Thread: Bethlehem Olive Wood

Originally Posted by BobL

The best one was a 1000+ year old tree from the North Perth Monastery, 2m trunk ranging from about 500mm at the base to about 300 at 2m, brought back to me by the tree lopper monkeys in 250 mm long blocks!

Huh ? 1000 Years Old? Its not a Native Type Olive if there is such a thing is it ?

Pity about the 250 mm lengths.

Those Kitchen tools are Nice. The Mallet has lovely wood .

Originally Posted by BobL

If I remember I get the tree loppers to collect even the smaller branches and have cut these up for wood turners and have give stuff to the Mens shed.

Lucky Turners .

Originally Posted by auscab

Huh ? 1000 Years Old? Its not a Native Type Olive if there is such a thing is it ?.

Whoops. . . . the monastery was set up in the early 1900's, so its 100+ years old.

The mallet is turned out of a large branch - if you look carefully you'll see the middle of the branch (ie heart wood) is outside the handle. This was done deliberately so that the heartwood was not inside the handle to increase the strength of the connection of the handle to the head.

If people are buying Bethlehem Olivewood, Mike E Saad is the only one I deal with in Israel.

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Originally Posted by BobL

According to an extensive article (122 references) on "olive" on wikipedia there are six natural subspecies of Olea europaea and despite several biblical references there is no mention of "Bethlehem olive".
Olive - Wikipedia




The articles does mention there are hundreds of "cultivars" or hybrids used to produce particular fruit/oil etc.
The Wikipedia article on "olive cultivars" is also very interesting but once again no mention of Bethlehem Olive
List of olive cultivars - Wikipedia
There are 4 Israeli/Palestinian cultivars mentioned and none mention Bethlehem.

One of these cultivars (Barnea) is widely grown in Australia but any connection with Old Bethlehem is unlikely because its a recently bred cultivar from souther Israel.

I'm starting to wonder if it's a bit like the so called pieces of "wood of the cross" , ie if we added up all the pieces sold over the years it would add up to a forest.

BTW there is a recognised Aussie cultivar called "Swan Hill". Its widely grown as an ornamental an produces virtually no allergenic pollen or dropped fruit!

The Wild Olive or African Olive has been renamed Olea Europaea Sp Africana. It is common here in South Africa and is a great timber to work with. Turns well and is highly sought after (common name here is Wild Olive or Olienhout)

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Originally Posted by BobL

According to an extensive article (122 references) on "olive" on wikipedia there are six natural subspecies of Olea europaea and despite several biblical references there is no mention of "Bethlehem olive".
Olive - Wikipedia




The articles does mention there are hundreds of "cultivars" or hybrids used to produce particular fruit/oil etc.
The Wikipedia article on "olive cultivars" is also very interesting but once again no mention of Bethlehem Olive
List of olive cultivars - Wikipedia
There are 4 Israeli/Palestinian cultivars mentioned and none mention Bethlehem.

One of these cultivars (Barnea) is widely grown in Australia but any connection with Old Bethlehem is unlikely because its a recently bred cultivar from souther Israel.

I'm starting to wonder if it's a bit like the so called pieces of "wood of the cross" , ie if we added up all the pieces sold over the years it would add up to a forest.

BTW there is a recognised Aussie cultivar called "Swan Hill". Its widely grown as an ornamental an produces virtually no allergenic pollen or dropped fruit!

The Wild Olive or African Olive has been renamed Olea Europaea Sp Africana. It is common here in South Africa and is a great timber to work with. Turns well and is highly sought after (common name here is Wild Olive or Olienhout)