woods in Oregon and N. California
 

I live in rural Colorado and plan to take my truck and trailer to
Oregon and Northern California to pick up some wood for bowl and vessel
turning. I spent a fair amount of time in coastal British Columbia and
will be looking for Big Leaf Maple, Oregon Oak, redwood, myrtlewood,
and possible Madrone. Any reactions to that list? Any great Northwest
woods I'm missing? I'm nosing around small timber lots in that area
and am willing to pay for the wood. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Bob

Hi Bob

Bob there's also Pacific Dogwood, Oregon Ash, Walnut and one heads-up on
the Arbutus, it twist checks and cracks like you would not believe, has
to be boiled apparently, something I didn't know when I got a 8"D branch
and cut up in lengths to fit my car, wasn't barely a piece bigger than
an egg cup left to turn by the time I got home.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

wrote:
I live in rural Colorado and plan to take my truck and trailer to
Oregon and Northern California to pick up some wood for bowl and vessel
turning. I spent a fair amount of time in coastal British Columbia and
will be looking for Big Leaf Maple, Oregon Oak, redwood, myrtlewood,
and possible Madrone. Any reactions to that list? Any great Northwest
woods I'm missing? I'm nosing around small timber lots in that area
and am willing to pay for the wood. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Bob

Bob,
When are you coming? I live in Eugene, and have some sources, and of
course,we have a local club, and more sources. Madrone, quoting a
friend," that stuff starts to split when you fire up the chainsaw."
robo hippy

wrote in message
oups.com...
I live in rural Colorado and plan to take my truck and trailer to
Oregon and Northern California to pick up some wood for bowl and vessel
turning. I spent a fair amount of time in coastal British Columbia and
will be looking for Big Leaf Maple, Oregon Oak, redwood, myrtlewood,
and possible Madrone. Any reactions to that list? Any great Northwest
woods I'm missing? I'm nosing around small timber lots in that area
and am willing to pay for the wood. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Bob

Oregon Black Walnut
and the similar but not-so-dark Claro Walnut

Qnc

Two other hardwoods that are worth trying out are Golden Chinkapin and
Tanoak. Chinkapin is a great wood to turn and in my experience, did
not cause problems with drying and cracking. You can make big bowls
out of it and it finishes well. You will have real problems trying to
dry tanoak bowls after roughing, but if you let it spalt, it is well
worth the effort. Tanoak and chinkapin should be available in Southern
Oregon. Further North, in Washington, you should be able to find Paper
Birch, but I never found it an interesting wood to turn.
Good luck and happy turning,
Nissan Teman

In article .com,
"robo hippy" wrote:

When are you coming? I live in Eugene, and have some sources, and of
course,we have a local club, and more sources. Madrone, quoting a
friend," that stuff starts to split when you fire up the chainsaw."

After I turned some green Madrone burl a year or two back, I could hear
the wood drying on my mantle - sounded like a bowl of Rice Krispies.
Amazingly no visible cracks ever developed as I'd turned it very thin
and the surface distorted greatly.

--
"Sure we'll have fascism in America, but it'll come disguised
as 100% Americanism." -- Huey P. Long

On 27 Jan 2005 22:41:34 -0800, "robo hippy"
wrote:
Robo Hippy:
I have tried two emails and no reply
I'd appreciate a minute of your time about wood sources in central
OR.

Don L.
Bob,
When are you coming? I live in Eugene, and have some sources, and of
course,we have a local club, and more sources. Madrone, quoting a
friend," that stuff starts to split when you fire up the chainsaw."
robo hippy

Don wrote:

On 27 Jan 2005 22:41:34 -0800, "robo hippy"
wrote:
Robo Hippy:
I have tried two emails and no reply
I'd appreciate a minute of your time about wood sources in central
OR.

Don L.
Bob,
When are you coming? I live in Eugene, and have some sources, and of
course,we have a local club, and more sources. Madrone, quoting a
friend," that stuff starts to split when you fire up the chainsaw."
robo hippy



Take a look at this site:

http://www.orforestdirectory.com/

After you plow through the cabinet makers, etc. you can come up with a
list of small mills, etc. I've been to 'Exotic Woods' in Brownsville and
can reccomend them. Do call ahead, as they are often on collecting trips.
HUGE burl - by huge, I mean feet in diameter.

I can also recommend Gilmer's in Portland.

LD

Thank you all for your useful responses. Again, I am impressed with
the level of help one can get from this group. Some of you mentioned
the difficulty of Madrone (Arbutus) moving and checking. When we lived
on Saltspring Island in BC, I got to know a very good turner. He got
Madrone trees from foresters in the winter, rough turned them into
bowls, boiled them for 90 minutes in a 55 gallon drum, then slowly
dried them outside, then in his basement, and finally in his house. He
turns them a few at a time and sells them in the local market and in
galleries. Hardly ever checked on him. You can see his work at
bobmckaywoodturner.com.

There is another great location for burls, Exotic Burl in Coquille, Oregon.
Here is a link if you are interested. They always sell burls at the AAW
Symposiums:

http://www.exoticburl.com/index2.php

Good luck......Ralph
wrote in message
oups.com...
I live in rural Colorado and plan to take my truck and trailer to
Oregon and Northern California to pick up some wood for bowl and vessel
turning. I spent a fair amount of time in coastal British Columbia and
will be looking for Big Leaf Maple, Oregon Oak, redwood, myrtlewood,
and possible Madrone. Any reactions to that list? Any great Northwest
woods I'm missing? I'm nosing around small timber lots in that area
and am willing to pay for the wood. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Bob