Inexpensive wood blocks

A

AWGunS

Joined
Sep 16, 2006
Messages
616
I picked up some stabilized Birch blocks for some hidden tang knives from the Burl Source. They were very reasonable in price, but I am looking for something not stabilized, and hopefully less expensive for practice pieces. I know they pop up on occasion in the exchange, but I was wondering if anyone else had a source for such blocks.

Thanks.
 
Go online to any wood supplier, Woodcraft, or on ebay. Buy a board or block of wood that you like and cut it into dozens of blocks. Good looking woods that are cheap when buying a board are curly maple, walnut, cocobola. You end up paying less than $1 a handle often.

I just did a quick check on ebay, and a 48X10X1.5" curly maple board is selling for $10. That should cut up to make 40 handle blocks 6X2X1.5". Even with shipping you will have about $0.50 a handle.
 
Woodcraft is where I can get them locally. They have a good selection of blocks intended for woodturners. All kinds of domestic and exotic woods. Beware they are not guaranteed to be completely dry, especially the foreign woods. Often they are covered in a thick layer of wax, which is annoying to remove.
 
Sometimes I find interesting big hunks of wood at the estate sales of guys that used to work with wood. Usually, the wood (no matter how fabulous) sells for $3 - $5 for BIG hunks. I've found big burls, and a friend found me a big hunk of lignum vitae, all dirt cheap. Mostly the estate sale people are just glad to see the big pieces of wood hauled off. The added advantage is that often estate sale wood has been drying on site for a long time, sometimes lost in giant piles of wood the guy intended to do something with. And you can usually find tools at those sales too.

Just something to consider. Certainly not a reliable source.
 
If you know any custom cabinet shops they usually discard stuff the 'we' like
because it not consistent etc...I just got a bunch of hickory for nothing just by asking.
 
All good tips! I'll second what Steve said about cabinet shops - they have to pay someone to haul away the stuff they can't use, but we love. Everytime I've called one and asked, they told me "come the day before the garbage truck shows up and bring a box" :thumbup: Bring donuts, too. Everybody likes donuts. And a stack of your business cards... folks that work in those shops have a high likelihood of appreciating handmade knives.

Be careful, though - you might end up having to work and earn some money off those guys if you know how to sharpen chisels, planer blades, etc. ;)
 
Thanks guys. Never thought about cabinet shops, even though I worked in one for several years. They had a rack full of semi exotic woods that I can remember. I will have to stop by a few. I am going to Ebay after this and see whats available there as well.
 
I've gotten scraps of hardwood flooring at building materials recycling places. Found some birdseye maple and ipe flooring at one place. Sometimes you can get old hard wood furniture at garage sales.

Ric
 
Working in a cabinet shop I threw away every piece of crotch wood I came across for over 20 years. One mans trash.... Also check out old pallets, I have found some nice wood recycling a shipping pallet.
 
DIW shops over here sell 3ft+ ~1,5 x 1,5 beams of beech.
Some are pretty enought for work knives

And did you know that large axe handles were made out of multiple knife handle blocks?
:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top