# Finding your own wood?



## McBryde (Jan 25, 2010)

Well, this could go in many directions, so let me just start it off in the right one!   I am always outdoors, wether it be trapping, hunting, fishing, or just tooling around to get away from the old lady.  My question is one that I have asked myself lately, because I am new at this whole pen turning thing, and don't know the answer, and didn't know if this fell under any category.  Some of the videos that I have seen online about turning pens the guys will just pick up a hunk of wood and cut them a blank from it.  This could be from some root looking piece of wood, to some branch or log looking thing.  I know the easiest thing to do is to just go buy pen blanks, but I get satisfaction from using stuff that I find more for some reason.  I'm guessing I'm not alone in this sickness, so what do you look for?  I know that there has to be some certain thing you look for when trying to find a piece to turn from.  What is that certain thing?  What makes you drag that piece of wood back to the truck from in the woods, what makes you pull the car over and pick up that piece of wood off the side of the road?  And most importantly, what in the world do you do with it to make sure you can use it?  Do you have to have some certain % humidity in it?  Can you just cut it up and use it like it lays?  I need help with these answers.  I figure I'm not he only one that feels this way, any others?  Any of ya'll already working your way through this sickness and found out any answers yet? :wink:

Thanks in advance,

Emerson


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## hewunch (Jan 25, 2010)

I would drag a burl a mile in the snow uphill. No matter what the tree was. Sometimes you can find stuff that has curl on the outside, that is a good possibility it will have curl on the inside. Roots often have good stuff as do some collars. Crotch wood often has curl. So yes if it is laying down grab it. If it is still wet, it will dry. And if you go ahead and cut it up it will dry faster. HTH


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## Grizz (Jan 26, 2010)

I concur.   I'd drag a burl a long way if I could.  I can spot curly wood or what should be curly wood in a log, just hard to explain it.


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## McBryde (Jan 26, 2010)

What do you look for?  Got any pics of what to look for?

E


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## markgum (Jan 26, 2010)

The best wood is 'Free Found Wood'.  I have come to a screaching stop (more than once) on the highway to pull over and run back for a piece of wood.  One never knows what you will find when you start turning it.


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## el_d (Jan 26, 2010)

Its kinda hard to explain experience but the best way is to look for the knarliest, twisted, old, maybe full of dirt. Just cut one open to see if you like the grain. After a while you will get the jist of it and start finding "jewels" for free...


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## Rifleman1776 (Jan 26, 2010)

Scrounging for wood can become a fine art. Being a hunter, you should have the right instincts. You are doing the right thing by just keeping your eyes open. If your city/county has a spot where tree trimmers dump wood look there. Often you have to get there before it is run through the chipper. If you hear a chain saw, saddle up the tin mule and head that direction. Let friends know you want wood. Soon, you can be like me with so much wood in the garage a vehicle will never fit. Shop nearly same. 
Trades with folks here can be a great way to acquire woods that do not grow in your local area.


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## jleiwig (Jan 26, 2010)

http://www.allwoodwork.com/article/woodwork/birdseyeidentification1.htm

I know that I've almost wrecked an ATV a couple times looking for burls.  There is a tree on my buddies land that looks prime for some great figured walnut.  Now if only it would get blown over.


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## robutacion (Jan 26, 2010)

McBryde said:


> Well, this could go in many directions, so let me just start it off in the right one!   I am always outdoors, wether it be trapping, hunting, fishing, or just tooling around to get away from the old lady.  My question is one that I have asked myself lately, because I am new at this whole pen turning thing, and don't know the answer, and didn't know if this fell under any category.  Some of the videos that I have seen online about turning pens the guys will just pick up a hunk of wood and cut them a blank from it.  This could be from some root looking piece of wood, to some branch or log looking thing.  I know the easiest thing to do is to just go buy pen blanks, but I get satisfaction from using stuff that I find more for some reason.  I'm guessing I'm not alone in this sickness, so what do you look for?  I know that there has to be some certain thing you look for when trying to find a piece to turn from.  What is that certain thing?  What makes you drag that piece of wood back to the truck from in the woods, what makes you pull the car over and pick up that piece of wood off the side of the road?  And most importantly, what in the world do you do with it to make sure you can use it?  Do you have to have some certain % humidity in it?  Can you just cut it up and use it like it lays?  I need help with these answers.  I figure I'm not he only one that feels this way, any others?  Any of ya'll already working your way through this sickness and found out any answers yet? :wink:
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Emerson




