You can find just about everything on eBay- even high quality, reasonably priced wood turning blanks. Melanie bought a couple chunks of Boxelder. The red coloration is commonly thought to be caused by the infection of the fungus Fusarium reticulatum; however, recent research indicates that the staining seems to result from non-specific wounding, mechanical or otherwise. Considering the rapid growth rate and short life span, it seems to me that growing Boxelder in a managed setting could make it a rather lucrative tree- especially if the red staining considered to be desirable could be encouraged manually.
Anyway, I bought a chuck so I could try my hand at bowl turning. The process facinates me and I can't wait to try it out. To that extent, when Grizzly backordered the chuck, I canceled the order and hopped over to eBay. I'll probably order from the Grizzly catalog in the future; their customer service was prompt and friendly, and the prices are low.