Getting turning stock from tree trimmers???

[Clarence Martinn]

Anyone get their wood turning stock from tree trimming companies ? Got a chance to get my choice of turning stock from a local tree trimmer. ( Ash, Elm, Maple, Walnut, Butternut , Locust, Apple, etc. ) Is there any downside to this ? It's all green, but it's all FREE!!

[David Walser]

Other than having to process the tree trimmings yourself, I can see no downside.

[Thomas Canfield]

My downside to picking up the free wood is to limit the amount that I get. I usually get the wood at the site and they either load direct to my truck or set aside for me to pick up later. Some of the very large pieces it is good to have them put on your carrier and avoid lifting, and gravity is my friend to unload but still requires some assistance for the 400# sections like 6' of 16" diameter trunk. I had a full load of Mesquite put on my pickup last Wednesday that I took to another turner to share, and then had to pick up 2 more loads of the Mesquite that were set aside for me to pick up by the weekend. You can be more selective, but don't expect the tree service to do much trimming for you unless you make some $$ arrangement since they are not looking to do free work, but often glad to not have to haul off wood. Green is good if you twice turn, but you will need a chainsaw and a bandsaw is helpful also, plus area to do the wood preparation and storage.

[John K Jordan]

Anyone get their wood turning stock from tree trimming companies ? Got a chance to get my choice of turning stock from a local tree trimmer. ( Ash, Elm, Maple, Walnut, Butternut , Locust, Apple, etc. ) Is there any downside to this ? It's all green, but it's all FREE!!

You can usually find an abundance of free wood from tree services and, at least around here, from county road crews. Either are usually glad to give you all you want since that's less they have to dispose of. You can also find free wood by spotting where someone has cut down a tree.

Downsides:
- It is too easy for them to give you far more than you can use.
- Green wood is heavy and can be difficult or even dangerous to load and handle.
- You will need a good chainsaw or two, wedges, etc.
- Trees from around houses and farms often have steel inside, usually in the first 4-6' from the ground. This can be hard on a chainsaw, bandsaw, turning tools.
- Without good communication you might get wood you can't use.

It's best to meet the tree guys at the site and bring your own chainsaw to get what you can use. Sometimes they are willing to help load short chunks into your truck. Unless you know the guys be careful if they offer to leave pieces for you to come after - the pieces may be too big to handle, wood worthless for turning, or they may leave you a mess to clean up.

Some people who turn a lot of green wood have mounted a hoist on their truck to load chunks. If you have a trailer and some ramps and there is enough space at the site, you can also use a chain or cable and parbuckle heavy logs onto the trailer with a come-along, car/truck, or even a big 4-wheeler. I've done that several times - be careful, handling a heavy log can be dangerous.

Some good advice I've heard is don't take more wood than you can at least rough turn in a couple of weeks. Many turners make the mistake of getting way too much which, if cut into chunks short enough to handle without big equipment, will start to check and crack and end up as a big pile of firewood. Best to keep it in log form rather than chunks, off the ground, in the shade. Trim off any end checking then cut a blank and turn it right then. This is the method the other John Jordan uses since he turns green wood; he pays someone to deliver the log and put it where he wants it.

I prefer to turn dry wood so I process the logs or chunks into turning blanks right away, seal, and put up to dry. Drying may take months or years. I have a sawmill so I sometimes get logs and saw them into 8/4 or thicker slabs for drying. These make great turning dry stock for shallow bowls, platters, and lots of smaller things. Again, loading and hauling without big equipment can be a problem. Sometimes I've hauled a tractor to the site to load logs on a flat-bed truck or trailer.

There is a good book that might help, "Harvesting Urban Timber": https://www.amazon.com/Harvesting-Ur.../dp/0941936716

JKJ

[Paul Heely]

I have a friend that runs a tree service. I get whole logs from him. When I need wood I go visit his wood lot and we walk around and I pick out 4-5 logs that I want. He then loads them up and delivers to my house. It does cost me a few bucks, but I get to pick the exact logs I want and they get delivered as full length logs. I prefer full length over cut up, so I can cut back a few inches and cut out a couple of chunks at a time to turn as I want. I'm also able to only select trees that are 16"+ in diameter and the exact species I'm looking for. My last drop was a 24" honey locust (worst wood I've ever worked with), a couple of 16"+ cherry trees and a 30" maple that will become some platters, nested bowl sets and lots of hollow forms. He also calls when he finds nice burls or other unique wood like large fruit trees.

[roger wiegand]

I'm sure that offering a gratuity is helpful, especially if you want to be at the top of the call list when they cut down a big burl. What's customary? I've been giving crews a $25 gift card for Dunkin Donuts, the local lowest common denominator favorite for coffee. I wonder if that's enough, as I haven't gotten many callbacks.

[Richard Coers]

Done that for decades. If I stop at a site where they are still working, I make sure to not be a bother, stay out of the way, and cut and load quickly. I rake up my mess if I was doing any cutting. I leave a box of donuts for the crew. When I visit the arborist's lot, I take a bowl as a gift and give him a bag of Christmas ornaments and spinning tops for his kids at Christmas. My best system was when I got access to the City's recycling lot. Can't count the number of burls I hauled out of there. Lucky for me, my wife worked for the City. Made getting a permit pretty easy!

[Reed Gray]

Give an arborist a free bowl or two, and they will start calling you up when they are taking some thing down. Give them a few more bowls and they start dropping by your house with "we thought you might like this". Much of the wood goes to land fills, and they don't like to waste it, but have more than they can deal with...

Oh, don't ever get a 'barnyard' tree..... Lots of metal!

robo hippy

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

At first you will want to take everything, and sooner or later, you will get a little more picky, taking only woods you like to turn. I can get all the free red oak I want, but why? When the mill has cut cherry, black walnut, elm of poplar, I load up, but that is only once every three or four months. It also depends on what you turn. I do mostly spindle work, so I am not really looking for bowl blanks

[Bill Bukovec]

I got some nice walnut ( two trunks) from a neighbor. I told the neighbor that I wanted the trunks in one piece, not chunked up. The tree guys were more than happy to oblige, even giving my neighbor a discount. Also, the squirrels no longer stored the nuts in our boat!

[Clarence Martinn]

Looking at doing small stuff to start off with. Wood stemmed wine glasses, Wine Glasses, Beer Steins/ Mugs, and possibly some wood cake stands.

[John K Jordan]

Looking at doing small stuff to start off with. Wood stemmed wine glasses, Wine Glasses, Beer Steins/ Mugs, and possibly some wood cake stands.

You might want to try long-stemmed goblets with natural edges from green limbs. Limbs 3-4" in diameter are perfect. These can be cut with very thin stems which can warp when drying for an attractive display.

Lots of people make them. Rudy Lopez is well known for them and teaches and demos - search google for Rudy Lopez long-stemmed goblets for demo handouts and videos.

JKJ

[Stan Calow]

Try (google) "birds mouth bowl" turnings for a fun useful object. Use limb sections about 4" diameter,