Can't remember who's video I was watching, but he grabbed a branch out of a pile in his shop -- cherry he said, a couple years old. Stuck it on the lathe and proceeded to turn a box or peppermill or something like that. OK, so I've seen cherry split while I was watching! Anyhoo, so now I have some pretty big branches and suckers (3+ inches D) of newly-fallen apple. And questions:
- Is it possible to save branches with pith in them, and use them to turn a box or peppermill in a year or so (with a reasonable number of casualties out of the ones saved)? I coated some cherry that came down this summer, it hasn't done very well, but we had quite the hot summer (for us). We're soaking wet now.
- For those of you who aren't dedicated bowl-/hollow-form-only turners, what source(s) do you use for spindle stock in this size range? Do you buy it retail? Harvest it yourself? other....?