Mesquite and other Arizona woods

[Brian Brown]

My uncle travels around the country, and he likes to bring me back wood form various areas. :D In a few days he is travelling to Arizona (Quartizite, for the Soggy Mountain Bluegrass Festival). He will also be in the Pheonix and Yuma areas. Where can he get some mesquite logs? I would like to try some small mesquite bowls, maybe natural edge. Also, how does citrus wood turn? I have never seen anything, but he'll be in an area with lots of grapefruit. Are there any other native woods that are good for a novice turner? Thanks for the info.

[Jason Hallowell]

Have him look up firewood supply places in the phone book. Citrus is ok to turn, but somewhat plain looking, and prone to checking. Mesquite is the easiest of the local woods to turn, but we also have lots of pecan and a red variety of eucalyptus. If you're lucky, he may find some olive wood too.

[Martin Braun]

If the wood piles don't turn up what you need, you can buy local as well:

http://powerswoodsource.com/

They have a variety of turning blanks, and price-wise they are one of the lowest in town for lumber. Though I have to admit, I haven't bought blanks there, all of my wood I pull out of the bulk trash collection piles of my neighbors. Which brings another idea - if you go to the town/city websites, and look for their bulk trash schedules, you may be able to drive around the neighbor hoods & find what you are looking for.

Also, look under 'free' in craigslist in the appropriate town. That would be hit or miss though, depending on what trees are falling down around the time of the visit.

All depends on your desired time vs. money ratio ;-).

[David Walser]

If you're uncle is going to be in the Phoenix area today, he might consider dropping by the meeting of our local woodturning club. Some of our club members bring wood to swap or might have stashes at home.

Here's a link to our club's home page. Click on the "Meetings" button at the top of the page for information about today's meeting and for directions.

http://azwoodturners.org/

Our meeting starts at noon, local time.