Best places to purchase wood online?

[Rob Wachala Jr]

Hello,

I was curious what sites people are buying their wood stock. I've been using craft supplies usa but the quality is starting to go down. So now I'm on a hunt to expand my suppliers list.

[Wally Dickerman]

Try Gilmer Woods in Portland, Ore. I've been a customer for 25 years. They have a website.

Wally

[Harvey Ghesser]

I use turningblanks.net

The wood is always fresh, real wet, and service is superb. Prices are extremely competative.

[John Keeton]

I have bought from Jeff Nicol here on the creek, and from Mike Smith at http://easternncwoodworkers.com/ (http://easternncwoodworkers.com/msmith) and both have supplied good wood at very decent prices.

[Tim Rinehart]

But the first place I look for great 'special' wood with character (and typically all domestic woods) is on the online auction site for a dealer named appalachianblankslabco. The guy has extremely fair shipping costs and beautiful spalted/figured wood. I bought many pieces from him when I was getting started, before all sorts of 'free wood' starting my way. Highly recommended, and if you live in Virginia, he's somewhere not far off Blue Ridge Parkway, north of Roanoke.
Truly only a coincidence that his name is Tim also.

The other person who I can attest to quality of wood, also on East coast, is Jim Syvertsen, of Australian Burls. Look up Australian burls of Chesapeake, you'll find his site. Beautiful aussie burls and some domestic and other woods. I got some Banksia pods (almost 14" tall and thick) from him recently and they were beautiful...can't wait to turn them. Was on a waiting list for those for months, but he followed thru better than I could have hoped. A great dealer in my opinion.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Have you tried e-bay? It's hit or miss, but if you find a seller that you like, you can bid what "you" want to pay. If you get it, good deal, if no then someone else wants it worse than you do. I've found a couple sellers that I'm happy with. Look for the large volume sellers with 100% satisfaction rating.

That being said, have you tried locally so you don't have to factor in the cost of shipping? Check with tree trimmers, and look in CL "free" ads. You can get a lot for "free".

[David E Keller]

I've used most of the vendors listed above with good success. One other source I've come across more recently is a guy named Isaac on the IAP website. He has an active listing right now in the individual classifieds for maple burl caps, but he's got redwood burl and several Aussie burls. He mostly deals in pen blanks and bottle stoppers on that site, but if you contact him, you can work out deals for larger pieces. I bought from him several times in the past with great luck.

[Bruce Pratt]

West Penn Hardwoods (http://www.westpennhardwoods.com/)

Bad Dogs Burl (http://www.burlsource.com/)

No affiliation with either. Good stuff, reasonable prices.
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Bruce Pratt

[Hilel Salomon]

Tim, at appalachianblanks has very nice wood. I've had mixed results on ebay, with some of the vendors, slow and inaccurate, some were quite good.

Hilel

[John Hart]

Berea Hardwoods is my favorite place. Because they are local to me, I get the opportunity to actually go there and browse through the piles and pick what I want.

But, as far as online purchases...take a look at these pics http://www.bereahardwoods.com/Merchant5/merchant.mvc?Screen=cp-turning-woods

Their piles always look like that...and they prefer that you call, so you can describe what you really want. They are very helpful folks....kinda downhome, and always willing to lend advice and get you to the best choice.

They sell by the pound so you can get any size you want.

[David Woodruff]

Type woodfinder.com in your search bar and pick one or two or 12. Also go to Exotic Burl, Mardena Blaney. Consistently the most figured wood I have purchased. Price is $12.00/bdft.


Happy Turning

[Chris Zeigler]

I second Mike Smith. I tried him after one of John's suggestions. Excellent wood and a real pleasure to deal with. I am hoping to try out a few of the other suggestions in this thread since I haven't yet cultivated very many sources of free wood.

Chris

[Terry Gerros]

I've purchased from Mike Smith out of North Carolina. Great guy to deal with, knows his stuff, excellent prices. John Keeton put his website address on an earlier posting.

Terry

[David Woodruff]

Absolutely the best value for wood is at the AAW Symposiun. You see what you get. Most vendors can be negotiated with. The vendors bring their best wood. They don't want to ship it back home. A big bonus is that if you drive shipping is free.

[Rob Wachala Jr]

Very nice. Thanks for all the info I'll be checking these out this afternoon.

[Alec Moseley]

The Sawmill Ltd., http://www.sawmillnc.com/, has some good pieces. Shopping there personally, if you're ever in the Charlotte-Winston-Salem NC area, is a real pleasure. Owner is Kyle Edwards and he is very friendly and helpful. I haven't ordered by mail and don't know shipping expense well but he will work with you.

[Tim Rinehart]

The Sawmill Ltd., http://www.sawmillnc.com/, has some good pieces. Shopping there personally, if you're ever in the Charlotte-Winston-Salem NC area, is a real pleasure. Owner is Kyle Edwards and he is very friendly and helpful. I haven't ordered by mail and don't know shipping expense well but he will work with you.

I have met Kyle, and as Alec said, he's a super guy with some great wood and quite reasonable. I keep meaning to take a Saturday trip over to his operation. Kyle really knows his wood, and seems to get some great figured and spalted pieces in.