I was thinking, maybe a would swap part of the forum would be useful for the members? I’ve noticed the prices of blanks on eBay etc and though of buying some, put they seem a bit pricy. I’m probably going to end up with way too much green wood blanks and more than likely to much dried of one species in a year. So, it may be good if members can swap wood for say the cost of postage? And I know from reading threads in the forum that what’s good for some turners is subjective. But that would be down to the members to bargain a swap.
I had some wood blanks given to me by an old mans daughter who passed away recently. I’ll post a picture of what I found later. But in the collection was an oak bur that would almost fit in my fist and it was priced at £2.04. It looks about 10 years old by the faded label and I thought that’s bloody ridiculous. My friend the Church warden chopped down an old oak tree at the back of the church in late autumn that’s full of burs. I just have to find some room and transport to get it to my house and chop it up. I’m also a bit hobbled as I don’t have a petrol chainsaw so will have to rely on another friend to chop it in the field. But I’m happy to send lumps of it to genuine turnings if they have something I want to swap. Especially as I need dried wood more than I need raw logs.
Anyway, just I thought, I have a full cherry tree being dropped off some time this weekend because I made I tiny bud vase out of some spalt’d beech that the farmer had stacked in his wood pile. It’s the second thing I’ve turned in 30 years so not a masterpiece. My mum gave it to the farmers wife as a thank you and now timbers piling up at the back of my shed lol.