Definitely, a beautiful piece of Olive Wood, if I haven't been told where it come from I could swear, was "one" of many of my Majestic A1++ blanks!
There is nothing that can compare (to me, anyway...!) to a nicely turned piece of top class Olive wood from the true Olive wood species, regardless where they grow, unfortunately when one is confronted with an exceptional blank of this wood, sometimes some of the best grain features are lost into shavings, as no one can predict how deep or how far/where those dark veins run to.
The cutting method of the blank can safe a lot of figure but, there is not possible not to lose some in the turning process, and sometimes, almost all if not all of the good stuff is gone, turning and exceptional blank into something not so!
I've been on this road many times turning all types of things with my Olive wood but I get upset still every time it happens, and I have plenty to work with, just imagine how I would feel if I didn't have that rare life treasures...!:redface:
Just on the issue of preserving some of the best grains (features) I come across, mainly with the Olive wood, I got into the habit of sacrificing a little portion of the log/block/blank, by cutting a slice (normally the full size of whatever I'm cutting) about 0.5" thick of those unique/rare gems...!, sometimes that 0.5" is all that log/blank had to give so, the rest has lost its value but, I always catch up with other logs/pieces where I can take my 0.5" and still have plenty left.
Most times, as soon as the block of wood start to be "chopped" out into small pieces like pen blanks, the original figure (design/pattern) is lost, reason why I appreciate to have those slices with the full pattern/figure on it! Oh well, one of my things...!:biggrin:
There wouldn't be a need to say how much I like the above pen by now just form the wood used but, this one have the extra bonus of been put on a Cigar kit that I'm not familiar with so, Mr Wolfdancer what is really, this "ultra Cigar kit" ??? and where are you getting them from, if I may...!:wink:
I do apologize for my "confession" but, you gave me the perfect example to work with!:embarrassed:
Cheers
George