Hi Emerson,

If was possible for you to spend a full day with me, I would easily provide all the information and know how to what you need, that is obviously not possible so, if you have a little patience and are willing to follows some of my suggestions/recommendations, you will be on you way hunting wood without much trouble.  There are some rules that I have to make sure you understand, first is you equip yourself with the(minimal) equipment necessary, including the safety gear, then you learn how to use particularly you main toll, the chainsaw, then you practice a little with firewood.  Learn how to cut a tree down safely, and all the other cuts involved with processing a full tree when necessary.  Make sure you include a fridge type trolley on your list, you will find out why, as soon as you have logs to "move" around, carry!

After you have the tools and you are comfortable to use them properly, them you will concentrate of getting your hands on every wood you can, regardless of the myths you've heard about certain tree species names.  Don't take for grant any timbers species you have near you, you will be surprise of what you can do with them.  I should know, I do nothing else but collect/salvage any wood that I can find in my local area, with focus in the town itself.  I have at the moment 35 timber species, and quite honestly, recently I void going looking for wood, I've got mote that I ever can use already (reason why I sell about 60% of it) and I have deals/agreements/contracts already "sealed" to cut and remove certain type of trees, for the next 5 years (at my slow pace in these days...!, not counting the numerous call I get from people that I have been trimming their trees for some years now!

A percentage is firewood for myself and for a couple of other disable people in town that I give all they can burn, as they are a few steps in front of me on this one, and already (for some time) limited/bound to a wheel-chair.

What to look for in a tree for turning...??? there more than one answer here, and most would agree, you can never be 100% sure until you cut and slice it...!, regardless of how much experience and years of dealing with trees/wood!  With this said, there are obviously signs within the various tree species that can give you a "starting point" or a "hint" of what is inside but that my friend will take you a "few" hours/days/weeks/months/years on a chainsaw before you can actually see it.

The negative side of doing what I do is that, I had to stop driving, as all I can see is trees on either side of the road, and automatically the brain switch into "saw dust" mode and is all over for attention to the road so, my wife does all the driving now, unless in specific situations where I must be the driver and behave as such!  This suits me to the ground as many years ago the longer the distance I had to drive the happier I would feel, now and since a few year back, I hate literally driving, being on the road and particularly being in a vehicle for more than 15 minutes! My back and neck doesn't like it either...!

Anyway, your main tools will be a medium size chainsaw, and we can talk about them some other time soon, and a band-saw, you could use a table-saw instead but you will be a lot better served with a medium size "bandy"

The only other tool that will be a "must" for processing your logs at home is something that you can build yourself (if you are that sort of bloke) or have it built but a welding works in the area.  This was an invention of mine that has saved many fingers, and particularly toes, apart from solving all the problems people were encounting trying to process logs into blanks (not pen blanks), boards or slabs that are then, cut to final size with the band-saw.

This tool/invention of mine as been share in many woodwork forums all over the world, and you can see it and get all the measurements , on my web site under " JV LOG VICE - STEEL ARMS HELPER".  Look around my site, you will find lots of interesting information on what you are thinking in doing!

Enough for now, I'm going to bed... 2:40am

I will be back...!

If you come up with some questions, don't be shy, you are welcome to ask...!:biggrin:

Cheers
George


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## JohnU (Jan 26, 2010)

Hi Emerson    I can relate to your interest.  I spend as much time in the outdoors and I can.  I live to hunt, fish and just walk in the woods.  I find myself looking more at the trees and their character than at the ground while shed and mushroom hunting. lol   I dont cut the trees down, but I sure find lots of pen blanks in my friends firewood pile and at the local lumber jacks tree pile.  I look for anything curly, spalted, knots, burls, or roots.  I find myself cutting things just to see what it looks like.  If I dont want it, it goes on a camp fire.  I dont know of any "sure way" to get great finds, but from experience you will learn what you dont want, which will leave more time to find what you like.  If you can identify the tree, log or limb before you cut, it will help.  In my area I like to find red oak knots, walnut, boxelder, and maple.  Good luck!


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## greggas (Jan 26, 2010)

Hi Emerson;

I think many of us share in your enjoyment.  Barely a day goes by that I do not have some piece of wood that I found in my travels.  

