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turnerted
26th February 2012, 02:13 PM
Hi
I arrived home a few days ago to find a team of workmen cleaning up the jungle in the backyard of the house next door . I new there were olive trees growing there so I asked if they were cutting any down . They said no but they were going to cut down the one in the front of the house which was the biggest one of all and I could have anything I wanted from it.I had often looked longingly at this tree for ages since the butt was covered with small burl like growths which I suspected was indicating some interesting grain.
To start off with I got about three metres of the trunk which yielded about ten rouged out bowls between 250 to 300mm diameter and small bowls cored out from them plus a load of billets which have now been split and sealed.
Now came the butt which was reasonably sound despite the workman's gloomy predictions .I got him to cut it in half, then with a lot of struggling we loaded each half into my wheelbarrow and I wheeled the halves one at a time into my backyard . As it was getting late now I wrapped it all in a tarp. and left it next day to slab.
As I have only a small chainsaw I was expecting a struggle but it only took about an hour to cut it up and produce the slabs in the pictures.Tha slabs are between 100-75mm thick and the largest is 600mmx470mm.
Hopefully in about six months I will have some nice olive bowls and platters to post.

Ted

Mulgabill
26th February 2012, 02:30 PM
Good score Ted!:2tsup: That will keep you busy for a while!
What's the plans for the slabs?

wheelinround
26th February 2012, 02:35 PM
Ted I bet the smell was heaven a damn good score :o 3m thats a lot of wood @ 300mm dia.

Root ball Ted is where best colour is and I bet its a big one.:;

Ray

Christos
26th February 2012, 04:06 PM
Very interesting figure.

Sawdust Maker
26th February 2012, 04:43 PM
noice :2tsup:

hughie
26th February 2012, 05:02 PM
sigh.....if only. :D great haul :2tsup:

dai sensei
26th February 2012, 07:15 PM
great score :2tsup:

Was there any more of the root ball below the ground, the tree lopper may have left that behind, and it can be the best bit

brendan stemp
26th February 2012, 08:30 PM
A very nice haul. Beautiful colour and figure. I hope it doesn't crack up on you which has been my experience with olive in my area. Have you sealed it yet?

cookie48
26th February 2012, 08:59 PM
Great catch. Lucky bugger.

dr4g0nfly
27th February 2012, 01:09 AM
Ohhh, Lucky ol' you.

I've only ever turned a couple of olive blanks (quite expensive in the UK and we don't grow it) but I know it turns wonderfully and finished fantastic.

Looking forward to your future posts.

artme
27th February 2012, 09:39 AM
Good stuphph Ted!! Lucky you!!:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

turnerted
27th February 2012, 04:37 PM
Thanks for the comments . I could almost detect the drool coming through the computer .
Mulgabill , at the moment just bowls and platters . I have just started on a natural edge bowl from one of the outermost slabs.
Ray and dai sensei , I would have loved to get the rootball but it was not practical to start digging up the neighbours yard and next day it was eaten by a stump grinder anyway.
Brenden, All the straight bits have been endgrain sealed and roughed out bowls are packed in shavings in cardboard boxes .All the bowls were starting to show checking and liberal amounts of CA applied to hopefully stop it . Interestingly,the bowl I've just started on from a slab, shows no sign of checking .
Ted

dai sensei
27th February 2012, 09:44 PM
..the rootball ... was eaten by a stump grinder..

:aargh::cry4: