Thread: Can olive be steam bent?

oil and water dont mix. bob.

Dunno.

G'day Bob,
Short answer....don't know....but I've steam bent Jarrah, and I can't see that it would be more difficult.
What proportions is the stock???

Bob, in the interest of science... I could send you a couple of thin slices for you to experiment with. I do not think it would be unfair.

BTW: Jarra is straight grained, no comparison.

Thanks F&E,
There you go......love learning something new...never seen the inside of Olive wood.

Try this: http://woodfinder.com/woods/woodindex.php
Maybe some help
John

Thanks CT,
I found a few timber properties charts online but none of them mention steam bending.
However I did find out that its a good timber for making bows.
So I think I'll just have to suck it and see what happens to a piece.

Bob

Good luck and maybe a post letting us know how it works.

John

Originally Posted by echnidna

Thanks CT,
So I think I'll just have to suck it and see what happens to a piece.

Ok, PM me your address and I'll send a couple of the straightest slices i can find.

PM sent Frank.

I've spent many hours on the net and haven't found any instance of it being steam bent. So its obviously not normally done so I guess I'll have to try it and see what happens.

However the luthiers sites were quite interesting as they bend all sorts of woods.
And I found that Olive is regarded as an excellent timber for bowmaking (straight grained I would assume)

Anyway I love a challenge.
I'll try take some pics to post

Sapwood will bend apparently
Keep us updated, I'd like to see how you go.



Cheers

Me too! I'm interested too!

Slices about 200x30x2 sent with best wishes.

Followed the links, interesting reading. Andy, that's the first place I have seen discussing olive's (ordinary) steam bending capacity.

Looked at the bowmaking sites and I think I have a good idea of the situation now. There are references to prehistoric bows made with young branches. It makes sense: the timber is tough and resilient in itself, so it is good to use when you do not have the means of treating it anyway.
Olive trees grow fluted and twisted, so finding a suitable piece in the trunk is virtually out of the question, but that does not matter because of the difficulty to cut it anyway. Young branches with a proportionally large amount of sapwood are the way to go. If the only option is to find a branch straight enough and long enough to make a bow, it pays to spend ages looking for it.

I might try several different methods,
I was considering ammonia as well as the steam

Then I found this Japanese furniture makers website

So I'm going to cruise around on it for a while as it may be a good resource

The Greek islands use a lot of Olive wood and I think I once saw a bow of a boat constructed with laminated timber I think was Olive.