Suggested Wood Sources for DIY Kantele (or Other Woodworking Projects) in the U.S.

In my previous post I described some future woods and combinations I have lined up for my next set of kanteles. One of the difficult parts of instrument building is sourcing quality woods, and for a DIYer, quality exotic woods can cost a lot if you do not know where to look. Below are some places that I have ordered from, either regularly or a few times for some specialty pieces, and are some of the best sources I have found for my projects. There are always other places I have checked, and I will post a page sometime in the future dedicated to materials sources.

1.) D&D Hardwoods
 http://www.dndhardwoodsonline.com/
- exotic/regular thin cut woods for soundboards, backboards, ponsi, accents, frames, and general projects

This place has to be one of my all time favorite sources for wood, period. D&D Hardwoods has an excellent selection of woods. And what makes them unique and stand out from other places is that they carry a huge variety of thin cut woods. Anywhere from 3/4" all the way down to 1/16" thick, which are perfect for many parts of my kantele, and other projects in general. The great thing too is they also carry these woods from 4" wide all the way up to 9" wide for some of more common woods. And can be ordered in increments from 1' to 4' long. This is my default go-to place for foods for soundboards, backboards, side accents, ponsi, and decorative headplates for my smaller sized kantele. And the other great thing is that there is no minimum order, which I have found very difficult to find elsewhere for such a great stock of small sized thin-cut lumber. I have ordered from them many times and I have never had a problem. Their service is phenomenal, and their shipping is very fast. And the woods are always excellent quality. The only thing, which isn't a problem at all for me, and that they state on their website, is that the edges along the long sides of the wood are rough cut. But the top, bottom, and ends are sanded flat and very well. All of my completed kantele so far have woods from here, with kanteles #001-#004 having the majority of woods from this source, which includes the soundboard, backboard, decorative headplate, and ponsi.

2.) Westpenn Hardwoods
 https://www.westpennhardwoods.com/default.aspx
- exotic turning blanks for sides, frame, ponsi, and general projects

Also another one of my all-time favorite sources for woods. Westpenn hardwoods has an incredible array and supply of many, many exotic woods. Here you will find turning blanks for any project you can think of. Another place with excellent products, service, quality, prices, and shipping. I have ordered from here as well countless of times and have never been disappointed. The kanteles that use woods from here (or will use woods from here) include:

- kantele #002 and #003 for the tuning peg shelf - african mahogany
- kantele #004 for the frame - bubinga
- kantele #005 for the frame - cocobolo (previous post)
- kantele #006 for the frame - bocote (previous post)
- kantele #008 for the frame - east indian rosewood (previous post)

Now this place is excellent for exotic woods for kantele frames, but a little creativity and patience is needed. First off, these woods are sold as turning blanks. Sometimes they are offered kiln dried and ready to go, but most often are air dried or in the process of drying. I have never had a problem, but care should be taken sometimes. To use these woods for the sides, I buy a 1.5"x1.5" by either 24" long for my smaller kanteles or above 24" long for my larger kanteles, and get these ripped in half with a table saw to get two matching sets of 1.5" wide x 0.75" thick x whatever length I have chosen. This way you can use exceptionally beautiful, rare, and exotic woods for the frames. For the tuning peg shelf I buy a 1.5"x1.5"x12" or 18" long turning blank, and for the front part of the frame I usually get a 2"x2"x3" turning blank and cut to shape for my smaller kantele, or a wider piece for larger kanteles. If you do rip the pieces for the sides, there will probably be a little bit of warping later due to the natural processes of the wood. This again has not been too much of a problem for me, but can sometimes be tricky to deal with. However, if you are careful, you will end up with some beautiful and unique pieces of wood for the frame that would cost a fraction of the price anywhere else.

3.) The Walnut Place
http://www.thewalnutplace.com/
- specialty pieces of curly and figured walnut and other woods

I have only ordered from here once before, but the service and prices for what I got was excellent. If you want cheaper woods from here though you will need to check the discount lumber section, which is always the place I go when browsing for woods from here. This place can be a but more pricey than others on the list depending on what you are looking for, but has a beautiful selection of curly walnut for very good prices that is hard to find elsewhere. All of the other sources do not carry curly walnut, and I still think it is the best source for exceptional pieces of walnut that I have been able to find yet. The other really great thing about here was that I was able to get the woods cut to size for a very small fee. I ordered the curly claro walnut strips and the paradox walnut blocks for my kantele #007 (see previous post for details). I got a great deal on these pieces, and was even able to get the original board for the sides ripped and cut to size, which was a tremendous help. I definitely plan on ordering more wood here for future projects, as sources for curly walnut at these prices is hard to find. The owner, Robert Beauchamp, is extremely friendly and helpful, and was a pleasure to work with.