I try to find wood that is either hard to find or will have some nice figure to it.  Most figure comes from bending  stress or compression in the trees , in the area of tree crotches ( where they "y" off) and of course burls.  I love to find a road tree crew that is shipping up a tree but always leave the piees with all types of crotches or burls on the side of the road because they do not ant it to get caught in the machine.  

I also like to find any kind spalted wood.  Now that I know how to stabilize my own wood I do not care if it is punky or solid ...more interested in the color and pattern.

I also find that my best selling pieces, be they pens, bowls, platters or whatever, are the ones that I have salvaged locally.  People seem to love this for the same reason we do.  

have fun


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## jfoh (Jan 26, 2010)

Free or found wood is the best. Even if you end up with wood you do not want to use you have lost nothing. My fire wood pile has produced more great pen blanks than any other source. I just find a piece and take it over to the band saw. Few fast cuts later you know if you have several dozen great blanks or just smaller fire wood. Spalted Maple, crotch Oak,  curly hickory, burly hedge apple all have been found in my wood pile.

The fellow who sells me my fire wood says that I am the only fellow he knows that likes konts, twisted limbs and wood which is half rotten. He thinks that he is getting one over on me. I think that I am crazy like a fox. Go ahead and deliver that wet slightly rotten wood. I will cut it up and see what it looks like inside. Easy to dry form there.


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## McBryde (Jan 26, 2010)

Well, I can see that I have found alot of crazy folks like myself on this forum it seems, LOL.  

Rifleman, it seems as if we are almost neighbors in the grand scheme of things.  Only about 2-3 hours away.

Thanks for all the info about what to look for at Y's and such good places.  We have alot of logs and rootwads around here, as this part of the world is logged pretty heavily.  We have a place across the hwy from me that the city uses to dump lots of lumber at to burn it from jobs all around town.  I'll have to pay more visits over there to that nice dumping ground!  I do know my trees pretty well, had to know them in college, was a fish and wildlife major, so that will hep me out in figuring out what species will work better than others.  

George,  I really like that contraption you made.  Is there any way that I can get some pics like the ones on the site that are any bigger e-mailed to me?  I can't read the writing and dimensions on the pictures.  Might be a great thing to build for me.  I have the welder and can get the metal to make it.

Thanks for all the info on the topic, keep it coming.  I'm always open to learning new stuff, especially things I am already interested in!

Emerson


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## Mac (Jan 26, 2010)

For me, especially when I first started turning ,I brought every piece of wood home that I could, Now its just every other piece unless. And if you can't find a name for it, just call it fog wood ,Found On Ground. I've been known to go through friends wood trash piles. Now when I go to their house ,they expect me too, as they don't make pens just the big stuff.
The more you turn ,the more you learn,about wood.


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## Mickey (Jan 27, 2010)

You never know when or where you'll run across a great find. I once picked up a discarded wheel chock that some trucker had tossed aside. It just had a look and feel about it. Turned out to produce some of the most beautiful grain I ever saw.


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## McBryde (Jan 27, 2010)

I guess one good thing about turning pens also, is that you don't really need alot of wood for one either!

E


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## McBryde (Feb 7, 2010)

I was out running my traps today at a place where there were some downed trees, and you could see the roots on them.  These trees were oaks.  I also saw one that was a maple.  Are these orange colored roots worth cutting chunks out of for teh wood?  Is it any good?  Also, I was noticing that there was some submerged logs that were still sound wood.  Didn't know if anyone has tried them either.  I know alot of verneirs are made from submerged woods, just didn't know how it was for pens.  I figure it will have to dry out a little longer though, lol.

Emerson


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## SDB777 (Feb 7, 2010)

I actually like it when there is a large thunderstorm with high winds rip through! (Don't get me wrong, I don't enjoy tornado's and hope that no one gets hurt by one!)  Tree's often get uprooted in my local area due to high winds, which leaves the rootball exposed!  Most recently I found a gaint Sycamore(3-1/2' diameter trunk) had got ripped out of the ground, and these roots had been exposed for awhile!  Nasty, twisted, spalted roots!!!

I got the chainsaw out and filled the back of the truck bed!  I got home and cut a lot of 2x2x6(making game calls), 3/4x3/4x6(making pens), and a few 6x6x9(bowls)....Anchorsealed the ends and stored them in my garage.  I imagine it'll be quite some time before I can turn any of it, and the wife might be right about the stuff always being in the way(at least I tell her she's right to keep her happy, but it ain't gettin' thrown out!).  But when the time comes to start turning that "FREE" wood.....standback pops!

