Back from Italy

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jtdesigns

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Just hit the ground in the states after 9 days in Tuscany (Florence mostly). Got to see the Visconti Factory (pretty cool!). Generated quite a bit of interest from a couple of artisan dealers with my pens. Hopefully this works out. I did notice in a few of the small village shops a great deal of items made from olive wood. We were in olive oil country so not surprising but the grain found on these items were stunning and unlike anything I have seen from Bethlehem. I will post pictures when I get a chance. I ended up buying small cutting boards (6x10x1") for about 6 euros (approx. $8) that I plan on ripping to pen size blanks. Glad to be back in the U.S.!!

Jeff
 
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jtdesigns

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Here is the photo of the cutting board I found in San Gimignano, Italy. It will be cut up into pen blanks tonight. I have yet to see any other Olive Wood with this much grain.

Jeff
 

mrburls

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Sep 13, 2008
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That's the nicest cutting board I've ever seen. That should make some nice pen blanks.

Why did'nt my wife think to bring me some of those back when she was in Italy. Gonna have to have a talk with her :mad:

Keith "mrburls"
 

Tom D

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Jul 1, 2009
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Columbia, SC
I think if I had a cutting board like that my wife would probably use it as a wepon rather than let me cut it up. I recently was in Greece and was suprised to see that they use some beautiful olive wood for fire wood. I did bring some fire wood home with me. Can't wait to cut it up.
 

robutacion

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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
 

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ersRFP

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Feb 18, 2010
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Sacramento
My 2 cents is that it's end grain, not crotch. I've milled thousands of crotches and the only way you would see that grain pattern is if you have a 3 or more way crotch with a pith coming in from the side, end grain.

That's some awsome wood George.
 

robutacion

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Hi Eric,

I did had a good look before I mention the way I though this board was cut from the tree/log and I should admit my first though was "end-grain" but the knowing that slicing Olive wood at 1" boards on the end grain, just doesn't hold, it would crack badly. Even if these wood they use was kiln dry, still wouldn't be something that I would do. and I know those people only use the olive wood air dried, normally in a darker part of their sheds or even under ground in cellars, some times for many years before they get it out to work on it.

When I mentioned crotch, I should have mentioned that wouldn't be your normal slice in half crotch for bowls and plates/plater blanks type but instead the "ninja" or "sword" cut, as exemplified on my attached pic. I do these cuts quite often to achieve "identical" grain pattern as the one showed in the cutting board.

I should also mention that, at the annual trimming/pruning of the olive tree producing oil/olives, these type cuts are some of the most preferred to reduce a portion of the large limns, that are too woody and long. These will have attached some new growth branches, at least 3 to 5 year old, the cut itself, protects the new wood exposed to the weather(elements) and encourage new growth to develop in the following Spring.

This is my observation and explanation to the way I thing the board was originally cut but, I'm not always right so, is also a good chance that your interpretation of the cut is indeed correct, we may never know, unless we had the board to cut ourselves, huh...???

Thank you for your words on those pics (wood), most of it is gone but I have lots of other logs to open-up and discover their treasures...!:wink:

Cheers
George
 

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jtdesigns

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I do think it was a tangential slice as George indicated. I do know that it wasn't the smoothest turn wood. Using the skew did not give the most desirable results (coming across the the end grain. Lots of water thin CA and a spindle master seemed to work the best. Wiped down with denatured alcohol and 6 coats of medium CA yielded a beautiful finish. I was glad to see that the erratic grain patterns was preserved. I used a piece of 1/8" Plexiglass cut to the size of the blank to lay out my cuts to get the best look. I will post pics later.
 

robutacion

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Jeff,

I'm glad that I was unable to give a good possibility of the cut used on that board, not that I would mind to be wrong, but is nice to be right every so often...!

You said, "I do know that it wasn't the smoothest turn wood" ...! that thing has never seen a lathe, that is done as I said with some rough and most hand made tolls. The curves are just eyeballed (no marking at all) on some sort a bandsaw, then the rough board also cut originally on a bandsaw of at least 2TPI or even 1TPI, is then cleaned up on a bench belt sender system, where the bandsaw blade marks and the sharp edges of the all around cut (shape) are also rounded, without any attempt to be "perfect". This is indeed all hand made by the locals of those small villages, the "rough" shapes and finishes are what "define" the "true" handmade and local artifacts, the preferred ones by the "tourists/visitors"...!:wink:

No, I'm not Italian but close (Portugal), I watched as a kid and later allowed to made these sort of things in the old fellows shops, in the small village where I lived until I went and served the army services. He used Olive wood, Oak, Cork wood and the cork itself, straight from the tree.

I miss those days...!

Looking forwards to see your pics.

Cheers
George
 
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robutacion

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My 2 cents is that it's end grain, not crotch. I've milled thousands of crotches and the only way you would see that grain pattern is if you have a 3 or more way crotch with a pith coming in from the side, end grain.

That's some awsome wood George.

Hi Eric (ersRFP),

Please don't take this the wrong way, as I know that you also know your stuff well and that was never a question but, when I made my observation of the cut I believed that I was right, as I often "produce" those sort of cuts and not always with Olive wood, indeed I can make it with "most" woods.

I had actually some slabs that I knew I could show as a sample but unfortunately they all are impossible to reach at the moment so I have reproduce this same cut on a tree I cut las Friday. The tree is an Acacia of some nature that I got the first of, that day, there are a few others in the area that I will try to get the name/identification soon.

I used a water spray bottle to enhance the grain after I sliced one of the logs, which I knew had the right characteristics for the sample that I was trying to present here, not only to you but anyone else that is interested in these issues...!:biggrin:

As I said, don't be offended by my "persistence", I'm not here to prove you wrong, but only to evidence a little further my opinion on the "strange" cut that you don't see every day, and as I said before, sometimes I'm right, other times I'm not...!:wink:

PS: This is all "informative" stuff, and I'm always willing to learn new things...!

Cheers
George
 

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