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Cmiles1985

Cmiles1985

Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2013
Messages
1,611
Location
Aransas Pass, TX
For those of you that make blanks:

Have you considered/do you use your local landfill as a never-ending timber supply?

I don't know how many municipalities work (double entendre not intended), but our landfill is the local catch-all for tree trimming/removal. Last time I was out there disposing of brush, I halfway thought about picking up a piece of wood that was pretty nice looking. Then the thought hit me this morning: "Why not take the truck out there and load up on nice burly chunks of oak, mesquite, pecan, hackberry, etc.?" I doubt that the city would let me take my chain saw out there for liability reasons in my sue-happy community, but I'm sure there are plenty of pieces small enough to fit in the truck.
 
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Make friends with your local tree trimmer/arborist. (Make him a pen!) Then tell him to keep any favored woods for you. Mine recently brought me an 8 foot piece of desert ironwood! He has also brought me carob, acacia, mesquite with mistletoe galls, and LOTS of mulberry crowns.
 
I get free wood from the dump near my house all the time, much to my wife's dismay. Hackberry grows like weeds in central Texas, as does pecan, mesquite, cedar, and Osage orange. Much of the wood is mystery wood, but that works just fine for me. Plenty to practice on, and occasionally I accidentally make something beautiful! Lucky for us turners, the "undesirable" wood tends to get no attention. Those crotches, knotty logs, and crooked sticks have some amazing figure!
 
I have two tree trimmers that have wood for me from time to time. One also is a good source of flat stock as he now has a band saw mill at his yard. He often removers large mature trees and cuts them into boards for lumber. Some goes to firewood and the rest was being chipped.

They both drop off spaulted wood, what many call rotten wood, in large pieces to my house. I cut them into rough flat stock for drying. Maple, oak hickory are all interesting. Now I have them looking for burls and large healed knots as well.
 
I just got some mulberry crotch, ash crotch, ash root burl, spalted maple, and maple burl from our local stump dump. My wife forbids me from going back until I get the stuff I already have cut up and get the driveway cleaned up. It is killing me to think of what else might be there waiting to be rescued.
 
These are excellent ideas! I may just have to go out and ask so I have something extra to work on (just what I need!!). Many of the neighborhoods like mine were landscaped with Elm back in the 50's, and these trees are now falling over and being removed. Also, as stated above, Hackberry is a weed here. I can't say how many I've cut off of my property to leave at the dump. If I get out there today, I will post pics of findings.

Another source that I've been using for practice wood (and scrap for other projects) is a millwork shop. My dad has a cabinet maker buddy in Mexico that uses solely red oak and walnut. Many of the pieces I get are already 3/4"+ square and would normally go to the burn pile. Let's just say, I have a lot of walnut pens stocked up.
 
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