Guess I'll need to invest in one of those humidity meter thingys?  Cause I think some of the smaller pieces 'feel' dry.....




Scott (everything feels dry unless its raining) B


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## LandfillLumber (Feb 7, 2010)

Sorry no such thing as free wood,between hauling cost/time/fuels/and so on it gets expensive.Oh not to mention saws to process it all up,that will be the biggest cost.I'm looking for large chainsaw at the moment and don't think I'll find what I want for much less then $500-800(that is expensive wood,lol).Best thing to do is start small as before you know it your saving what ends up being firewood,but I always need firewood,lol.If you have a small jointer and table saw then you can cut up branch wood.Jut take the 4-6" log and joint two sides flat enough to go to the table saw and then slice it up anyway you can(you will be limited by a 10" saws 3" capacity but its a start).Good luck and biggest thing is be safe,Victor


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## McBryde (Feb 7, 2010)

OK, so roots are great!  Anyone know about the submerged wood?

E


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## McBryde (Feb 9, 2010)

Well, today I went to the pawn shop and picked up a chainsaw, a Cub Cadet Commercial model CS-5220 for $100, and it looks almost new.  I just couldn't pass it up.  I look at a root wad every day i go run traps at this place:







I am off of work for bad weather again tomorrow, so I might just have to do a little slicing on this:





Look like any good pieces in there?

Emerson


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## TellicoTurning (Feb 10, 2010)

McBryde said:


> I guess one good thing about turning pens also, is that you don't really need alot of wood for one either!
> 
> E



It can depend on the wood... and you'll need to dry it pretty well before you use it... the wife and I were up on the Tellico River about 4 years ago and picked up a piece of wood that looked as if the beavers had cut it... all chewed to a point on each end... the piece was about 4 or 5 inches diameter
and was soaking wet.... matter of fact I cut one end while it was still wet and let the wood move when I pulled the chop saw down... wound up costing me a chop saw... the blade twisted and shattered the motor housing... but after it dried a bit, I got 3 pepper mills out of that piece of wood... finally decided that it was a birch.  

I know that there are a few sites that are selling Bog Oak... this is actually from the UK where the trees have been submerged in the peat bogs for a couple hundred years.... BOG oak goes for a pretty nice price  per blank and makes some spectacular pens.... haven't had the pleasure myself of working any.


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## McBryde (Feb 11, 2010)

I found this little root wad that I cut part of it off the other day to see what it looked like, and it has a sweet little pattern, have lots more of it to cut off, just have to make sure to get my sizes out of it.  It is a small wad that I picked up about 2 years ago while out trapping, and it has layed in the garage since then.

E


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## KD5NRH (Feb 11, 2010)

McBryde said:


> I guess one good thing about turning pens also, is that you don't really need alot of wood for one either!



That's the main reason that so many people around here like mesquite for penturning: the way they grow in this area, you're sometimes doing well to get a straight, solid 1x1x6 blank by the time you knock the sapwood off.  OTOH, you can get a lot of those from one tree, and 99% of the mesquite trees are just a nuisance to their owners.

As soon as we have a warm dry week, I've got to go check a couple of standing dead trees that just might produce some decent figure.  They're thick enough to cut some straight blanks out of the twisted parts, so I might get lucky.


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## McBryde (Feb 11, 2010)

KD5NRH, I grew up in Springtown and went to college at Tarleton back in the day, that has been a loooooooong time ago though now, some 13 years ago now I guess.  I know exactly what you mean by mesquites and not finding strait pieces out of them.  We had a couple of huge ones, about 3 foot in circumference in our yard when I was growing up.  Not absolutely huge, but a darn big mesquite tree by all means.  A really pretty wood, and great for smoking meat!  Down in the Stephenville neck of the woods, you should be getting into finding some good live oak burls.  The main thing though is nobody wants them cut down, and it takes them 500 years to grow to any size.

I found out my "new" chainsaw needs to be sharpened, or I need a new chain!

E


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## KD5NRH (Apr 18, 2010)

McBryde said:


> I found out my "new" chainsaw needs to be sharpened, or I need a new chain!



