Patric Bulmer
New member
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2025
- Messages
- 1
Good morning everyone - I'm a lifetime hobby woodworker and I'm now branching out into some woodcraft with my daughter, aiming to produce small pieces for craft fairs. Branching out wasn't intended to be a pun so apologies for the fact that I am actually after branch wood (I can't handle anything more than about 150mm diameter) for things like bookmarks (boxwood is really good for this), chopsticks (boxwood is TERRIBLE for this), spatulas, Christmas tree ornaments, that general vibe. I've got a laser cutter so can do nice designs to make one-offs/quirky items. I've attached a photo of some example bookmarks which are in plum, holly and box.
I want to get hold of "rare" native English woods that are otherwise likely to go on a bonfire or be used as logs: rare wood not in the sense that it's endangered, but in the sense that nobody bothers to grow it commercially. So I am targeting things like holly, hawthorn, spindle, blackthorn, wild service tree (I'm on a personal mission, finding that one...), apple, pear, plum, cherry - I realise that many of these are pretty mainstream but actually getting hold of them is proving more tricky than I'd expected. I'll be using oak and ash too but let's be honest it's not hard to get hold of those two.
I've got two questions: first of all, does anyone have any advice on sourcing slightly odd timber like this? I'm based in Bristol and this is a part-time venture so I won't be travelling a huge amount- my first thought was to contact local tree surgeons to see what they might come across, but any other suggestions would be really helpful. Second -I'm pretty sure I'll need to get a contactless card reader for sales (who has cash nowadays?) so any recommendations on that would be really helpful, particularly any that you've found to be a real nightmare and are ones to avoid.
Patric Bulmer
I want to get hold of "rare" native English woods that are otherwise likely to go on a bonfire or be used as logs: rare wood not in the sense that it's endangered, but in the sense that nobody bothers to grow it commercially. So I am targeting things like holly, hawthorn, spindle, blackthorn, wild service tree (I'm on a personal mission, finding that one...), apple, pear, plum, cherry - I realise that many of these are pretty mainstream but actually getting hold of them is proving more tricky than I'd expected. I'll be using oak and ash too but let's be honest it's not hard to get hold of those two.
I've got two questions: first of all, does anyone have any advice on sourcing slightly odd timber like this? I'm based in Bristol and this is a part-time venture so I won't be travelling a huge amount- my first thought was to contact local tree surgeons to see what they might come across, but any other suggestions would be really helpful. Second -I'm pretty sure I'll need to get a contactless card reader for sales (who has cash nowadays?) so any recommendations on that would be really helpful, particularly any that you've found to be a real nightmare and are ones to avoid.
Patric Bulmer
