Working with olive

[Jim Burr]

I am blessed to have a large amount of olive wood...just short of half a cord! 6-12" trunks that were sealed 2 years ago. Given my new bandsaw, I had a lash slicing it down the middle...like butter! But it is still wet! I really want to keep it in bowl stock sizes. Some is going to head out in return for some cool cherry I received awhile back!
These logs are highly figured and smell fantastic! Hard as a rock and almost impossible to turn with Tormek sharp Thompson tools. I don't have and am not a fan of anchor seal since the ends are already coated. So any suggestions to dry 6x6 rounds a bit faster? I already snapped a tenon...1/2 thick on a 4" bowl at 500 rpm. That led me to say HELP!! Happy New Year folks!!!

[David E Keller]

I don't have a lot of experience with olive, but it strikes me as one of those woods that's never quite dry... Similar to some of the oily exotics. Short of a kiln, I'm not sure there's a way to speed the drying. Seems like that kind of wood gloat deserves a photo or two...

[Barry Elder]

From time to time I buy some Olive from an ebayer in Fresno (freight is a killer) and I'm surprised to that you have problems turning your Olive. I usually let the pieces I buy dry out for anywhere from two to five years and it still turns like butter with a variety of gouges sharpened with my Wolverine setup. Olive is my favorite wood for turning in that it deodorizes my shop for a few days and the ladies love the items I make with it. But they don't want to pay my prices so I get to keep a lot of it and use it to distribute to family. Good Luck with your treasure of Olive!

[Dan Forman]

Why do want to dry it before turning?

Dan

[Jim Burr]

Cuz this stuff is dense and hard as a rock! 8" around by 12" long weighs 22lbs!

[Dan Forman]

Drying will affect the weight, but dry wood is harder and denser than wet wood, so I would anticipate this being even more difficult to work dry. The only olive I have turned was a "Bethlehem olive" pen blank, and it didn't seem unusually hard or dense, but it sure smelled wonderful.

[David E Keller]

Well, that settles it... Jim needs to send this wood out to all of us, so we can tell how it differs from the other olive we've turned.

[Steve bellinger]

Well, that settles it... Jim needs to send this wood out to all of us, so we can tell how it differs from the other olive we've turned.

Yep David i think he does.

[Jim Burr]

Ok...let me knock down this next tree and we'll about moving a bit of it around...Steve Carter has a big chunk coming...no questions asked. I'm working 7 out of 8 with 2 hours of travel between some of it. Why?...cuz I'm really really stupid!!! When I find home, I'll work on cutting some up. So Happy New Year everyone!!!