burn it. Anyone want it? How big of a flat rate box you need?


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## dpoisson (Jun 3, 2010)

Far from me the idea of high-jacking this thread, maybe just to complement the list already put forth, but I was wondering if anyone knew of a Canadian Wood source for turning blanks? Preferably in Quebec if possible (to save on shipping).

I've been checkering these sites and unfortunately, most of the ones I've checked don't seem to ship to Canada.

Cheers


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## john2005 (Jun 8, 2012)

Forgive me as a novice turner, but I did order a few blanks from Davids Hobby Lumber as listed above. It wasn't listed as green wood, but it is very wet. 20-30%. Little bit of mold on surface. Is any of this anything I should worry about? If I don't do anything with it for a few months, will that hurt it? Like I said, just new and looking for info. Thanks


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## moke (Oct 19, 2010)

I was at a Wood Festival last weekend. There were several vendors there with pens. There were two vendors there with slimlines right around 10.00. I looked them over carefully, and it was obvious that the maker just cut up whatever wood he/she had and used that for blanks. IMHO this made for very ho-hum pens. If you are going to raid the woodpile at least look for highly figured wood to make interesting pens. If you look around you can assortments that are 2-$4 a blank that are exptic woods and make for more intesting looking pens.

When you have just plain oak or walnut, maybe consider cutting in a simple segment. It is very easy to add a segment at 45 degrees, that way if you don't get the blank square, it doesn't show. Segmenting is difficult at best when you turn a slimline because there is so little material left around the tube, but most vendors offer an slightly upsized kit, like trimline, hart double twist, etc…for maybe a dollar a kit more.

The best site IMHO for cool blanks is Exoctic Blanks…..www.exoticblanks.com
Mike


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## ArlinEastman (May 22, 2011)

Cindy

It is nice to have a true pro here. I have watched 2 of your DVDs the club has.

Arlin


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