Thread: "Wand-Sized" Turning Stock?

Not weird at all, I turned one a while back for a very good friend for his birthday.



The piece of wood I used was a piece of a limb I salvaged off one of our job sites.... No idea what species but it worked well.
Often times fire wood piles are fantastic places to salvage wood. They quite often are spalted because it's been sitting outside for so long, and spalted wood is a turners dream. Like others have said, you can get maple and oak dowels from the local hardware store for a pretty decent prices, and the come in many different size diameters.

The key with salvaged material of the streets is , get rid of the pith. The pith of the wood will shoot out cracks, so splitting the material and removing it can control any splitting that might happen. sealing the end grain with old paint will also help control splitting, until it's dry enough to turn.

here's one that sell long 40 inch acrylic blanks. 40 Inch Acrylic Rod Variety Pack (15 Piece)
or here's some exotic wood too. http://www.bellforestproducts.com/wo...nX8aArdi8P8HAQ

That birdseye maple sure would be nice!

Thanks all-I am sending these links on to the kid!