# BUYING & TRADING WOOD



## Wildman (Jun 2, 2015)

Domestic & Exotic Woodturning Market

Best of the best wood species sold to musical instrument, high-end cabinet & furniture, veneer, flooring & building lumber industries.  Today we export more domestic woods than ever before. 

The craft Industry wood vendors get the left over wood not needed by other industries.  
Just too many online and local vendors catering to woodturners selling bowl, pen, and spindle blanks to mention.  Majority of craft vendors catering to woodturners buy domestic & exotic woods by the pound.  Pen blanks or spindle blanks sold by linear inch or foot.  You can pay pennies or dollars per foot or inch depending upon species and vendor.

Some lumber companies do specialize in both domestic & exotic woods and sell by board or linear foot. Depending upon the vendor can find bowl, pen & spindle blanks besides boards. 

Great sources for domestic lumber are firewood sellers & sawmills.  Don’t forget about other woodturners as a source.

Depending upon what and where we buy wood can come end-sealed, completely sealed, or unsealed.  

I found two lumber companies dealing in domestic & exotic hardwood going to' 

Woodfinder: Find Sources of Lumber, Veneer and Sawmill Services.

simply type in what you want & zip code and click on search.

The World Timber Corp just 15 miles from my house.  Many years ago had a $250 minimum order, not sure today website update still in progress.  I am not into exotic woods so never called or stopped by.    

Exotic Lumber Wholesale Importer

This place little further away from me sells both domestic & exotic boards.  You can see prices of various Purpleheart boards by length & width. they sell both domestic & exotic woods.

http://www.thinwoods.com/6_c_925.html

The advantages of buying & trading wood to turn verus harvesting your own wood matter of personal choice.

Advantages:

Ability to build up a supply of both domestic & exotic blanks to turn without much time & effort.  Prudent shopping can keep cost low. 

Disadvantages:

With exception of burls, neither you nor vendor knows what part of the tree that blank came from base, crotch, limb. 

Majority of vendors buy burls & blanks completely sealed in wax and have no idea of moisture content or quality of the wood they sell.  

Until scrap wax from sides cannot see obvious defects if any in the blanks, you buy.  

Blanks can also have internal defects unfortunately; they do not show up until on the lathe.

You have to scrap sides of blank to allow blanks times to reach equilibrium moisture content.  

I link this reference to provide technical information.

Forest Products Laboratory - USDA Forest Service

Vendors sites may provide more information about the wood you buy or can find information at other web sites.  Of course can always post any questions you have on a message board.


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## mark james (Jun 2, 2015)

This is an interesting post.  Thank you Bill!


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