Olive Wood Question

[William Young]

I turned my first olive wood blanks and I dont know if it is spalted or if the dark streaks are just natural coloring of that wood. It looks very similar in appearance to different species of spalted wood. Just in case it was actually spalted and possibly weakened by the spalting process, I drilled the holes and then put some thin CA inside and distributed it with a Q-tip before I glued the tubes in. I didn't want to have a blow out when it got turned thin.
It turned beautifully with long curly shavings coming off both the gouge and the skew.
So my question is,.. .. are the characteristics I have encounterd with this piece normal for olive wood or would it be that the softness of it and the streaky grain pattern with black lines etc. are indeed signs of a spalted piece.

I have not finished it yet because I want to try out a WB high gloss laquer finish on it when it arrives. Hopefully tomorrow.
W.Y.

 

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

The world anxiously awaits the result.

 

[wayneis]

William, that is how it is supposed to look. It is not spalting, its the beauty of olive wood.

Wayne

 

[Charlie in Garfield]

Hi Bill,
That is the way it looks normaly it is not spalting. If you look back at some of mine you will see the black streaks there al so.
Can not waite to see that with a laquer finish,will be butiful I'm sure.
Just charlie

 

[William Young]

Thanks guys.
Just goes to show how much I know about olive wood. [:I]
W.Y.

Charlie;
You can display photos of your pens in your own album on this site if you wish.
Just click on photos at the top and upload the pictures from your hard drive. Makes it nice in a case like this where you make reference to a particular one so we dont have to look through other threads or archives to find a particular photo.

 

[Adam]

Becareful with finishes on olivewood as it is very oilly although laquer is better then most you may want to wipe it down with denatured alcohol before finishimg

Good luck and Bethlehem olive wood is one of my favorites the dark streaks are charecteristics of very old trees or what i like to call "pure breeds" trees grown from seeds of very old trees


Adam Gill