Marketing Flamed box elder

[Kansas]

Ironwood, on those rounds, did you  slice out slabs out of the log and then turn down the outside into blanks? Or did you crosscut the log.

[WDH]

The turners around here want the logs or sections cut into slabs (like cutting lumber or boards), without any pith, and a minimun of 3" thick, but 4" or 5" is better.  They do not like cross cuts or cookies.  They also don't like to pay for wood.  They scrounge wood everywhere.  I guess that if I had truly exceptional stuff, I could sell more.  It may be different in your area.

[SwampDonkey]

Most I've known over the years scrounge their own wood. You could have a barn full of blanks and never sell a piece.

[Axe Handle Hound]

 
Well, we screwed up cutting ours. I didn't realize it until Arky pointed it out. We cut 1 inch off the outsides. But the turning blanks are where the money is. So his method would have been to drop down 6 inches or so and make the first cut. Leave the bark on. Then cut that into blanks. When your turning a bowl, its going to be round anyway on the bottom. The bark will be taken off during turning. 

I don't think you screwed up.  Unless that tree was 100% for sure cut in the dead of winter when there was no sap in the bark it would have just gotten slimey and fallen off on it's own.  I deal with a lot of box elder here, mostly for firewood and syrup production, but it's been my experience that box elder does not hold it's bark well at all.

[Kansas]

It wasn't that he suggested leaving the bark on. It was that a turner making bowls could take the first cut (and others) if you dropped down to your desired thickness and simply slabbed the outside. That outside slab could be cut into bowl turning blanks.  The turner I am sure when turning the bowl would have taken the bark off, and shaped the outside part of the slab. The point he was making is that eliminated the 1 inch stuff. Which makes sense, and pithes me off that I never thought of it before.

[Tree Feller]

On logs of moderate size, up to about 18" diameter, blanks will be harvested by first cutting the log into sections a couple of inches longer than the diameter.

If a natural edge vessel (bark on) is desired, the short log will then be ripped with a chainsaw by bracketing the pith. That leaves two half-round sections with the bark on the outside. A circular pattern will then be attached to the bark side and the bowl blank cut out on the bandsaw. Some turners with big, variable speed lathes will simply lop off the corners with a chainsaw rather than cut a perfect circle.

If a natural edge is not wanted, a rip cut on the outside to remove the bark and some of the sapwood is made also. That will leave a blank with both sides flat so that either one can be placed on the bandsaw table.

Unless one specifically wants a natural edge, it is advisable to remove the bark because bugs like to reside just underneath it.

Also, turners fashion lots of things besides bowls. Hollow form vessels and vases are also very popular. Half-round blanks do not lend themselves well to those types of turnings.

Any turner with a Kel McNaughton or similar coring tool can cut nested bowls out of a large blank. It's also handy when turning green blanks because it will core out a bowl that is already "roughed out" and ready for final drying.

Speaking of drying, not all turners want their blanks green. That requires twice-turning...the vessel is roughed out with the wall thickness left at around 10% of diameter, dried for several weeks up to several months and then final turned to eliminate any warping. Some don't want to wait for the drying so they only turn dry wood. Lots of commercial places, like Hearne Hardwoods, offer kiln-dried turning blanks.

I turn a lot and have never bought a turning blank but that's because I'm rural and have access to so much free wood. Urban wood turners and those who do not have the time to source and procure free wood will definitely buy blanks, both green and dried. That's why one sees turning blanks in places like Woodcraft...because people are buying them.

[Ironwood]

CF,

 Yes, same boy about 8 years older.


 Yes, milled them to 4-5" thick slabs. then cut out the blanks with no pith.


 Ironwood

[ely]

im sorta like SD, doesent do ya much good to have a barn full of anything with no buyer. if i had someone wanting the wood now i would negociate a price and move on. less handleing,less storage,less overhead=more cash in the long run. face it, no one here  is gonna retire on flamed box elder.

[Dodgy Loner]

I really think that you have to be open to internet marketing and shipping if you want to do well with turning blanks. There are definitely people out there who will shell out good money for turning blanks, but they are mostly around big urban areas where "free wood" is hard to come by. And most of the people with blanks to cut and sell are far removed from those big urban areas. If you have very special wood, I definitely think it would be well worth your time to look into online sales. The more you do it, the less of a headache it becomes.