Using Rootballs for
Woodturning Projects

If you have been turning wood for years or you are a newbie woodturner there is always one thing we all have in common…..that would be the need for wood or woodblanks to put on our woodturning lathes! You can’t be a woodturner if you don’t have wood!

So I always have my eye looking out for something that I can turn. I look for resources anywhere from wood floating down the river, laying on the side of the road, driving anywhere, to facebook marketplace and or craigslist. If you go to a landscapers work yard/office you’ll probably find a big pile of wood pieces, logs, branches and even root balls!

Wikipedia describes a Root Ball as:
A root ball is the main mass of roots at the base of a plant such as a shrub or tree. It is of particular significance in horticulture when plants are repotted or planted out in the ground. The quality and preparation of the root ball will determine how well the plant will survive this transplantation and then flourish in its new situation.

Where Do I Get Woodturning Blanks

I’ve never purchased a wood bowl blank or any other type of wood for a woodturning project. Mainly because there is so much wood around my area and I really do not have the funds to pay for a wood bowl blank! We are all at different places in our lives, if you work all the time and enjoy turning wood on your time off you probably do not want to hunt for woodturning blanks and you probably have the cash to buy wood bowl blanks but as I said, you do not have the time to go out with a chainsaw and harvest your own wood ….and that’s cool 🙂 …..I’m happy for you. I was at that point one time in my life, you just need to prioritize time and efforts.

Surprisingly, Ebay is a very good source for purchasing wood turning blanks at a great price. Click on Woodturning Bowl Blanks

Who Looks For Woodturning Blanks

Anyway I think most wooddturners are on some type of budget, most probably are on the broke end of the budget and need to consider different sources of free wood for woodturning. So woodturners are always looking for that golden goose when in reality you can find free wood from a variety of sources and you just need to have a chainsaw and desire to go out and cut up wood you find on free piles!

The Weather and Seasons Help Find
The Best Woodturning Blanks

Well, weather often times has something to do with where and how you find that honey pot of wood for your woodturning habit. Spring has sprung in North America and people are out in their gardens and yards trying to get things ready for their beautiful yards. That means trees are trimmed, trees are removed and some trees are even dug up.

You need to keep an eye out for those piles of tree and bush cut offs. Some counties have a special day to put them on the side of the road for pickkup …..find out when that is and cruise the area the night before looking for woodturing blank treasures.

Turning Rootballs on Your Lathe

I started writing this article because I ran into a pile of diamonds in the rough 🙂 Only a wood turner would consider a dirt filled clump of roots a diamond in the rough 🙂

We’ve been self-quarantining ourselves because of the Corona Virus but you still need to get out and pick up groceries and in this case …pet food. We made arrangements to have the food to be left outside the store and picked it up, felt good to get out and on the way home I spotted IT!!!

There it was a huge pile of torn out bushes, mostly stumps and root balls. My wife navigated us into the side street and I jumped out to examine my new treasure. It was piled on the side of the road for local township pickup. Most was soft almost rotted wood, I was kind of disappointed.

Found …. 4 Huge Root Balls for Woodturning Blanks

Then I turned over a couple of pieces and there they were….about 4 big huge root balls. I could barely pick them up and get it into the back of the explorer. I was thrilled. Looked like some cedar, pine, and other coniferous low growning ornamental type plants. I could see colors in the roots and tops.

I know I’ll get at least 2 big bowls out of each root ball, or 3 or 4 vases out of each rootball.

Root balls are more difficult to cut up for mounting on your lathe than burls, there’s pieces sticking out all over, a little soft wood here and there. I’m goning to have to give a little thought into these pieces to get an idea of how I might get started.

Gonna Go “Furtado” On These Rootballs!

Al Furtado is the master of rootballs 🙂 I’ve watched him take what looked like a big mess of roots and tree trunks thinking there is no possible positive outcome out of this piece of garbage. But Al Furtado is the master, even if he starts the root ball as bowl and ends up with a vase …..it is always beautiful and stunning.

So…..I think I am going to try to go “Al Furtado” on you 🙂

I’ll try to do a video on how I dissect the rootball to get a piece or pieces for the lathe and video the project from start to end …..hope to get to it soon! So check back soon or sign up for notifications from me regarding woodturning!

So …what’s the lesson?

1. Keep your eyes peeled while you are out and about. If you see a pile of wood that you might be able to turn, ask for permission to take it or if it’s obvious that its on the corner for township pickup …..you better grab it before someone else does 🙂

-make sure you have a vehicle you can transport roadside wood, explorer, suv, pickup
-might help if you carried a chainsaw around with you, all gassed up, filled with oil and ready to go
-battery powered chainsaws have come a long way, get one, keep it charged and you’ll be picking up more bowl blanks than you can imagine.

2. Pay attention to the time of year and weather. People do a lot of trimming in spring and fall, watch for their piles of trimmed trees and branches.

3. Did you ever see those guys trimming trees on the side of the road. Stop by with a case of water and ask them if you can have some of the bigger pieces…..I guarantee your vehicle will be filled with wood!

4. Introduce yourself to some of the local landscapers. Tell them what you are looking for, give them a card and ask if they can call you when they run into some decent wood for turning. Leave your card and some kind of gift ….like a couple of wood bowls…..they will call you, trust me.

5. City, county and township dumps always have trees, root balls and chopped logs just waiting for you to pick them up. Most cases you just drive up to the pile and take what you need.

Bottom line, you have to be a bit aggressive and get out of your comfort zone if you are not used to asking people for free stuff. In almost all cases, unless you live in the desert, you can keep yourself supplied with wood blanks for your woodturning habit 🙂

In my case I could see the root balls from the road as we drove by….part of the woodturning addiction I guess!

Turning a Root Ball

Turning a root ball is not for the newbie or faint hearted! It can be very dangerous and you need to be able to control your lathe speed and have good tools. If one of those turning root projections grabs you hand or arm it will break it!

You find a couple videos on different techniques for turning tree roots and root balls.

Guil The Bearded Woodworker turns a root ball bowl

Andy Phillip turns a beautiful wood root ball/resin vase