Not original!

[Phillip Kelley]

I think if I had an original idea it would either scare me or I wouldn't recognize it! Bob from the Central Arkansas Chapter shared this @ a recent penturners meeting! A small Olive wood cutting board can yield
several pen blanks with interesting grain!

 

[mrcook4570]

If I ever find olivewood cutting boards in a store for $7.99, that store would be out of cutting boards as soon as I could get through the checkout line.

 

[Frank Nemke sr]

I bought one for a $ 1 Got about a dozen blanks

 

[ed4copies]

If I ever find olivewood cutting boards in a store for $7.99, that store would be out of cutting boards as soon as I could get through the checkout line.

I don't imagine they had many, Stan!! The one shown is broken down the grain line.

FWIW,
Ed

 

[brownsfn2]

Someone mentioned a while back that they bough one at Marshal's for that much in the past. I need to go check out my marshals. Although that might be too much Olive wood for me.

 

[robutacion]

I think if I had an original idea it would either scare me or I wouldn't recognize it! Bob from the Central Arkansas Chapter shared this @ a recent penturners meeting! A small Olive wood cutting board can yield
several pen blanks with interesting grain!

You may find a few more of those but, I doubt they will have that grain, the left of that piece, has the best grain and I wonder how much the people making and selling them, have sold them for, I doubt if any more that $4.00, there is more than 1 middle man, the original price will be lower than that, poor people that made them, they got peanuts for their work and wood.

These items are made, in most cases from people in small villages, where Olive wood is a plenty and normally used as firewood, villagers have then figured out that, making/hand-crafting stuff out of the wood they have around, is a way to make a few extra bucks to visitors, until some smart "business" person comes along, sees it and buys the whole stock and made huge orders for more at the same price.

For the villagers, that is a big deal and as they start making lots of them to fulfil the orders not realising that someone is making good money out of them.

There are 2 sides to these situations, one is that, other local villagers see that they can make money out of making stuff out of their natural resource, the Olive tree and start doing the same, all of a certain everyone is doing the same thing, and the back stabbings wars start among them, by making their's cheaper so that people buy their's an not anyone else, that become pretty ugly and villagers start to divided instead of working together...!

The other aspect is that, the Olive wood trade voulchers finds out where is a good supply of Olive wood, they go in and buy all there is available and offering prices that will attempt many less scrupulous people to start cutting trees that shouldn't be cut, with or without permission, the money is just too good for them that live in poverty to look the other way so, availability of Olive wood for those village crafter's get's scare and too expensive for them to buy for their own craft, and unless they have their own trees and are prepared to cut for their use, they stop working and their craft dies with them...!

This is a "little story" of what is behind for most of these "finds", I speak for experience and with a true knowledge of what I'm talking about, that may explain my "reaction" with anything Olive wood related and how I like other to be aware/know/learn, many of the aspects of this wonderful resource that so many of us, learn to appreciate.

Business minded people (in general...!), are humans with a temperament/nerve and mentality that I don't have, never had and never will, they may be as important as anyone else but, I fail to understand and accept, as my kind of people. OK, I may have had a few too many bad experiences with these type of people nevertheless, I find most of them far too greedy...!

I apologise for my "rant", I just though that, you may would like to know...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George

 

[Smitty37]

A small Olive wood cutting board can yield
several pen blanks with interesting grain!

I wonder how much the people making and selling them, have sold them for....they got peanuts for their work and wood. Just as they have for centuries - olive wood carving goes back a long long way.

These items are made, in most cases from people in small villages, where Olive wood is a plenty and normally used as firewood, villagers have then figured out that, making/hand-crafting stuff out of the wood they have around, is a way to make a few extra bucks to visitors, until some smart "business" person comes along, sees it and buys the whole stock and made huge orders for more at the same price. This is a windfall for the villagers

For the villagers, that is a big deal and as they start making lots of them to fulfil the orders not realising that someone is making good money out of them. For them, THEY are making good money out of them. What seems like pennies to you might seem like a lot more to those who see very little cash money in their lives.

There are 2 sides to these situations, one is that, other local villagers see that they can make money out of making stuff out of their natural resource, the Olive tree and start doing the same Of course they do, why shouldn't they.

The other aspect is that, the Olive wood trade voulchers finds out where is a good supply of Olive wood, they go in and buy all there is available and offering prices that will attempt many less scrupulous people to start cutting trees that shouldn't be cut, with or without permission, the money is just too good for them that live in poverty to look the other way so, availability of Olive wood for those village crafter's get's scare and too expensive for them to buy for their own craft, and unless they have their own trees and are prepared to cut for their use, they stop working and their craft dies with them...! As near as I can tell olive wood (except from the Holy Lands where they are pretty sophisticated business people themselves) is not in short supply.

