Olive Wood

[Ed Gibbons]

I live in Central Pennsylvania. Any recommendations as to where I can buy olive wood?

[Stan Calow]

I believe Hearne Hardwoods in Chester County has olive wood. I've been getting some from Cook Woods in Washington. Not cheap but very cool looking. I love turning it and it has a great hand feel.

[Eugene Dixon]

West Pen is where I got 2X2X12 blanks

[Roger Feeley]

I believe Hearne Hardwoods in Chester County has olive wood. I've been getting some from Cook Woods in Washington. Not cheap but very cool looking. I love turning it and it has a great hand feel.

Ditto on working with Olive wood. It’s my favorite for food related projects like ice cream scoops and pizza cutters.

[Richard Coers]

You looking for lumber or turning blanks?

[John K Jordan]

I live in Central Pennsylvania. Any recommendations as to where I can buy olive wood?

I've bought a number of excellent Olivewood turning blanks from a small dealer in KY, usually blanks 3-4" thick or 2-3" turning squares of various lengths. I normally see him at turning symposiums but when that is not possible I call. He will send out a flat rate USPS box. His stock varies. Look under Products here to see a list but he may have wood not on the list so give Pete a call. If you tell him I sent you he might charge you more. :)
http://www.bigmonklumber.com/

Olive is one of my favorites for woodturning.

JKJ

[Jim Becker]

I hope you find some...I had the pleasure of working with some that a client provided for some charcuterie boards. Cut nicely and really beautiful when finished.

[Bill Dufour]

Do you use an oil finish? serious question. Does it glue well or need to be solvent cleaned before gluing?
Bill D

[John K Jordan]

Do you use an oil finish? serious question. Does it glue well or need to be solvent cleaned before gluing?
Bill D

I always use oil. I haven't tried another finish on Olivewood. This shows what liquid does to a smoothed olive surface.
This is the bottom of the piece, before reversing and turning the top.

470779

The finished piece with maybe 6-8 applications of "danish" oil, each applied then wiped off after about 30 minutes, then dried overnight. Maybe 8-9" across, can't remember.

470780


JKJ

[Ed Gibbons]

Looking for lumber. Daughter wants a platter to serve cheese, crackers, meats, etc.

[Stan Calow]

Do you use an oil finish? serious question. Does it glue well or need to be solvent cleaned before gluing?
Bill D I dont think the wood is naturally oily. I know you cant tell much from a photo, but here're some flat pieces with a swipe of DNA. It doesn't feel oily to me The pieces you often see for turning are usually waxed. I also just used oil finishes (walnut oil, BLO) and sanded to a very high grit. Not sure what film finish would be good.

470787

[John K Jordan]

What I found was every piece I bought waxed was fairly wet, even though you couldn't tell when turning. The dealers usually dip turning blanks in paraffin. I leave the wax on for maybe a year in case it's green then scrape much of it off with a card scraper. I weigh each piece and track the weight. One 4x4x12" waxed piece took about 6 years to dry completely.

But I brought back some 8/4 from Italy that was totally air dry and I got a wide slab of 6/4 at least 5' long now, was probably longer since I cut the blank for that squarish dished platter I showed. None of this was sealed and none was warped.

I've never glued any except with epoxy when making a few pens. The Wood Database says it glues and finishes well. https://www.wood-database.com/olive/

JKJ