As with most professional turners, I take whatever I can get for free. I have an excellent contact with the local heritage railway and get access to far more timber that I ever could wish for. A few weeks ago I bucked 3 large flowering cherry trees that they had felled; it's now in 1 meter lengths in my drying shed. I've just got back from a railway cutting where the trackside crew have been clear felling , and there's over 200 trunks waiting to be shifted, but at this time of year, with the railway busy, there's too much other work for them to even think of shifting logs, so I'll be given access to a diesel shunter and a few flat-bed trucks. In a few weeks time a gang of us will move in on a day when the railway is closed to the public and we'll haul tons of logs out from there. I'll bag all the interesting stuff and the rest will go for firewood.....and I get to drive a train for the day.
Having said all that, I still buy timber occasionally. Either off local tree surgeons when there's interesting stuff being felled in some of the big country house gardens. I also keep my eye on ebay for the occasional sale of hobby-turners stock. My last purchase was well in excess of 100 bowl blanks for £300, with nothing smaller than 8"x2", and at least a half of the stock was 16" wide, 8" thick cherry and yew half logs....not bad at £3 a piece.
Les
