Olive Wood

Thomas, you sure are lucky. That last image makes it look as though there is some great figure to be had. Shame I live so far away - Sydney, Australia.

WOW!

You've got some beautiful wood there.

I've had very good results using waterproof Carpenters glue for sealing the ends.

I give them a couple of coats, until you get a glossy finish

Have fun!

Wow!!!! This is a lot of wood. I can see a lot of beautiful projects hidden beneath the bark.

Have fun.

I know I shouldn't but I'm coveting!

Any chance you can clean up that end piece and throw some mineral oil on it, so we can see that grain pop?
I would love to be a fly on your wall when you process that tree.

Good for you! Looks like some awesome wood.

Wow… what a great tree and relatively free to boot!

nice! Make a spoon for me.

Beautiful wood and now the work begins.

A nice unique tree. So great looking wood.

Thomas,
Olive is so beautiful. I have recently found that I must be one of the unlucky one's that cannot work with this wood.
I decided that I would carve a little do-dad, something fun out of Olive.

Little did I know this was from the same tree that gave me a rash from hell.

In the first pic …lol, Is the wood I should not touch. Must be a fungus or somthing in the wood. I only carved it did not make any dust or any that i could see. Carving makes chips thats it.
I notice the wood smells very sweet or maybe a little like whiskey…If yours is the same beware!!!!!
I hope you have better results than I did and good luck with that Olive wood.
Jim

nice score!
that should provide a few beautiful projects!

So where do you live ….I would love to take some of that lousy looking wood off your hands
I have never seen such a large olive tree …wow man oh man !
I had heard that olive is " Hard as the Hobs of Hell" one friend told me once …

Sure does look nice ….so is it just gonna sit out back and look like firewood now ?

That is one nice score you made. Looks like you earned it though.

I live in Phoenix. I'm definately willing to part with some. There's more here than I plan on using.

I'm going to cut up most of it as turning blanks and a select few logs as lumber. It was a very windy, twisty tree so there's not a lot for bards but plenty for turning blanks. I was out trying to heave the majority of them out of the back of my truck today. Ugh! I'm sore.

As to the man who was allergic to the olive. That's pretty common. There are some trees that people are just plain allergic to. For me it's aromatic cedar… nothing else. Olive tree allergies are so bad here in Phoenix that you can no longer plant particular olive trees here anymore. It's actually illegal. Can you believe that? It's horrible come allergy season. Luckily for me, I've lived here all my life and I was covered in olive tree sawdust and muck from the tree and I didn't get any redness or itchiness at all.

The smell of an olive tree is very distinct. It does have a sweet whiskey smell to it. Kindof potent and strange. It's the normal smell. The root burl and the heartwood are the most fragrant. I think thats because the inside of the tree is basically dead and rotting away. Most olive trees have hallows on the inside and become homes for bugs. This one had a big nest of cockroaches in it. It also had an ant colony. Note to all of you people who want to fell a tree: If your scared of bugs… don't handle the chainsaw. Squeemish jumpy people and chainsaws are a bad mix.

Aint that the truth (to your last line) LOL
What a score. Man I wish, oh I only wish!
It may be work now but I bet some gorgeous items come from it!
Cool!
PEACE!!!

If you are willing to part with some of it, please add me to the list of interested Jocks.

I wish I lived Closer to help you share that beautiful Olive wood.

Thanks for the post.

Alrighty… here's what you asked for. Better pictures of the grain. I didn't do the mineral oil as you suggested. I think you must mean mineral spirits. Mineral oil would penetrate and treat the wood. I don't want that. I just took a picture directly after it was cut. One can only imagine how this will look when it's smooth and glossy.

The two guys you see are friends from my woodworking club. There's a good reason why they're smiling. I filled up the back of their truck with olive wood. Big olive wood. The pieces you're seeing went with them. Don't worry… I have lots more for me, but it was more than I was going to be able to use/handle before it started cracking and I don't want to see it go to waste. Old growth olive like this is hard to find.

Enjoy.

Yes you sure are lucky.
Just gorgeous wood.
They don't grow in Canada and it cost fortune to buy the wood.
Worth the pain my friend.