I found me an extra hour finally.....

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Marc Phillips

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Jun 1, 2004
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Location
Columbus, GA, USA.
I finally dug out a block of shop time... and got to actually turn a little!

34828447-7e20-0268022C-.jpg


The pen and the keychain on the left are Olive, the keychain on the right is sweetgum....

and awaaaaayyyy we go! :D
 
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Good looking work. I need to finish cleaning the shop and garage tonight so I can find the lathes again!!! Good news - tomorrow is trash day.

Back to your work. Good choice of woods for this project.
 
Very nice work Marc... I too like the slim center on the pen... makes an interesting profile. What type of olive are you using?

Bill (in Oklahoma)
 
What type of Olive?... hmmm... Free!

A friend sent me a few blanks... so I don't know what kind...

.... as a matter of fact, I didn't know there were different kinds!
 
I know of two for sure.... Russian Olive and Bethlehem Olive. The Bethlehem Olive seems to have a LOT more figure in the grain, but when I ordered mine... it took two months for it to get here. No fault of the seller... the dates on the packages showed they sent it two days after I ordered it and it was "in the system" for two months.

Bill
 
There are several types of Olive that I am aware of. There is a middle eastern "wild" olive, there is the olive from where we get the edible olives (and I think there are more than a few of these) and then there is the Russian olive which is not actually an olive tree at all. The Russian olive is a prolific "weed" tree in the desert areas of the western states (has nasty 2 inch thorns all over it).

The good olive wood made from the tree with the edible olives has a smell like you just opened a can of olives from the store when you turn it. Russian Olive when turned, smells like you lit your sewer on fire (exaggerated, but I cant get rid of the dang things in my pasture :)

Bill in Idaho
 
You can also get authentic Bethlehem Olive from Ryan at www.woodturningz.com... he gets it from the same place and sells it here in the states... a lot faster delivery...
 
cool... I did not know that about the Russian Olive... I've seen it referenced online quite often... I've also heard that it's not much fun to turn, but I didn't know it was nuisance tree that grew here... thanx for the info. The Bethlehem Olive wood is from olive produceing trees and does have an interesting odor when turned. One of the things I remember about my trip to Israel when I was in the Navy is the "bad" odor of the olive orchards as we drove by them. Surprisingly, the olive wood I've turned did not have that odor.

Bill (in Oklahoma)
 
Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on the Russian Olive. It actually does have a very nice wood similar to that of the Holy Olive, but not nearly so striped. It can have some beautiful wild looks in it, especially in the crotch area. I just cut some up for a friend that was quite nice. Maybe I will get some cut here in the next couple of months and offer it to the group.

Bill in Idaho
 
Very nice work and great job withthe camera, Now scedaddle over to the Photography forum and explain how you did it.
as for the olive. righ of the top of my head
Spanish Olive
Russian Olive
medateranian olive (Can't spell it so guess)
Holy Land Olive
and therea re actually more I just can't think of them rihgt now.
I have logs of Russian Olive. Very pretty wood. but is nothing like real olive. dosent smell good, tends to want to flake. dry sringy but it will turn adn finish well. I made a tool handle for my narrow parting tool from it and have been using some of it to make drill bit racks and other things for my shop. still have loads of it and picked up two more branches yesterday. decent grain and a pretty color. tan to dark browns.
 
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