Any woodworkers in here?

[Cervid]

Besides the wood I’ve found for free, I’ve had good luck visiting small scale hardwood mills and getting off cuts fairly cheaply. Any place that will sell you a bowl blank will probably charge an arm and a leg, though this can be the easiest way to get exotic woods or types that don’t grow in your area.

 

[MTlan66]

Apple is another great wood that can be found fairly easily sometimes

 

[IdahoElk]

I started out making simple bird houses with inexpensive 1X pine at your sons age with my grandpa, Learning the basics first will give your son a solid foundation to try harder projects, Bowls are not for beginners in my opinion, Good luck and have fun.

 

[offthebeatenpath]

I run a custom cabinet shop here in Montana, and I've been in the wood business one way or another for twenty some years. It's fun and addicting for sure. It's been awhile since I've had access to a lathe, but I have grown pretty fond of doing some spoon carving. So far, I've replaced just about every large cooking utensil that was plastic or steel with something I made, including a few steel spoons with wood handles that I just cold-forged (beat with a hammer) until I liked the shape.
What I've been doing is roughing out a bunch of spoons on the bandsaw and throwing them in our camping box for during the summer. It's a pretty great camp activity to be sitting around with something to do with my hands.