wood supply?

R

ralmeida

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Oct 7, 2010
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Hey guys I'm pretty much finished with the blade for my knife and I'm starting to think about the handle/guard. Probably a stupid question but Where do you go to get the wood for your handles? I would like to get it local rather than online as I'd like to start it today. Thanks - Rich
 
ralmeida said:
Hey guys I'm pretty much finished with the blade for my knife and I'm starting to think about the handle/guard. Probably a stupid question but Where do you go to get the wood for your handles? I would like to get it local rather than online as I'd like to start it today. Thanks - Rich
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I saw a guy on youtube who got his handle wood at home depot from the project wood section. I wondered if that was "good" or not but he used it.
 
For local,go to the big box stores and in the lumber section look for cherry or red oak.Dig through all of it and sometimes you can find some nice stuff.I've found red oak pieces with alot of figure and it will make good handles with an oil finish.
Stan
 
Another good source is from broken pallets you find behind the big box stores. The dirty little secret is that a lot of these pallets come from overseas and will be made with some seriously nice woods. I found some tropical hardwood from a pallet I picked up behind a retail outlet, turns out that a lot of their stuff is shipped direct from thailand and where we use chintzy pine for pallets, they use the tropical equivalent.

Not all pallets are awesome stuff, but a lot of them will be hardwoods, and some will be tropical hardwoods. It's like an easter egg hunt.
 
Hi Friend --

I'm not sure where you are in Mass, but if you're anywhere near Boston or West Springfield you might want to check out Woodcraft, http://www.woodcraft.com/stores/Default.aspx?locationType=state&location=MA. Or look for something along those lines. Furniture and flooring places also sometimes have drops or scraps. They should at least be able to tell you where there are wood suppliers in your area. Thrift stores sometimes have items made out of interesting wood that you can recycle. Craiglist often has folks listing woods from arboring or lumbering or flooring, etc.

Good luck and let us know how it goes! -- Phil
 
VaughnT said:
Another good source is from broken pallets you find behind the big box stores. The dirty little secret is that a lot of these pallets come from overseas and will be made with some seriously nice woods. I found some tropical hardwood from a pallet I picked up behind a retail outlet, turns out that a lot of their stuff is shipped direct from thailand and where we use chintzy pine for pallets, they use the tropical equivalent.

Not all pallets are awesome stuff, but a lot of them will be hardwoods, and some will be tropical hardwoods. It's like an easter egg hunt.
Click to expand...

Boring in Seattle used to get tons of pallets from the far east made out of mahogany. You could then go to Boring Surplus (now closed) and buy it for $.05 per lb, less the 20% Boring employee discount. Good times.
 
Albin said:
Boring in Seattle used to get tons of pallets from the far east made out of mahogany. You could then go to Boring Surplus (now closed) and buy it for $.05 per lb, less the 20% Boring employee discount. Good times.
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I lolled... I think you mean Boeing. It's too bad about Boeing surplus- all kinds of interesting stuff and great deals down there.

JR
 
Like Phil said, woodcraft and rockler both have stores in and around MA and they both have a good selection of wood.
 
I found some nice woods at a building supply recycling place. They recycle building materials from tear downs, remodeling, etc. I usually look at the flooring scraps. Found oak, some ash, brazillian walnut, a few pieces of birdseye maple, bamboo and black walnut flooring. I also got some eastern hard maple, black walnut, and a piece of poplar for real cheap.

You might check with some flooring contractors and see if they have any scrap that you have of buy from them.

Ric
 
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