Chains are like skews; you can never have too many, and they always need to be sharpened.  It doesn't really take that long with a guided file, and will save so much cutting time that it's worth doing whenever you start to wonder if it's sharp enough.

Got a good deal on a used Craftsman 42cc 18" saw Thursday, and already have a couple of mesquites down.  I got a good-sized green one that should make some nice blanks once I get it split down small enough to cut up, and a pair of standing dead ones with nice thick forks that have some splits in them, but enough solid wood to make them worth the effort.

Even better, getting those out of the way opens up a path wide enough for my Blazer to get to the much thicker stand of mesquites.  I figure about three acres of mesquite, (right there in one patch - there are lots more scattered all over the land) four or five acres of pecans, (self-pruning, so lots of 4-8" limbs laying around without bothering the trees themselves) a few scattered storm-damaged oaks at my land and on mom's place, and the occasional bois d'arc, crabapple, persimmon or pear that needs to be removed to open a path should keep me busy for a while.


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## Mark (Apr 18, 2010)

As for the submerged logs. Do you know what kind of tree they are/were? Doesn't matter I suppose. Take it home, dry it out. Cut it up. Worst case, you have some additional firewood to stack...


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## mywoodshopca (Apr 18, 2010)

Just keep your eyes open and you will see lots. Whats the worse that can happen? You drag it home and its plain wood.

We do a LOT of geocaching and tend to see a LOT of nice wood on our travels. I saw one tree the other day that was burls all over it. Even the branchs had burls on most of them. The burls were from about 3" round - 16" round. I quit counting at 40 burls!! BUT it was a softwood tree. Another tree I saw had about a 12" softwood burl on a branch about 3" in diameter. Just keep your eyes open


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## Mark (Apr 18, 2010)

Jason, That's an awesome find. Soft or not, it's workable. 

My grandmothers old apple tree had a ton on it. I of course didn't realize what she had. Now it's gone as are the burls. I do have one piece drying, but it only has one small burl on it. As I was told earlier, Knowledge is power. If I had known then what I know now, I would have certainly kept it all.


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## Daniel (Apr 18, 2010)

"Found Wood" Is very seldom the best wood. I have talked to some suppliers of the very best blanks that can be bought in the past. They have worked very hard to develop relationships with mills and other sources of very nice wood. They then a actually hand select pieces from that, More on that in a bit. They then take those pieces home and begin the hard labor process of cutting it into blanks. Even then an extimated 20% of this fine hand selected wood turns out to be fire wood. You may on occasion be lucky enough to find a piece of wood that has some very nice pen blank pieces in it.
Next keep in mind that pens are not the only thing wood is used for. So if you find a piece of wood worth hauling home and cutting up. It may be better and be worth more as bowl blanks, peppermill blanks or even bottle stopper blanks.
As for what makes a good pen blank.
Figure, but not only figure, lots of figure, never ending un interrupted figure that is on a relatively tiny scale. You are talking about a pen here, it is a very small canvas but you still want the complete picture. a simply wavy grain may look beautiful on a log, but will not even appear on a pen. Burl, Curl, Twisted grain, Worm holes, Roted, Moldy (spalting) are all good and are even better in combination. I have often had this thought and believe it has at least some truth to it. Go camping and all those pieces of wood nobody thinks are good enough to haul back to camp to burn. That is the stuff you want for pens. But truth is it is not that simple.
Burls are almost always good. A crotch is a great place to look for pen quality wood. places where a tree has had to heal. Some woods such as maple simply grow straight and true and still manage to produce figure. Roots or the stump where the roots become trunk is a pretty good bet.
The two best selling woods for me are Amboyna Burl and Buckeye Burl. I am tending to ignore any straight grain woods such as Kingwood or Wenga. But will still use some of the better Cocobolo blanks. Otherwise my turning is going more toward Acrylics for very fine pens. Look at a lot of the acrylics and what are they trying to produce in the way of looks. I mean the commercial ones. They all tend to go to they swirly marbly. broken up sort of look. At least the most popular ones are. You see some stripes and what not come and go. Wood with that same look is also what is most desired. Looking for it and learning to recognize it is something you have to learn.


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## turnaround (Apr 18, 2010)

This is all very good reading and helpful to all who use found wood.  I bought a moisture meter on ebay a couple of weeks back and now I don't have to be concerned about turning wood with too much moisture.  Now I can turn with more connfidence just knowing how much moisture I am dealing with.


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