olive tree timber

[HUON]

How would timber from the olive tree stand up to the marine environment ?

[b.o.a.t.]

oily as can be... wouldn't hold glue well.
burns -hot-. really -hot-.
Beyond that, I know nothing except that I know where you are welcome to several million feral olive trees. all over the Adelaide Hills.

cheers
AJ

[HUON]

Thanks AJ, I've just finished pruning my olive trees. So already have plenty of raw material. Thought the wood might come in handy for frames in a canoe or some other small craft, or even as some trim inside a cabin.

[KJL38]

I know Monturiol used olive wood for his submarine due to it being affordable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narc%C3%ADs_Monturiol_i_Estarriol I don't think he had any problems with it.

[Travis Edwards]

Olive wood is good for use in timber boats according to the research I have been doing, It would look really nice used in a strip planked kayak along with some black and red timbers.

[Rick_Tatum]

I've made some bamboo backed bows from olive wood. It glued up just fine. It's dense, tough wood.

[HELLICONIA54]

bows??? I'm an archer.I own and use an Indian Archery,"Bighorn" 50Lber.lol.oops off topic.

[HOOKED.UP]

I have never thought of using it for strip planking etc, but have thought it would be fine for knees etc.
It certainly is a fairly had timber.
I have never seen enough of it yet here in Tas, to get a decent size piece.

Paul.

[PAR]

Olive is an odd choice for strip planking. It's heavy (exactly what you don't want), usually has reactionary wood (tends to warp, twist, etc.), can be difficult to find in reasonable lengths, plus it tends to be burly and generally wouldn't be a species I'd consider for much more then trim, though I'll bet it makes good cleats and block cheeks. It does have an interesting and interlocking grain.

[Scott-DMS]

Check out what Australian Forrestries has to say about it their the ones that have done the testing of all likelyhood candits in marine timbers, as for gluiing it a self foaming polyurethane is probably the best way to acheive adhesion check out one called PURBOND

[PAR]

Scott, is there something about my evaluation of Olive (Olea europaea) that you think needs checking? The physical properties are widely known and it's widely used in furniture and cabinetry. Lastly, I'd suggest that a PU adhesive is less desirable to use then epoxy in strip planking, for several reasons.

[Scott-DMS]

To be honest PAR what you had said had slipped my mind once i got to the bottom of the threads and hit reply my bad, and totally agree with epoxy being the more desirable option but unfortunately wasnt what the initial thread was asking

[HUON]

Probably thinking of framing , steam bent or otherwise. How do you think olive timber would bend with some encouragement from steam?

[PAR]

Olive is a hard and it's interlocking grain makes cross cutting more difficult. It can be hard to find in moderately long lengths and the usually fairly wild grain patterns wouldn't lend themselves well to steam bending, just too much grain "run out", so you'll have lots of breakage if you try.

[HUON]

Thanks Par