Turner's mixed bag from WC

[Mike Minto]

I received a bag of 1 1/2" spindle blanks from WC last night. I know you never know what you will receive, and they are all fine looking pieces of wood, but you know, it would be nice if they took the time to label them by species. I'll never know what most, if not all, are, I'm sure :mad::confused:.

[steve mcconnell]

I completely agree.

I had an nice allergic reaction (both arms broke out where the dust/shavings landed) to one of the blanks I got from one of those grab bags. I have a pretty good idea which blank it was that got me as I did not like the smell of it at all when I was drilling/milling it (made about 8 pens that night) but I have no idea what kind wood it was.

Obviously, I would like to avoid this wood in the future, but I am having a tough time identifying it.

On the African blanks WC sells, the blanks are at least numbered and a key is included .

steve

[Brian Brown]

E-mail Woodcraft with your feelings and the information about alergies. They may be able to give you a list of possible species included. Maybe not. Giving you a list may open up a big liability issue for them. If they are able to give you a list, post a pic of the species with the potential list, and the combined knowledge here may be able to identify some of them. On the other hand, you have probably seen how well wood species identification goes here. :eek::D

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree with Brian. I would e-mail them with your concerns. I would think it would be more of a liability for them if they didn't tell you and it was a serious allergic reaction.

[Jim King]

Obviously we cannot say for sure but Cocobolo is without question the most problematic wood for alergic reactions.

[Jerome Hanby]

Been there, done that. My wife ask me which blank I like for a particular pen and I have to same the pinkish one:p

[Mike Minto]

No hijack intended here (:p), guys, but would you know if these grab bags of spindle stock are green or dry when they ship? Kinda hard to tell with them being totally waxed (probably fairly green, I suspect).

[Ken Garlock]

I too bought a grab bag of pen blanks from Wood Craft. When I unpacked the order, there they were, just piled together in a plastic bag.

It seems to me that when the blanks are cut it would be easy to put a number on the blank. Then pack a sheet of paper in the grab bag listing what the numbers mean.

Yes, I know that the buyer doesn't know the contents of the bag, but it shouldn't be a test wood knowledge to identify what is contained in the bag.:confused: