OH............Blankety, Blank!!!

[Roger Chandler]

I hate to lose good wood, :mad::mad::mad: but my storage availability is so small that I am forced to store wood in less than an ideal environment, :(:(:( but I do the best that I can. Some of the wood already had cracks in it when given to me..........so.............

What you see in the pics here is what is left from bigger pieces of wood that I have cut away the cracks, or if they have any, they are situated where they can be easily turned away. I have had a gorgeous piece of walnut crotch that was very large, and unfortunately, I had to cut it down today........I still got several nice size blanks from it. They are anchorsealed [the square-ish ones] and I had a couple of walnut rounds that I also anchorsealed today as well.

The other pieces are maple, some walnut, and some spalted maple and some box elder maple.....some of these are small and will be good for bottle stoppers or other small items like ornaments. Some of these blanks will likely go to hollow forms [I am getting itchy to do another one] and perhaps a bowl or two.

Not all our time is spent on the lathe......some time has to be done preparing and saving wood.........that is if you are like me and hate to lose wood to the environment! ;) I still have a number of other pieces of walnut and maple that I will have to do the same thing again! :(

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[Eric Gourieux]

Roger, I'm with you. Although I enjoy my chainsaw time, it eats up my turning time. And then you lose pieces to the pesky splitting! It's a killer

[Roger Chandler]

Fortunately, Eric........the chainsaw time was minimal compared to the bandsaw time. Most of what you see was done on one of my bandsaws. I did break one blade today.......the blade had gotten a little dull, and too aggressive a feed rate! Ordered two more Woodturners bandsaw blades from Highland Hardware this afternoon!

[Thomas Canfield]

Good stash. It does take some time to get to that stage. I did notice the one piece with loose bark and I usually try to remove any loose bark before storing if I know it will not hold for a NE piece. Looks like your lathe serves extra duty from time to time also.

[Roger Chandler]

Yeah, Thomas..........that was just for the taking of the photo! :o Those will get moved, very soon! Did not want to have to try and find a place to move them to while the anchorseal was still a bit wet. I do keep the bottom shelf full of wood most of the time.........two reasons.......lack of other space and ballast.

[David DeCristoforo]

Life can be rough sometimes. We all just gotta suck it up. Of course, there are those who have it easy. They have whatever they need just falling into their laps. If they happen to be turners, they are the ones who always seem to be posting pieces made from perfect pieces of wood, dried to a perfect state for turning, full of incredible color and figure and free of even the slightest defects. Even if their wood does contain defects, they are always perfectly located in the blank so as to produce some stunning effect. They are forever stumbling into giant burls and, of course, they always seem to have their own sawmills and big trucks with cranes and drying racks galore and everything else one needs to process such pieces into useable turning stock. They also seem to have unlimited funds for buying lathes and tools and…well, let's not even get started on that! You know the kind of guys I'm talking about here.

The rest must struggle along as best they can. Spectacular woods seem to elude the underprivileged, who must resign themselves to working with uninteresting, cracked, knotty, half rotten stuff that those other guys would be loath to use even for firewood. The only wood they come into always seems to have a tree attached to it. So it's a lot of work to procure even the poor quality wood they seem forever condemned to working with. Some of these poor souls even resort to buying wood from the few lucky guys who have so much that they can bring themselves to part with a few pieces.

Of course, this bought wood always comes at a high price. Sometimes, a choice must be made. Groceries for the kids or that amazing spalted maple bowl blank on ebay that has been bid into the stratosphere by some privileged jerks with more money than brains. But it can be worth it to circumvent the horrible fate of having to forage for decent material. It's dangerous out there. And even if some acceptable wood results, there are more obstacles in the path. Where to put this wood. How to best cut it up. What if it cracks? What if it dries without any cracks only to reveal a nasty inclusion right at the point when the perfect form has been achieved? What will the neighbors think when they see a guy struggling to get these big pieces of tree into the yard? And how the heck can the damage to the front lawn ever be repaired?

Yep, life can be rough sometimes….

[Jessica Gothie]

I don't know -- I fall kind of in the middle, probably like most folks. :) I can get lots of free wood as long as I like commercially-logged native hardwood species (Local concentrating yard has a freebie pile of offcuts that is visible from the road.). No cocobolo for me, sorry, it doesn't grow here. I could, I guess, mail-order blanks or go shopping when I visit my mom in Harrisburg (there's a Woodcraft there) but that would require $. The offcuts are available for free so long as you like Big Hunks (tm) and don't mind burls, huge knots, y-trunks, or other "bad timber" parts.

There's some schlepping and hauling (the pieces are *huge* and quite heavy because they're super-green) but I have a pickup truck, a chainsaw and a hydraulic splitter. Sadly, no crane. I'm also in the sort of shape that allows me to proceed with the schlepping and hauling, so yay. (Not everybody is fortunate enough to be able to wrestle hundred-pound hunks of wood out of the mud and onto the truck.)

My lathe was free (Delta 1460, not even remotely new but the bearings are good and it runs) but there isn't money for another and my tool budget is pretty limited as well. I admire the tools of others from afar and tighten up the nut on my tailstock using a pair of channel locks because the original handle is missing. :)

I have lots of dry storage space for wood, bowls, etc. near the lathe, but the entire space is very drafty and unheatable. On the plus side, ventilation is great.

Finally, the only way my stuff has a "stunning effect" is if you use it to hit someone over the head. :) I'm getting better, though -- practice is a wonderful thing and with the aforementioned free wood, I'm not afraid to keep trying. Failures just make for interestingly-shaped firewood.

[Jon Nuckles]

I can tell that the holidays are approaching because it is the annual "loading of the lathe." Oh, wait, that's a different thread. Never mind.

[Roger Chandler]

Life can be rough sometimes. We all just gotta suck it up. Of course, there are those who have it easy. They have whatever they need just falling into their laps. If they happen to be turners, they are the ones who always seem to be posting pieces made from perfect pieces of wood, dried to a perfect state for turning, full of incredible color and figure and free of even the slightest defects. Even if their wood does contain defects, they are always perfectly located in the blank so as to produce some stunning effect. They are forever stumbling into giant burls and, of course, they always seem to have their own sawmills and big trucks with cranes and drying racks galore and everything else one needs to process such pieces into useable turning stock. They also seem to have unlimited funds for buying lathes and tools and…well, let's not even get started on that! You know the kind of guys I'm talking about here.

The rest must struggle along as best they can. Spectacular woods seem to elude the underprivileged, who must resign themselves to working with uninteresting, cracked, knotty, half rotten stuff that those other guys would be loath to use even for firewood. The only wood they come into always seems to have a tree attached to it. So it's a lot of work to procure even the poor quality wood they seem forever condemned to working with. Some of these poor souls even resort to buying wood from the few lucky guys who have so much that they can bring themselves to part with a few pieces.

Of course, this bought wood always comes at a high price. Sometimes, a choice must be made. Groceries for the kids or that amazing spalted maple bowl blank on ebay that has been bid into the stratosphere by some privileged jerks with more money than brains. But it can be worth it to circumvent the horrible fate of having to forage for decent material. It's dangerous out there. And even if some acceptable wood results, there are more obstacles in the path. Where to put this wood. How to best cut it up. What if it cracks? What if it dries without any cracks only to reveal a nasty inclusion right at the point when the perfect form has been achieved? What will the neighbors think when they see a guy struggling to get these big pieces of tree into the yard? And how the heck can the damage to the front lawn ever be repaired?

Yep, life can be rough sometimes….


Wow, David........what a post! Not meaning to get too political here [you know.....house rules & all] but now that our leaders are redistributing wealth, healthcare and such.......perhaps redistribution of burls, spalted maple, pickups, cranes and expensive lathes should be looked at and run on in the next election! :eek::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::D

On second thought.......I think I will take your advice and suck it up! Yep......I agree......life can be rough at times! ;)

[Roger Chandler]

I can tell that the holidays are approaching because it is the annual "loading of the lathe." Oh, wait, that's a different thread. Never mind.

You might be on to a needed tradition to get started there Jon! ;) No doubt several of us creekers could "load the lathe" each year and sing........

Dashing through the snow,
with a chainsaw on my sleigh...
Over the hills we go...
We have burls to claim!

Craft shows just won't wait,
So I gotta go........
Even though it's cold outside,
And there's ornaments to make!

Chainsaw sounds, lathe goes round,
wooddust clouds the air,
gotta make the curlees fly,
cause the holiday's at stake! :eek::D:D

[Peter Blair]

I'm with Roger on this.

I have trouble passing on any free wood especially any fruit or Maple. So I ofter have wood that I find it difficult to find time to prepare for my lathe.

Any Creekers living near me in Delta and wanting some spalted Maple please don't hesitate to send me a PM.

After all it is the season of giving. . . . .

[Brian Myers]

Finally, the only way my stuff has a "stunning effect" is if you use it to hit someone over the head. :)

:p Now this is definitely a signature in the making .




Rodger , best to get things like crotches rough turned as soon as you can. I've never found they liked to sit around to long before cracking.

[Roger Chandler]

Roger , best to get things like crotches rough turned as soon as you can. I've never found they liked to sit around to long before cracking.

Good advice, Brian.........I only wish I had the time, and the place to store roughouts ........seems like space is one of my big issues, so I am forced to store wood in the outdoors, under tarps and underneath the deck.......some in a shaded area next to my shop......just the way it is for me at present!

When I can, I plan to build a substantially bigger shop and them make a kiln for drying rougouts, etc..........but that is for the future!

[Brian Myers]

I'm in the same boat and haven't really turned much other than the occasional tool handle in 2 yrs. Planning to get back into it this winter after Christmas is done. Most of what I had is outside under a tarp and any large pieces are cracked beyond use.

[Roger Chandler]

I'm in the same boat and haven't really turned much other than the occasional tool handle in 2 yrs. Planning to get back into it this winter after Christmas is done. Most of what I had is outside under a tarp and any large pieces are cracked beyond use.

Hopefully you can get something out of this........perhaps some smallish items like bottlestopper blanks, pen blanks, light pulls and other assorted tool handles.........the rest can be for firewood.