NC Wood stocks 3 sizes of spindle blanks with attractive prices as well as a massive 9.5”x9.5”x4” bowl blank for almost $100.
Finally, WoodTurningz offers 4 sizes of Leopardwood bowl blanks (5” and 6” squares by both 2” and 3” thick) ranging in price from $13.95 to $26.95. They also stock 2 sizes of foot long spindle blanks (1.5” and 2” square) for $6.95 and $11.95. They also have pen blanks for $0.95 each.
Leopardwood Pen
As to which vendor would be best I can’t say, but I would suggest that an interested buyer look at all the options, consider shipping distances and prices, as well as other items that might be of interest from any one seller before selecting a vendor. I’ve had excellent experiences will all of these vendors and would feel confident purchasing Leopardwood from any of them.
Woodfinder is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Leopardwood, this can be an invaluable resource provided you use multiple search terms to capture all the possible listings. I can’t speak to the quality of any of the listed dealers, but Woodfinder does have the advantage of allowing searches to be performed based on location which might allow an interested buyer to visit a listed wood dealer in person to hand pick pieces at a comfortable price.
A significant problem with using Woodfinder is that many vendors are listed for woods that, upon further investigation, they do not offer. I don’t know if perhaps once they did and they didn’t update their listings or if some vendors use a standardized list of woods that include most everything conceivable with the idea that once you land on their page you will find something you want to buy even if you didn’t know it beforehand. It happens to me all the time!
Uses
The most common use of Leopardwood, in line with many other highly figured or colored hardwoods, is as a veneer material. Solid lumber is used to make some very high end cabinetry and other furniture as well. Musical instruments, especially guitars, have used Leopardwood in construction due to the stunning visual appeal of the ray fleck pattern. And, of course, Leopardwood is popular for turned objects such as bowls, vases, pens, as well as for carved items such as knife and gun handles.
Leopardwood (with Basswood) Jewelry Box
Sustainability
Leopardwood is not listed as being in any way threatened or endangered by the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices nor does it appear on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
To the best of my knowledge, Leopardwood is not subject to any special restrictions by any United States government agency.
I realize that inherent in working with wood is the killing of a part of the natural world that may be slow to return and if I become deeply concerned about this fact, I will have to find a new hobby. I hope that such a time does not come to pass or at least not any time soon. In part because I am concerned about legally and responsibly obtained wood, I am reluctant to buy from sellers outside of well-established and known vendors. I am highly unlikely, for example, to purchase any wood from auction sites, such as Ebay, because of uncertain sourcing and documentation, as well as the potential, even likelihood, of material being misidentified in order to achieve a higher selling price.
However, due to the commercial scarcity of some domestic woods, resorting to auction sites such as Ebay or Etsy may be the only way to obtain some desirable domestic, or in some cases exotic imported, species that are not routinely commercially harvested. The potential risks of buying in these marketplaces have to be balanced against the desire to work with a specific species of wood. That is inherently an individual decision.