Carving Stock And Locations

[ Edited by: Chip and Andy 2012-05-01 20:12 ]

Origin of raw wood before carving has been mentioned many times, I can think of five stories I told where I obtained logs, some were encounters with the local authorities! Search through the creating tiki posts, you'll find the stories. Logs are like surf spots, if you know where to look you'll find them.

Chip and Andy

Not sure where you live and all, and thus if what grows locally is what you want, but I've found if you find a small tree service give trimmers/climbers beer, (start by just giving them a case so they know you mean business) you will get more than you expected delivered to your house.

If it's the business owner you work this with, give his crew soft drinks...

You can also make friends with people in the local ag dept. and find out unusual wood in your area...as it's often a place where unusual pests like fruit non-native friut flies are checked by them.

I'm also in South Florida. Not sure about Dade but here in Broward there are logs down everywhere right now all you need is a truck. If you're looking for more exotic or dried wood, Constantines wood shop in Oakland Park on Oakland Park Blvd about a 1 mile from the Mai Kai has everything you need including carving tools ect...

Chip and Andy, there is wood everywhere in Broward county. McDougall knows. I carved there for 10 years and never ran out of wood.Look in the yellow pages and find the tree trimmers section, there are Many.
Physically GO and visit each one, explaining your quest. You will find good ones and some who aren't so good. Make yourself a list of the guys you see as future wood suppliers and Visit them REGULARLY with your Truck. you will be blessed with more wood than you need.
Also everywhere you go, be on the look-out for trees being trimmed or removed. When you see something..JUMP ON IT.
Good luck and share your wood with other local carvers.

edited by me

[ Edited by: Chip and Andy 2009-02-23 10:24 ]

Are there any carvers in NorCal looking for a source of logs? It turns out the tree company I worked for years ago has just created a "Chip Yard". I'm going to check it out today and wanted to gauge interest here. They don't sell uncut logs to the General Public, but would be willing to sell to carvers.

Any thoughts on size, wood type prices you'd be willing to pay for logs?

Mahalo,
~T

I purchased a log from a Log Home Resource Center. It was English Spruce about 12 ft. & I paid $50. It was really nice not having to debark. Unfortunately the company moved to a more rural location out of my range.

Moderators can't moderate what I take out.

I lucked out and ran into a high school friend that knew someone that owned a tree farm. He let's people dump trees on his property and the guy piles them up, lets them rot, and resells the compost. So I get to rummage through the 18ft tall piles of trees, and using bulldozers and backhoes, pick out the palm logs that I want. My problem is I don't have any way to transport long trees, so I have to cut them into 4-5ft sections that I can handle on my own.

If you're like me, you come by a tree right after it's been cut down. Sometimes if you ask reeeeaaaalllll nice, they'll let you have a larger piece...or if they're not there yet.