Source of exotic wood figure bases

I have found some good bases at Home Depot in the stairs section.  The various peices for the bases of stair rails, and also the stair rails themselves are often square at the top and bottom for about 5"-6" which make great bases for single figures. The peices are usualy made of oak and a few other types of wood and are completly finished except for the staining.  I wander around Home Depot and Lowes and find all kinds of useful base marerial. 

I am getting my wood bases at Michaels crafts.  They are cheap, and made of pine, but with some smooth sanding and some staining and varnish you can make them look real good.  I am using a Minwax wood finish stain marker in Red Mahogany to do the edges up on mine.

Here's a discussion of bases. Thomas Arts was the supplier for this base:

If possible, buy the wood prodcuts locally as you will not run into certain problems with endangered species regulations. There have been changes in CITES regulations in the last year. True Mahogany (Swietena macrophylla) also called Big Leaf or Caribbean is now covered by CITES II regulations. That means that international trade of wood products made from it will require cetification, this includes from Canada. Philippine (Shorea) and African (Khaya) mahoganies are not true mahoganies and are not effected by this.

Other woods to watch out for are Ramin and Brazilian Rosewood.

I deal with this at work all the time.

Mike T.

If you can find a way to attend a figure show, there will certainly be base vendors there, ranging from economical to high end. Unfortunately, the three who vend at MFCA do not have web sites.

There are dozens of places to get the turning squares, online or checking ads in magazines like Fine Woodworking.  As for getting them turned on a lathe I would suggest looking for a local woodworking club.  Your profile doesn't say where you live but there are stores, like one called Woodcraft, that sell tools and usually have many people that they can connect you with that can turn a base.  Very often the folks you might run into through a connection like this are not pros so pricing would be very reasonable.  Chances are they would be flattered that someone would buy their work.  Oh, by the way, Woodcraft also sells turning squares, but not at the cheapest prices...they also sell lathes if you want a new hobby.

Good luck,

John 

 

I made a mistake of buyin' an Andrea base and they're not very good quality, they're not even made out of wood and jus' spray painted to boot.

This is the dude I use for my bases here in the UK: http://www.woodenbases.co.uk/index.php  

He makes them for you as and when you want them, he doesn't have any sittin' on the shelf collectin' dust.  

I just order 2" turning stock online and make my own, but I don't suppose that would work for you if you don't have a tablesaw...

IMO the Andrea ones are some of the best commercially-produced bases... 

Andrea Miniuatures makes some nice ones! HTH, you can get them from Squadron...