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anthony Jon

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any info where i can get hardwood offcuts in the essex area. wanted to make a couple of japanese planes and tool handles so dont need large pieces, appreciate any help, thanks
 
Welcome.

Which end of Essex? If you're near Colchester, then Thorogoods (Ardleigh). If you're near Brentwood, then there's a hardwood off-cuts place there. If you're north of Braintree you could come and rifle through my stash.
 
Timberline is very near me (they are in Tonbridge) and I have to keep out of there or else I buy stuff. Spent £1200 last week. 8)

They sell online: http://shop.exotichardwoods.co.uk and have pictures of what you are buying.

They have offcut bins for walk ins. They supply a lot of musical instrument makers and furniture makers. The stock is excellent and they are perfectly happy for people to sort through boards. Discounts for people who buy a lot 8)
 
Turning blanks can make a useful source of timber in small pieces, and one source is Stiles and Bates*.

https://www.stilesandbates.co.uk/browse ... 58/level/2

This works out expensive in 'pounds per cubic foot' terms, but not necessarily that expensive for small-project-sized pieces of nice hardwood.

* Other suppliers are available - as a quick interweb search for 'turning blanks' will indicate.
 
Andy,
Any idea of the pricing at the offcut shop. I'm happy to pay a fair market price but not wanting to feel ripped off by too much profiteering/exploitation of the hobbyist.
Its going to be a 200mile round trip for me so I need to factor that in too.
My interest would be for 2-3" thick boards around 2-3' long and contrasting colours.
Say maple, sycamore, beech, iroko, ABW etc
 
The original vid probably gives more of a flavour of the place as a whole - the one linked to above is specifically about the Essex makers meet-up - open to anyone who can attend BTW, last Saturday morning of every month, and the ‘3 easy pieces’ challenge takes place around 11.00am. Details on the blog at 10minuteworkshop.com.

Original Hardwood Offcuts Shop vid (#349) is here - you can see some of the prices marked up on the boards during a couple of the walk-around shots, and they’re very reasonable IMHO:-

https://youtu.be/9Zm2znjZXM0
 
Myfordman":x8i1bsqa said:
Andy,
Any idea of the pricing at the offcut shop. I'm happy to pay a fair market price but not wanting to feel ripped off by too much profiteering/exploitation of the hobbyist.
Its going to be a 200mile round trip for me so I need to factor that in too.
My interest would be for 2-3" thick boards around 2-3' long and contrasting colours.
Say maple, sycamore, beech, iroko, ABW etc

I've no idea - I'm just jealous that such a shop exists - but your question has been answered now.
 
If it's any help for anyone now or the future, branches and saplings can supply good-quality handle material. So a walk through the woods this time of year could pay dividends. And the price is right! Green wood will either need drying for some months indoors before use or you can boil oversize handle blanks now and make use of it immediately. Boiling doesn't appear to weaken the wood to any noticeable degree.

I've replaced the handles on dozens of chisels and files with wood 95% sourced from the local country park. Some things you find may remain mystery wood, but I've gotten plenty I could easily identify including lots of beech (beech trees are notorious for dropping branches which is why you're advised never to camp under one), some ash and oak, a fair bit of fruitwoods (primarily members of the Prunus genus including blackthorn), sycamore or a close relative, and most recently cherry laurel which seems like a real winner; plain, but good and strong.
 
thanks for the recommendation =D> =D> =D>
what a place and so helpful. got a new lathe today so cant wait to go back
 

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