4.) Kettle Moraine Hardwoods
 http://www.kmhardwoods.com/
- general and exotic pieces for small and large kantele

I have also only ordered from here once, but like The Walnut Place, I was provided with excellent service, great prices, and some beautiful boards. I got my two butternut boards, (which I haven't posted pictures of yet but will sometime in the future), from here. Butternut, as mentioned earlier, is becoming more scarce, especially for larger boards. One of the plus sides to KM Hardwoods is the custom cutting services for woods. While talking with them, they even sent me pictures of the pieces they had that fit my description of what I was looking for before I went ahead and purchased anything, which was a real plus, as not many places do this. The boards were in perfect condition and exactly what I was looking for. I will definitely be ordering from here again for larger width boards for larger kanteles and other projects.

5.) Kencraft Company
http://www.kencraftcompany.com/index.htm
- general and exotic pieces for small and large kantele

I have ordered from here a couple of times, and have been very happy with the results. This is yet another great source of custom cut lumber and thin boards of both domestic and exotic species of woods at great prices. Shipping and services are very good, and the several very large custom pieces I ordered from them were of excellent quality. Shipping might be a little bit slower from here due to how they schedule custom cutting and shipping, but I have not had problems with it. Like KM Hardwoods, this is a great source for larger custom pieces of wood at very good prices which is often quite difficult to find.

Extra Sources and Info:

1.) Kantele #001 Info:  http://oertheeternalstrings.blogspot.com/2014/10/kantele-001.html

2.) Kantele #002 Info: http://oertheeternalstrings.blogspot.com/2014/11/kantele-002.html

3.) Kantele #003 Info: http://oertheeternalstrings.blogspot.com/2014/11/kantele-003.html

4.) Kantele #004 Info: http://oertheeternalstrings.blogspot.com/2015/01/kantele-004.html

5.) Future Wood Choices: http://oertheeternalstrings.blogspot.com/2015/01/some-future-kantele-wood-choices.html

Some Future Kantele Wood Choices

Having designed, built, and played kantele for a little over a year now, I have given a great deal of thought for new kantele, future woods, accents, and combinations. Part of the fun of building them yourself is being able to customize every aspect of the instrument, adding woods and features that would otherwise cost a small fortune if custom built by a professional luthier. And if you know where to look, you can get some exquisite woods for very, very cheap. Here are some examples of the nicer sets of wood I have been saving for future kantele builds that I hope to be starting very soon. Originally I bought these woods many years ago for making Native American flutes, but it never panned out past the trial ones and have been just sitting around all these years. But they are perfect for kantele sides.

Kantele woods left to right: cocobolo, bocote, curly claro walnut, east indian rosewood

The first on the left is set of cocobolo, each piece 24"x1.5"x.75". Cocobolo is one of the most famous and beautiful of the rosewoods, and is lined up for my next build of kantele #005. As soon as I sat down to think of the wood combinations I almost immediately knew what accents I wanted with it: very thin veneers of cherry with thicker stripes of purpeheart on the sides, with a cherry and purpleheart decorative headplate and carved ponsi, and a purpleheart backboard. I have worked with purpleheart recently, and it has turned out to be a very beautiful wood, one of my favorites now. For the soundboard I want to try something different and unique, and have decided to pair this kantele with an aromatic cedar soundboard. It should make a truly fine 5 string kantele, one I look forward to completing and using.

The second set, reserved for kantele #006, and my personal favorite of all the sets I have, is an exquisite book-matched pair of bocote wood, one of my absolute favorite woods. It is characterized with a very striking swirling grain of blackish-brown stripes on a golden yellow background. I have been saving this set for quite some time, and am looking to make this my most exquisite 5 string kantele. I will also be saving up to use much more exotic and expensive woods for this one, and haven't quite decided on the combination yet. I do know I would like to use exotic burls for the ponsi and decorative headplate, but I haven't quite got a good combination for side stripes and backboard yet. As for the soundboard, I will most likely try to go with something along the lines of a heavily curly redwood soundboard, possibly look at sources of ukulele or guitar soundboard suppliers. I also plan on attempting some more ornate carving and adding extra details using horn/bone, mother of pearl, and possibly crushed stone. I aim to make this my own personal kantele and as a template for what I would like to consider as "master-class" kantele.

