Hello Di and welcome. Here, let me sweep off some sawdust so you can sit down.
So, you like the smell of wood. You're gonna fit in just swell ;-)
1/2" plywood is fairly easy to find so I'm assuming that you mean 1/2" - 3/4" hardwood like oak etc?
You can sometimes find off-cuts and randomly sized 'packs' on ebay but personally, I'd prefer to choose my wood (as wood is a living thing) so that I can choose straight, flat and nicely grained pieces and avoid those bits with defects and cracks.
You're very close to Yandles at Martock
http://www.yandles.co.uk/ which, prior to moving to Germany, I have visited on many occasions. Its essentially a wood yard but they have expanded it to encompass several crafts and they have a lot of interesting stuff on site. There is also a cafe and a huge tool shop and they have woodworking shows twice a year so you can see demonstrations and pick up a few bargains. Visiting wood yards can feel intimidating but the staff at Yandles are good and pretty much leave you alone to wander around the wood yard on your own. I haven't been there for a couple of years but they used to have a brilliant 'bargain bin' which contained lots of off-cuts and I've picked up lots of A4 sized oak and mahogany blanks. The slight downside is that some of it has a rough edge so may need some sanding before use although, if you're cutting out patterns you'll be able to avoid defects etc.
If you find some great wood but want a specific thickness of wood you're only hope really is to run it through a thicknesser. Maybe you know someone with one or, if you're going to use it often, put one on your Christmas List. They start at around £250. You wouldn't need an all-singing-all-dancing machine, just something to take off the surface roughness and take it down to your desired thickness. Your desired thickness of wood shouldn't be a problem with any model but if you're considering getting one make sure you get one that will handle your width of wood. Typically I think they tend to range between 7" - 10" and they produce lots of sawdust and shavings. Get yourself some ear defenders too!!!
Some of the other guys have bought stuff from here
http://www.britishhardwoods.co.uk/timber/thin-wood.html and this looks interesting
http://www.britishhardwoods.co.uk/thin- ... n-oak.html
Depending on what you want to cut, there's always
http://www.alwayshobbies.com/materials/wood/panels there's also
http://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/Woods_ ... xmaker.asp
Bear in mind that wood is pretty heavy so if you're going to be buying online, check the shipping rates.
I'm sure other would be very happy to add their comments and recommendations so I'll push off and get the coffee on. Good luck and pop into see us whenever you like. We also like to see each others work so don't be shy ;-)
Barry
. I have a DeWalt 788 Scroll Saw and enjoy doing segmentation/intarsia [cutting my patterns from one piece of wood]. I find 1" wood quite hard to cut -Im not sure if my saw needs adjusting as I encounter a lot of vibration and wood jumping. Any ideas would be gratefully received.
