Russian Olive bowl

[Curt Fuller]

This is just a plain bowl but the wood is pretty neat. I think it has the widest growth rings of any wood I've ever worked with. The bowl is 10" x 4.5". It's just oiled with some danish oil so far. I tool a pic with a ruler because it shows how big the growth rings are.

[Donny Lawson]

Very interesting bowl.It's got a nice color design and great growth rings.It would be nice to have more of that.
Donny

[Allen Neighbors]

I love Russian Olive!! Curt, you did it well!! It's gorgeous!
And I can't believe that they call it a "pest" tree just up north a few miles....
Again, well done, Curt!

[Steve Schlumpf]

That's a really cool bowl Curt! It plays with your mind a little cause you're use to seeing growth rings a certain distance apart! If I didn't have the ruler as a reference - would think the bowl was in the 3" range! Really cool effect!

Nice form, color and photo!

[Nathan Hawkes]

Ditto Steve's comments on the scale of the bowl. Some of those rings look more than 1" wide! Russian olive has quite a nice dark color to it. Very nice work, Curt.

[John Keeton]

Nice bowl, Curt, and very nice color and character that wood.

And I can't believe that they call it a "pest" tree just up north a few miles...."One man's pest is another man's treasure!!"

[David E Keller]

That's really nice. We've got Russian Olive around here, so I'll be on the hunt now. The ruler for scale is a must as the thing looks like it would be really small... That's not some kind of trick ruler is it?:D

[Karl Card]

I have turned 2 kinds of olivewood but not ever heard of the russian olivewood.

That bowl is very distinctive. I have a feeling I am going to have to look for some...

[Curt Fuller]

I have turned 2 kinds of olivewood but not ever heard of the russian olivewood.

That bowl is very distinctive. I have a feeling I am going to have to look for some...

Karl, I don't think Russian Olive http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/elan1.htm is related to the Olive trees that produce the olives we eat. And the wood is nothing like olivewood. These trees grow like weeds here where I live and produce a flower this time of year that pushes my hayfever over the top. And the fruit isn't edible except to birds.

[bob svoboda]

Love the wood and the simplicity of form.

[Wayne Spence]

Curt-Nice bowl, what did you use for hollowing out and how much sanding? I have about thirty 12 to 15 inch diameter logs I harvested from a nearby neighbor 2 months ago. The one piece I did try was a disaster, it blew up while working on the rim.

I have heard that russian olive is quite hard when seasoned.

[Mark Hubl]

Nice bowl Curt. I agree with what others have said, without the ruler for scale, it looks much smaller. The wood is interesting.

[charlie knighton]

very nice....

[alex carey]

Wow that is interesting, so does that mean the trees grows really fast?

[John Hart]

I've seen olive pieces before...but generally smaller. It's striking color really surprised me. Thanks for that Curt. :)

[Frank Van Atta]

That is certainly a different look with those growth rings. I've turned some pieces from Russian Olive Burl - some of the most gorgeous wood I've ever worked with - but have never seen a piece of the plain wood before. Now I'll have to see if I can find some to work with . . .

[Joshua Dinerstein]

This is just a plain bowl but the wood is pretty neat. I think it has the widest growth rings of any wood I've ever worked with. The bowl is 10" x 4.5". It's just oiled with some danish oil so far. I tool a pic with a ruler because it shows how big the growth rings are.

Wow. That is sure some interesting wood Curt.

If you have some more of it sure would love to see what you come up with in regards to it next.

Joshua

[Rob Cunningham]

Really cool looking bowl.

[Mike Willeson]

Very nice bowl. Love the grain!


And I can't believe that they call it a "pest" tree just up north a few miles....

Years ago as a young guy up in North Dakota I worked for the parks department. One summer we had a large shelter belt we had to clear of all the Russian Olive. If you are familiar with the tree you know that the large thorns on the tree make it very much a pest wood. I spent several weeks full of cuts, scrapes, and punctures from those trees.

After seeing that bowl, however, I would love to have back some of the wood we hauled to the dump!

[Roland Martin]

That sure is some attractive wood Curt. Very useful & good looking bowl.

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is one pretty bowl Curt. We have a lot of russian olive out here but most of it has a lot of cracks due to wind shake.