The third set for kantele #007 is a very nice set of custom cut curly claro walnut. These pieces are longer, and I aim to use them for either an 11, 12, or 15 string kantele. I will probably make this one an open backed kantele. I will definitely be using bloodwood for the side accents and decorative headplate, and for the ponsi will be using a stunning block of curly paradox walnut, which has to be one of the nicest blocks of wood I have had in my collection yet. The soundboard will also use a beautifully custom cut piece of butternut. Butternut, especially of larger sizes, has become increasingly difficult to find, and took me a while to source a place for it. It took me a great deal of thought and comparison of soundboard woods to decide on the pairing for this kantele. Butternut is an excellent soundboard material, with a warm and rich tone like walnut (also known as "white walnut", which is one of the reasons for choosing it for this kantele, as a contrast to the darker walnut woods used). It has the benefit of being much softer than walnut though, making it more responsive as a topwood while still retaining a walnut-like quality. It is also known for its beautiful cream color and grain, extra bonuses for a topwood.

An exceptional block of curly paradox walnut

And finally, for kantele #008, is a beautiful set of east indian rosewood. This kantele will also use the curly paradox walnut block for the carved ponsi and a butternut soundboard like #007 as described above. This too will be a large kantele, most likely a 15 string possibly with drone strings. It will use zebrawood accents, as well as zebrawood for the decorative headplate.

In my next post I will share the sources where I get these woods, some of which being my absolute favorite places to order exotic woods for not only kantele projects, but other woodworking projects as well. Excellent selections, excellent prices, excellent services and shipping - these places are the places to go for some high end wood on a budget!

Kantele #004

It has been quite a while since I have last posted about my kantele builds and endeavors. I finished kantele #004 last year towards the end of last summer, but instrument building has been on hiatus due to switching gears for crafting numerous birthday and Christmas presents for the past several months from September to December, and has been a very busy schedule. This newest kantele I must say though is my absolute favorite one to date, and was definitely a challenging but rewarding build.

Kantele #004 features probably the most exotic wood selection of my kanteles yet. The frame is made from bubinga, an extremely heavy and hard wood with excellent tonal qualities. The sides also feature a soft maple strip at the bottom for a bit of contrast. The backboard and headplate are made from wenge, another very hard and dense wood. It can be a bit tough to work with due to its hardness, but can carve quite nicely if done slowly and carefully, and takes an excellent polish. The soundboard is the same as the first three kantele, using 1/8" cypress. This piece of cypress was the most uniform and straightest grain of all the pieces I got, and specifically saved it for this instrument.

I am quite proud of the ponsi for this particular kantele. It is made from wenge with a thin strip of padauk at the bottom. The theme is definitely different from my previous kantele, with sharp, carved ridges and a center ridge protrusion in the arc where the varras is located. This ponsi was shaped entirely through file-work, and was very fun to design and work on.

If you also notice the back, there are four 1.5" sound holes instead of the normal one soundhole for most kantele. For this instrument I still wanted a backboard to help increase resonance, as well as liking the overall aesthetics of a backboard, but due to its narrow size and overall smaller vibrating area on the soundboard the volume might suffer. The extra holes allow for more volume while still retaining the qualities and aesthetics of a backboard, with a unique twist.

The overall theme of the kantele is more simple than my previous ones, but more elegant, with a juxtaposition of curves to sharp corners and ridges. The dark wenge stands out in beautiful contrast with the lighter woods, with the grain and figure really showing on the backboard. This instrument is also HEAVY. Its the smallest overall size of all my kantele, but by far the heaviest and densest due to the thick bubinga frame. I had designed it this way as I prefer heavy instruments, and wanted to explore the tonal qualities of using extremely heavy and dense woods for the frame. And I think I definitely achieved my goal. Tonally, it is my favorite of my kantele. The heavy dense woods really allow the overtones and harmonics to blend and ring inside the instrument, and has a rich, bright, and complex tone with exceptional resonance. You can actually hear a soundclip of this instrument at the top of The Kantele - Strings of Magic and Lore post.

Extra Sources and Info:

1.) Kantele #001 Info:  http://oertheeternalstrings.blogspot.com/2014/10/kantele-001.html

2.) Kantele #002 Info: http://oertheeternalstrings.blogspot.com/2014/11/kantele-002.html

3.) Kantele #003 Info: http://oertheeternalstrings.blogspot.com/2014/11/kantele-003.html