This is a "little story" of what is behind for most of these "finds", I speak for experience and with a true knowledge of what I'm talking about, that may explain my "reaction" with anything Olive wood related and how I like other to be aware/know/learn, many of the aspects of this wonderful resource that so many of us, learn to appreciate. I'm not ready to believe that the "villagers" don't understand what is going on. I guess I just don't think we are that much "smarter" and that they need us to 'protect' their interests.

Business minded people (in general...!), are humans with a temperament/nerve and mentality that I don't have, never had and never will, they may be as important as anyone else but, I fail to understand and accept, as my kind of people. OK, I may have had a few too many bad experiences with these type of people nevertheless, I find most of them far too greedy...!

I apologise for my "rant", I just though that, you may would like to know...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George

You are certainly entitled to your opinion of "Business minded people" even though I'm not sure exactly what kind of person that is...I have a small business myself and don't think a whole lot different than my neighbors .....

 

[Phillip Kelley]

Ain't broke!

That is the edge where the 1st pen-blank came from...holy cow....
I was just repurposing some olive wood...guess I should have just
cut cheese on it!

If I ever find olivewood cutting boards in a store for $7.99, that store would be out of cutting boards as soon as I could get through the checkout line.

I don't imagine they had many, Stan!! The one shown is broken down the grain line.

FWIW,
Ed

 

[firewhatfire]

It was me that found one at Marshals. Wish I had picked up the other one they had. Here is pen I turned from the one I got.

 

[brownsfn2]

LOL. Amazing what you can find at Marshall's. Very nice work.

 

[robutacion]

It was me that found one at Marshals. Wish I had picked up the other one they had. Here is pen I turned from the one I got.

Wow, that is a great piece of Olive wood, the Cigar looks quite good dressed with it...!

Is that a knot filled in or something else...???

Nice finish, also...!

Cheers
George

 

[robutacion]

That is the edge where the 1st pen-blank came from...holy cow....
I was just repurposing some olive wood...guess I should have just
cut cheese on it!

Well, you could have, is not everyday one sees a piece like that, made of such a nicely grained piece of Olive wood but for the price, you can find something else to cut your cheese with, there are a few nice pens to come out of that board...!

Don't thing too much about my post, I just thought is give you and others a little background on how these pieces appear in such type shops, and my take on the issue, as if I was thinking aloud...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George

 

[robutacion]

You are certainly entitled to your opinion of "Business minded people" even though I'm not sure exactly what kind of person that is...I have a small business myself and don't think a whole lot different than my neighbors .....

Sure Smithy, you are entitle also to have your own thoughts on the issue, no problems there, I've told a little true story on what my experience was on this issue, if anything else and keeping our opinions aside, is not the possible shortage of Olive wood and you are correct there, that I was referring too but, the people behind the hands that crafted all those unique pieces, when they're gone, there is no one to replace them, a lot because the "head" prices/value that was put on such wood.

I didn't think that I would see any more, pieces such as these, that was what triggered my trip to the pass...!

Thinking aloud, I'm afraid, sorry...!:frown:

Cheers
George

 

[firewhatfire]

No filler on this one. That was the knot only.

It was me that found one at Marshals. Wish I had picked up the other one they had. Here is pen I turned from the one I got.

Wow, that is a great piece of Olive wood, the Cigar looks quite good dressed with it...!

Is that a knot filled in or something else...???

Nice finish, also...!

Cheers
George

 

[Smitty37]

You are certainly entitled to your opinion of "Business minded people" even though I'm not sure exactly what kind of person that is...I have a small business myself and don't think a whole lot different than my neighbors .....

Sure Smithy, you are entitle also to have your own thoughts on the issue, no problems there, I've told a little true story on what my experience was on this issue, if anything else and keeping our opinions aside, is not the possible shortage of Olive wood and you are correct there, that I was referring too but, the people behind the hands that crafted all those unique pieces, when they're gone, there is no one to replace them, a lot because the "head" prices/value that was put on such wood.

I didn't think that I would see any more, pieces such as these, that was what triggered my trip to the pass...!

Thinking aloud, I'm afraid, sorry...!:frown:

Cheers
George

It isn't a matter of disagreeing it is a matter of s___ hapens.

I personally know a man who has seen his 'craft' of hand carving things from pieces of drift wood he picks up on the beach) turn from him having unique items at craft shows to dozens of vendors with the same things made in China. And it is difficult to tell theirs from his. He has stopped trying to go to craft shows.

 

[robutacion]

You are certainly entitled to your opinion of "Business minded people" even though I'm not sure exactly what kind of person that is...I have a small business myself and don't think a whole lot different than my neighbors .....

Sure Smithy, you are entitle also to have your own thoughts on the issue, no problems there, I've told a little true story on what my experience was on this issue, if anything else and keeping our opinions aside, is not the possible shortage of Olive wood and you are correct there, that I was referring too but, the people behind the hands that crafted all those unique pieces, when they're gone, there is no one to replace them, a lot because the "head" prices/value that was put on such wood.

