Hi Jeff,
Yes, you right, that sort of grain you don't find that easily...!
One of the things with most woods, and Olive wood is no different, slicing through a log and seeing the boards grain as a whole is one thing but as soon as you rip it into small pieces as pen blanks, the whole "wow" and intriguing pattern of the grain, simple disappears or become unrecognizable, particularly if you have seen the board before ripping, this is simply a fact, you can see a few blanks with some extraordinary grain but the whole visual grain image is no longer there.
This has striked many times when cutting the rare large logs of my Majestic Olive and many other woods but, Olive being my preferred wood due to my European background, I found it frustrating sometimes to "destroy" the large slabs/boards grain pattern when cutting into small pieces.
That board was made from a crotch piece where all the "round/circle" rings develop, I have cut many of those that I sometimes make into plate/plater or shallow bowl blanks, otherwise the grain is all lost. The majority of Countries in Europe are quite rich in Olive trees, with the South of Italy being by far the biggest of the lot in Olive wood quality and production.
I'm lucky that most of the old trees planted in this region, here in the SA -Australia, were planted by the first Italian Settlers in the area in the 1840/50's. They brought the exact same Olive species they had back home, allowing me to have a piece of Italy, without leaving the country...!:biggrin:
I'm not surprise that you have seen so many Olive wood items for sale in the city and in bigger towns but the real thing, there is the olive wood carving/turning and art making, most of the times using very old and unsophisticated tools, is in those little villages where the local people (mainly old fellows) create these artifacts from the wood they collect from either, their on trees "grove" or from neighboring groves, mostly annually trimmings and the occasional ripped tree.
I reckon, I should be selling the wood in "slices" instead of blanks, people (those not familiar with the log to blank process...!) would understand what I mean...! I'm attaching a few pics from some of the Olive wood I've been cutting for a while and some more recently, enjoy...!:biggrin:
Cheers
George