Bowl blanks and turning squares

[Dave Lehnert]

Kicking around the idea of buying a small bandsaw mill like a Woodmizer or the like. First and foremost this would be for my own use but know it will produce more than I could ever use.

I am not a big woodturner but was wandering if there would be a market for turning squares and bowl blanks. Would you as a woodturner consider buying air dried stock?(at a good price) What would you say would be the most poplur size to cut for a bowl blank, 4"x4"x3"? How about squares, 2"x2"x3foot????

Just giving this some thought as green lumber is common around here but have never seen turning stock. Like to find a way to help recover the cost of the mill.

[Richard Madison]

Dave,
Have not bought any turning wood for many years, and not likely to as it seems the prices have gone up about 600% or more since my last order. So, if you could keep your prices really low compared to the rest of the market, and if you could get the word out (without breaking any forum rules of course) I think you could find a market. Suggest a lot of market research into what woods, sizes, and their prices various others are selling and decide if you could substantially beat their prices. Lots of things to consider. Just some thoughts. Am no expert but have 15 years experience being the "gofer" for a small business my wife used to own.

[Jim Kountz]

Weeeeeeelllllll, truth is Dave, most turners I know myself included have sourced enough free wood to keep them busy for a long time. A little networking pays off huge when you drop a line here or there to some tree service guys, arborist and mill owners. I made a point of dropping by some guys putting in a new road one day and now I get a call every other week or so with him telling me of his new "finds". Now if you have something special like burls, crotches and things like that, Im sure you could sell them and make yourself a buck or two. Im no expert at all so take this with a grain of salt but I would think with a bandmill your likely to make better profits with lumber rather than turning blanks. But thats just my thoughts on it, Ive been wrong PLENTY of times before!!
Good luck either way you decide to go, I know I would love to have one of those mills.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Cut them into square spindle stock as well as bowl stock that will fit into those flate rate boxes from USPS. 10 bucks or so to ship. Keeps the consumer cost down, and much better than paying per pound. That's how I get all my wood. Other than the free local stuff.....
The wood mizer is not cheap to buy or operate..... Hidden costs: Truck to pull the woodmizer around. Winch(es) to move the logs. Building to dry the wood out. I'd do it if I had the time.

[George Guadiane]

I never bought the WoodMizer, I just rented my friend when I git logs.
I ended up with WAY more wood than I could ever turn.
There IS a market, but it's a lot more work than I want to do anymore.
I did it for a few years, and made a few bucks, but there was a lot of hauling involved. At this point, it's cheaper for me to buy the wood that I want, pay a premium and spend more time turning.
I had fun for a while, but I'm over it.
Your best bet will be selling at symposiums. Cut, waxed and identified... Otherwise, you gotta go with eBay or something like that.
Just my experience.

[Jim Evans]

these guys seem to be doing pretty well for themselves selling sealed green wood. I've not looked too hard but I don't think they sell spindle blanks, just bowl blanks


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

ps - no relation to the website

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Hi Dave.
Yes there's a market out there for turning blanks, but not for the everyday types of wood.
If you can mill 3 to 4 inch slabs of Osage Orange, Ambrosia Maple, and other special types of wood, just Maple Cherry and Oak isn't were turners will pay good prices for, at least around here, some places like Walnut others Maple, but there's a lot of wood for free to be had.
And you almost have to go to wood-shows to find the people that want to buy your wood.
Air-dry, you know how much storage you need to set and sticker your wood properly, and for how long before it is air-dried ??, if you can do all that than flat woodworkers lumber is probably a better paying end than turning blanks, but you could add that to it.
Just my thoughts on it, as I'm a least a bit familiar with it,

[Dave Lehnert]

these guys seem to be doing pretty well for themselves selling sealed green wood. I've not looked too hard but I don't think they sell spindle blanks, just bowl blanks


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

ps - no relation to the website

Thanks for the link.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Around here our most abundant wood is Elm or Cottonwood. Some Ash and honey locust. We don't see much walnut, maple, cherry, etc. I do buy some wood to get the latter but can't afford to pay $10 to $20 for a blank and then another $20 to $30 for shipping for the bigger blanks. I can never get my money back on the bowls or vase. So I get some blanks now for $5.95 and ship in flat rate boxes.

[scott schoenbaechler]

these guys seem to be doing pretty well for themselves selling sealed green wood. I've not looked too hard but I don't think they sell spindle blanks, just bowl blanks


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

ps - no relation to the website


I recently received an order from them. Their wood is green and totally sealed in wax. I got a couple bowl blanks and some 3 x 3 x 12" for mills. Waiting for them to dry a little. I was very pleased with all the stock. All the 3 x 3's were almost perfectly square and clean and the bowl blanks have a lot of character. Very pleased with all I received and the price is right. Most of the 3 x 3 x 12 were only 5-6 dollars.

[Curt Fuller]

I can't count the times I've wished I knew someone with a bandsaw mill close to home. I'll bet that you could let the local turning clubs and other wood working groups in your area know you had it available to cut up their storm damaged trees etc and make it pay for itself. Not to mention the wood you could also sell to them.

[Dave Lehnert]

Thanks for all the posts.

Like I said before. The mill would first and foremost be for my own hobby use.
I know if I mill just one log I will have more extra I could ever use.
But if one could turn a buck helping other woodworkers and pay for the mill would be icing on the cake.

[Frank Townend]

I have purchased turning blanks from eBay sellers and from Internet retailers. What I look for are reasonable prices (including shipping) and "interesting" wood. Quarter sawn pieces are nice as they show nice patterns in the grain. I also like "jump out at you" pieces like quilted or curly maple. While I prefer dry wood, if it is prepared and waxed correctly, I'll buy it. For a 6” X 6” X 4” blank (as above) I’ll pay around $25.

[Reed Gray]

Personally, I think there is a bigger market for air dried lumber than for turning blanks. If you can do a vacuum kiln, that is faster than the air drying, and leaves the wood almost as nice to work. I find too much 'free' wood to want to buy any. I do make furniture as well, and prefer air dried lumber to 'kill' dried wood. I really prefer to cut my own blanks because grain orientation in turning blanks is a skill. There is a higher market for figured and rare woods than for the more common stuff. I have often thought about a mill, but don't have the time or area for it. Heavy sigh!!! All the nice lumber I could have had!!!!!!!!!!! Sigh!
robo hippy

[Bill Bulloch]

There sure is a market for wood blanks. Do a Wood Blank search on ebay. I buy a lot of blanks from there. I always set my highest bid at somewhat lower than I could buy the same blank from an online store. Sometime the bidders get carried away and over bid the piece. But, sometimes you can get a good deal. I got two 3 x 3 x 12 Walnut blanks one time for .99 cents -- but, you can a minimum. Use flat rate shipping.