Well, I was stationed in Enid, and trees were rare Tulsa a bit better. Get
over toward Arkansas and cruise for small mills. Hillier the land, less
likely it's making money farming, so that's where I'd search. Take a good
pickup or trailer, and stock up.

My kid dragged a trailer north to visit, filled it with wood to tow back to
Texas and paid for his entire vacation, so you might consider a vacation in
the area where your desired species are common.

I've used bits to make boxes. Key is to have a big enough template base to
move the router all the way to the edge without tipping, and use that
bottoming bit to clean up the last 8th or 16th. Rest of the work can be
done with collar and a spiral upcut, wasting away an eighth at a time.

"Jeff Anderson" wrote in message
news:Wu7hd.55940$%x.55233@okepread04...
First off I'm pretty new to woodworking but getting into it quickly. My
question is two-parted so I'll just split it up.

Periodically I see posts/hear about people getting large slabs of burl
maple
or cherry or something for very low costs. Just where are they getting
things like this. Are there wood swap meets (I live in Tulsa, OK) or flea
markets for wood? I'm really interested in getting something around
4"x6"x6" or similiar. Local cabinetmakers only tend to have scrap in the
3/4" or less range. Woodcrafters wants about $30 for a chunk that size.

Also - I'm getting ready to do a project making a small jewelry box out of
solid maple (burled, quilted, spalted or something interesting) by routing
out the compartments inside. Saw the project in Art of the Router. I've
practiced on MDF (laminated), just to get the idea and process down and it
came out well, but am worried I'll burn the maple plunging out all the
innards of the compartments.