Where to find BOW?

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redneckmedic

redneckmedic

Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2012
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265
Location
Greenfield, IN USA
I have bought cut blanks direct from overseas, and seen some on various websites. But who do you think the best vendor of Bethleham Olive Wood is? I'm looking for best price and prefer stateside. I'm also looking for blocks I can cut myself or at minimum full length blanks.
 
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There are several places in the us that has them. Check pennstate and all the sub-outlets they have. think even craft supply has them as well.

If you want to go direct then there are a number of things you need to look for, i.e. labeling, ship time, ship cost and wait time. Various problems in the region does cause 6+ month delays sometimes.

As for figure goes that does vary drastically and finding someone who will ship you what you are looking for can be difficult but not impossible.
 
I've been watching this thread as well and would like to see more opinions. I've been looking for larger blanks (small bowl size). I know they are harder to come by, but someone/somewhere has to have something...
 
One supplier-outstanding!...

Matt,

I recently purchased 12 BOW blanks in "Exhibition" grade from EXOTICS.
9 of the 12 were SUPERB, 3 had a small amount of sap wood that would be nearly 100% eliminated when turned.

I've tried other sources including the BOW "from the home office", their stuff was sometimes 70% sapwood (light beige-no figure).

Exotics has everyone beat as far as I am concerned!

Charlie
 
Another source is Marshall's or TJ Maxx type store. They usually have olive wood cutting board for $10 -$15. I took a look today at my local store and they had a 8x12x1 piece for $12.99.

YMMV
 
Alzey said:
If you are not set on Holyland olive wood, I believe George has had some really nice Ausie olive wood in the past. You might want to check with him.
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Thanks for the heads up mate, appreciated and yes I have plenty, I cut the trees myself so, sizes are no problem however, the OP have made it clear that, he is looking after BOW (Bethlehem Olive Wood) and I don't have that, mine is AUOW, damn silly abbreviations...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George
 
I've ordered pen blanks from Bethlehemolivewood.net and been very pleased with their quality. They also have a good variety of different sized spindles, bowl blanks, & even limbs available. Shipping time was 3-4 months on the orders that I've placed.

I've also purchased some pen blanks from Israeli suppliers on ebay and also had good results with them - be sure to read the descriptions as far as figuring is concerned. I've found them to be quite accurate.

I also purchased raw wood directly from a wood carver in Bethlehem when I was in Israel about a year ago. I got my guide to take me to a wood carver's shop to see if I could buy some raw wood - it took some doing, but we finally found a carver with a nice stock of limbs and blocks and I was able to rummage through his pile of wood and selected about 20 pounds of wood. It wasn't cheap - about $10 per pound, but the quality was excellent. The guide said that he would be glad to broker further purchases for me, but he hasn't responded to my emails recently. Too bad - BOW is my favorite wood.
 
robutacion said:
Alzey said:
If you are not set on Holyland olive wood, I believe George has had some really nice Ausie olive wood in the past. You might want to check with him.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up mate, appreciated and yes I have plenty, I cut the trees myself so, sizes are no problem however, the OP have made it clear that, he is looking after BOW (Bethlehem Olive Wood) and I don't have that, mine is AUOW, damn silly abbreviations...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George
Click to expand...

When it comes done to it, the cosmetics for most of my pens is prob more important than the birth place... plus I've got plenty of those "from the holyland" round stickers, no one would be the wiser :wink:
 
redneckmedic said:
robutacion said:
Alzey said:
If you are not set on Holyland olive wood, I believe George has had some really nice Ausie olive wood in the past. You might want to check with him.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up mate, appreciated and yes I have plenty, I cut the trees myself so, sizes are no problem however, the OP have made it clear that, he is looking after BOW (Bethlehem Olive Wood) and I don't have that, mine is AUOW, damn silly abbreviations...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George
Click to expand...

When it comes done to it, the cosmetics for most of my pens is prob more important than the birth place... plus I've got plenty of those "from the holyland" round stickers, no one would be the wiser :wink:
Click to expand...

Well, that is an old story and only a "fool" wouldn't accept as an daily practice. I would probably be a rich man for very Olive wood blank I sold, that did get the sticker and authentication certificate attached to it, "treatment" however, I never encouraged anyone to do it and prefer not to sell them if I know, that's what they will be used for, period...!

It up to one's conscience to either continue to be part of the problem/rip-off or be part of the solution and be truthful about what they are selling.

The problem is that, when one puts truthfulness and honesty against dollars and greediness, the later wins every time or at least 99% of times.

Please, this is not open to discussion nor I will "ping-pong" once again with this issue, I will never stop expression my opinion about this issue, like it or not, some will agree some will not, and as I say, bad tities...!:wink::biggrin:

There will be "mountains" of these blanks available very soon, lets see what happens...!:wink::biggrin::smile:

Cheers
George
 
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I don't have any personal experience with Aussie Olive Wood, so I don't know about that variety....yet. However, it seems that any pen I have made from any kind of olive wood has been very attractive. I just purchased some BOW from a friend and will soon try them. IMHO, too much is made of where the olive wood comes from. While I get the historical and Biblical significance, we don't normally get worked up about where our Osage Orange comes from, do we?

A beautiful pen will sell itself. No need for a special sticker (although I know it was said in jest here.)
 
ed4copies said:
redneckmedic said:
The biggest problem with forums is that satire unless saturated is almost always expressed undetected
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The other problem with forums is newer members are not aware of the minefields. You are tiptoeing through one, there. I was here when they laid the mines:eek::eek::eek:
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Well, that explains your dislike in Eastern-Asian dominated Recreation Sports (more satire in reference to your avoidance of ping pong ) :biggrin:
 
I think the significance of origin comes from when a pen is sold with a cross clip on it for use by a priest or minister. It's just bad Karma to go lieing to these people about what you are selling. If you are selling it to a used care salesman (not the good ones, just the junk lot ones) then who cares where they think it comes from. They sure don't so don't even identify the wood at all. 99% of my non clergy customers don't even ask what wood it is, but I always put a tag on it of the specis and origin if I know it.
 
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