I didn't think that I would see any more, pieces such as these, that was what triggered my trip to the pass...!

Thinking aloud, I'm afraid, sorry...!:frown:

Cheers
George

It isn't a matter of disagreeing it is a matter of s___ hapens.

I personally know a man who has seen his 'craft' of hand carving things from pieces of drift wood he picks up on the beach) turn from him having unique items at craft shows to dozens of vendors with the same things made in China. And it is difficult to tell theirs from his. He has stopped trying to go to craft shows.

That's my point precisely Smithy, and yes s_____ happens, as you say however, there are times where we have to wonder, where do we go from here...???

Most "young fellows" will be scratching their heads and think, what the heck are we talking about...! Sure, they don't know any better because the issue I raised is something that they may have ever heard about or been informed of, there would be no problem in using the Internet, (as their main tool in our days) to read/search/learn about all this but in reality, the issue never was a point of interest to them, and to many other people out there that, seems to like to see all these hand-crafted items in shows and stores, without having a clue out they originated and got there, in the first place so, my "story" was only a little bit of background to the piece that originated the thread, in the first place.

There is no finger pointing nor any intention to be argumentative, by the contrary, I simply shared a bit of information that is true and correct, despite the fact that I was not asked to do so, my apologies for that...!

Cheers
George

 

[Smitty37]

You are certainly entitled to your opinion of "Business minded people" even though I'm not sure exactly what kind of person that is...I have a small business myself and don't think a whole lot different than my neighbors .....

Sure Smithy, you are entitle also to have your own thoughts on the issue, no problems there, I've told a little true story on what my experience was on this issue, if anything else and keeping our opinions aside, is not the possible shortage of Olive wood and you are correct there, that I was referring too but, the people behind the hands that crafted all those unique pieces, when they're gone, there is no one to replace them, a lot because the "head" prices/value that was put on such wood.

I didn't think that I would see any more, pieces such as these, that was what triggered my trip to the pass...!

Thinking aloud, I'm afraid, sorry...!:frown:

Cheers
George

It isn't a matter of disagreeing it is a matter of s___ hapens.

I personally know a man who has seen his 'craft' of hand carving things from pieces of drift wood he picks up on the beach) turn from him having unique items at craft shows to dozens of vendors with the same things made in China. And it is difficult to tell theirs from his. He has stopped trying to go to craft shows.

That's my point precisely Smithy, and yes s_____ happens, as you say however, there are times where we have to wonder, where do we go from here...???

Most "young fellows" will be scratching their heads and think, what the heck are we talking about...! Sure, they don't know any better because the issue I raised is something that they may have ever heard about or been informed of, there would be no problem in using the Internet, (as their main tool in our days) to read/search/learn about all this but in reality, the issue never was a point of interest to them, and to many other people out there that, seems to like to see all these hand-crafted items in shows and stores, without having a clue out they originated and got there, in the first place so, my "story" was only a little bit of background to the piece that originated the thread, in the first place.

There is no finger pointing nor any intention to be argumentative, by the contrary, I simply shared a bit of information that is true and correct, despite the fact that I was not asked to do so, my apologies for that...!

Cheers
George

If I had a dollar for all the things that have changed over the last 60 years or so that I wish hadn't I'd be a wealthy man so I understand where you're coming from. Without getting into details, in my opinion a lot of the changes we've seen have not necessarily been for the better.

 

[elody21]

I have not read the rest of the posts so sorry if I repeat information.

I have bought many of these cutting boards from Marshalls and Home Goods.
They have gotten them in on a regular basis for at least 2 years and the patterns vary. I have gotten several with beautiful burls and grain.
This is a great way to get olive wood.
I just found one that is 32 inches long! That was the first time I got one that big.
The only thing you have to be careful of is, when the stores get them in they are not usually dry enough to use. a moisture meter is very helpful.
Keep an eye on the clearance shelf because often they crack because they come in fairly wet.They are then at a discount.
Alice

We were in Italy last October and they were EVERYWHERE in stores! The only reason I didn't fill my suitcase up is 1. the weight, and our suit cases already were full of beer and chocolate from Belgium and 2 because they actually were higher in price to the ones at Marshall's.

 

[elody21]

These are the boards I have right now and do not include the many I have bought.
Last year I made a cheese board (round with cover) and about 7 different cheese forks and knives out of one large board.

 

[BSea]

While I've passed on more than I buy, they can be found if you just go look for them. And to give credit where credit is due, I did see firewhatfire's post, and so I went shopping at our local TJ Maxx & Marshalls.

Here's my latest. This is the largest I've found, but not the best. This one is about 7/8th thick. The nicest one I've pasted on was similar sized, but only just over 1/2".