On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 20:39:48 -0500, "Joseph Handy"
wrote:

Sorry to post two in a row, but I am looking for suggestions for finding
inexpensive wood to turn.

The first green wood I turned, I got from walking in the county forest
and cutting up trees that had fallen over trails with a bow saw and an
axe. Not all of it was good to turn, but a lot of it was- and it
helped clean up the roadway for others. I'm sure any local parks or
other similar things in your area would be more than happy to have you
help them clean off the paths if you talk to the right people about
it.

I have an uncle who lives in a rural area and would probably share fire wood
with me. Would green, roughly chopped wood, work?

Sure it will, I've turned a bunch of that too- though I still have a
hard time turning oak. That stuff cracks like crazy and likes to
throw splinters at me when I use it. I only mention it because it's
such a common firewood where I live.

How about softwood throw aways from my local big box lumber store?

That'd work fine too- there's no rule against gluing scraps together
to make a blank. You can even use plywood, and it gives you an
interesting striped effect. Do a search for segemented turning, and
you'll see that there is a lot of really nice stuff made out of glued
up odds and ends.

Any other ideas?

My best stuff has come from asking tree removal people if I can take a
couple of chunks from trees they're cutting down. Half the time,
they're hauling pieces out of a backyard with a wheelbarrow, and are
only too happy to let you have some of it because it's that much less
they have to cart over to the truck. If you ask nice, and have the
equipment to take care of it, they'll even let you have the whole tree
for nothing. A lot of that wood just goes in a chipper. The second
best is going around the neighborhood and looking for downed trees
after storms- the city will pick them up, but homeowners are usually
perfectly happy to let you chop them up, take some of the wood and
move the rest onto the curb for them.

Joseph