Thread: Any sources of Olive Tree Wood in Victoria?

What sort of sizes are you looking for ?

Originally Posted by plt43

What sort of sizes are you looking for ?

Anything from 6 inches cube all the way out to 1.3 metres diameter x 1 metre long

Sorry mate - that's much bigger than the bits I have.
Good hunting !

What size bits do you have?

My 12 year old olive tree story.

Tree Lopper Mate (TLM) calls and says,
"Bob got a 100 year olive tree coming up in the next month or so, are you interested?
After picking my mouth up off the floor I stammered "Of Course!"
"It's about 5m tall, the main trunk is only 1m high and more than 500 mm in diameter at the base and about 350 mm at the top of the trunk. Then a bunch of 150 mm diam long branches"
"Bewdy"!

A few weeks later TLM rings and says, "I'm going up north for a few weeks on a fishing trip and while I'm away the olive is going to become available. I've left instructions with the boys to deliver the Olive to the yard next week and they'll call you when it arrives."

"Great thanks!" I replied.

This is what they delivered
LONGEST PIECE WAS ABOUT 250 MM LONG!
IMG_8707.jpg


IMG_8708.jpg

Still have most of it in my stash - I did use a small piece to make this.
It really is one of the best turning timbers around.
MAllet3.jpg

Some interesting pieces there Bob! Could have been better but still...

I think that I may have found some... but the information is pretty vague... time will tell...

Originally Posted by RSD

What size bits do you have?

My small stock is just limb pieces - wouldn't even get your 6x6 cube from them....

Originally Posted by BobL

....
This is what they delivered





Still have most of it in my stash - I did use a small piece to make this.
It really is one of the best turning timbers around.
MAllet3.jpg

Looks nice, Bob. Never seen olive wood; how would it go for tool handles? Dry Janka of 12 kN - that is seriously hard.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Looks nice, Bob. Never seen olive wood; how would it go for tool handles? Dry Janka of 12 kN - that is seriously hard.

Yes it is hard but even when dry it turns so nicely.

These small slabs came from a 30+ year old tree at my sons place

IMG_6181.jpg

I made this (450mm) long spoon out of one of the pieces.
BigSpoon.jpg

Most fruit woods are nice for handles, apricot is one of my favourites, Apple is good too,
They all have really good tactile feels to them which makes them good for handles.

Delightful, Bob. Fully agree; I have used lots of fruit wood - pear, apple, cherry, plum, apricot, etc - but never olive. Lovely to work with, and looks and feels nice.

Those slabs look nice Bob, I like the way Olive wood turns out it is a favourite of woodturners for pens etc because of the decorative nature of the wood.
I have an Olive tree here but only with 20cm in base dia ,but I have some larger pieces that I intend to use from days of yore in the Woodturners Ass.
I think in some ways it holds its own amidst the figurative woods out there.

Originally Posted by BobL

Yes it is hard but even when dry it turns so nicely.

These small slabs came from a 30+ year old tree at my sons place

IMG_6181.jpg

I made this (450mm) long spoon out of one of the pieces.
BigSpoon.jpg

Most fruit woods are nice for handles, apricot is one of my favourites, Apple is good too,
They all have really good tactile feels to them which makes them good for handles.

Originally Posted by John Saxton

Those slabs look nice Bob, I like the way Olive wood turns out it is a favourite of woodturners for pens etc because of the decorative nature of the wood.
I have an Olive tree here but only with 20cm in base dia ,but I have some larger pieces that I intend to use from days of yore in the Woodturners Ass.
I think in some ways it holds its own amidst the figurative woods out there.

I agree it can be stunning. High quality Olive is one of the most prized woods around. Some semi custom made high end motor vehicles use it in their dashboards and other wooden trim. Large crack free olive lumber can command a significant premium. I was once asked about making a set of about 40 religious crucifixes out of Olive but that fell through once I told them what the timber would cost.

Bob, I noticed one of your "firewood" lengths of olive was from near the ground. Most (all?) olives I've seen growing have a swollen base at ground level & just below like the lignotubers of mallees, with lots of small adventitious shoots sticking out from them. I presume they would be similar inside to the mallee 'burls' and are the source of the fancy burl olive veneers? I was once given a couple of short logs from a small tree (~200mm diam), from well above ground level. If I ever get the offer of another one, I'd be round there in a flash with my mattock to grub out as much of the stump as I can!

It's a declared weed in S.A. I spent a few months in Gawler a few years ago & noticed there were thousands of feral olives along the river, and all over he place. Most had zillions of tiny rip fruits, just the right size for a bird to swallow & poop out the seeds all over the countryside.

I got a lot of nice wood out of my two logs worth, but it developed quite a few internal checks, despite very slow & careful air-drying. However, it's well worth the effort to find the sound pieces, it does indeed make very nice handles and tools, the oily wood takes a beautiful polish and feels very nice in the hand: Halfback olive b.jpg Olive wood layout set.jpg

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Bob, I noticed one of your "firewood" lengths of olive was from near the ground. Most (all?) olives I've seen growing have a swollen base at ground level & just below like the lignotubers of mallees, with lots of small adventitious shoots sticking out from them. I presume they would be similar inside to the mallee 'burls' and are the source of the fancy burl olive veneers?

Correct. Apparent this tree had an larger section of "swollen base ball" below that piece in my photo that was par-buried in the ground but the tree loppers removed that with a stump grinder!