Question for the wood turners here. Aside from picking up logs on the side of the road, where do you get your wood blanks for making bowls?
Thanks!
You probably realize you can get clean blanks from the local wood stores (Woodcraft, Rockler, Woodworld). I still end up getting most of my material from side of the road, and networking with other turners in the shop. I often get scraps from the more experienced turners.
Free logs are available all the time on Facebook marketplace. I just picked up a load Saturday i need to mill. There are also several small saw mills around that will generally let you pick through their piles of first cuts off logs.
If you want to buy blanks, there are several Facebook groups where people sell blanks significantly cheaper, and generally better quality than rockler, woodcraft, and wood world. I find these stores ridiculously high priced on wood.
Ive also found nice cutoff pieces 2 to 4 ft long (12/4 and 16/4) at Hardwood lumber co and Mckinney hardwood that i cut into blanks for $10 to $30. I generally look in their cutoff sections for anything interesting