sorcerertd
Member
Heads up, Trader Joe's has their olive wood stuff in for the entertaining season. Get it while it lasts. I'm trying really hard not to buy more.
Olive wood cutting boards
- Thread starter sorcerertd
- Start date
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
GFHWoodWerks
Member
Now i have to try and find that hipster store. One of the best things about living in the country is no hipsters.
jschoolcraft
Member
Serious question: Are we buying just to buy because it's olive wood? Or are they big/cheap enough to cut into pen blanks at a great unit cost?
Woodchipper
Member
Went a few months ago. Must have been picked over by pen turners. I looked and they were mostly knots.
they typically stock what they call an olivewood charcuterie board for the holidays. They're usually between 3/4 and 1 inch thick and are all burls. They make really nice looking pens with a great pattern to the blanks.
Here's a couple pics of one I made a while ago
GFHWoodWerks
Member
That is very nice looking. Seems that might be worth hunting down.
We have a trader joes about 20-25 minutes from us. I was in the area last year and stopped by for the heck of it. I walked out with a board for me and a board for another turner who lives near me. The boards are pretty randomly shaped which I'd expect for a charcuterie type board. If you were to put a rectangle around mine when it was new I'd guess 12x15 (from memory) or 12x18? I don't remember. Either way, I think I paid maybe 15 bucks a board? Quite cheap when you think about the number of pens you can get out of that.
jschoolcraft
Member
I stopped in one this morning but didn't buy one. They're $30 and probably 12x15. Not sure how many blanks I could have gotten from it. I'd have to pick through and find the less knotty most boring shaped boards and fix my straightening/jointing jig
Oh that stinks. Sorry to hear that.
Mike
Member
I found a couple of nice olive wood boards at Marshall's and one at Home Goods about 2 yrs ago. I think they were around $10 each.
But as we all know, prices on everything are up.
After a little study to determine best attack angle, I clamped them on my sled and ran them thru the band saw to get a straight edge and went from there.
Mike
But as we all know, prices on everything are up.
After a little study to determine best attack angle, I clamped them on my sled and ran them thru the band saw to get a straight edge and went from there.
Mike
GaryMGg
Member
A 3/4" to 1" thick 12" X 15" board will yield 36+ 4-7/8" blanks. The plus is because it depends upon what you're making. I can make slimlines starting with a 1/2" X 1/2" X 4-1/4" blank so the yield would be higher.
This doesn't take into account cutting for the best looking blanks; it's just straight cutting.
sorcerertd
Member
They had 2 sizes at mine, the smaller being about $13. They never stick around for long, though. The grain in them is beautiful! It's nice to be able to hand pick your blanks.
GFHWoodWerks
Member
I should hit the three in Charolette. I won't though, I hate going there. Although I do occasionally as both Woodcraft and Rockler are there.
SabertoothBunny
Member
FYI, Kohl's has smaller olive wood cutting boards in stock that are 100% work looking into.
jschoolcraft
Member
Maybe a dumb question: Do you have to let them dry out or is it a dense wood? It can you take it straight from the store and start making blanks?
Not a dumb question at all. I bought mine last Dec and then had it sit in the house for a couple months until I starting using it. Literally no reason why, just didn't start using it immediately.
I didn't even think to stick my moisture meter on it to see where it was sitting. I can tell you the pen I posted the photos of was made in March and still looks the same today as those photos that were taken when I finished it.
I didn't even think to stick my moisture meter on it to see where it was sitting. I can tell you the pen I posted the photos of was made in March and still looks the same today as those photos that were taken when I finished it.
jschoolcraft
Member
Alright. I went to Kohl's and they didn't have anything. Well 2 tiny, boring boards with a thumb hole or something cut out of one corner.
Went to Trader Joe's and thought they were gone but finally found them in the back of the store on a bottom shelf. I dug through the lot and this is what I ended up with. The large board is my favorite and the only one like it. There were some checkerboard ones pieced together from a lot of different boards but I skipped those. The last one with the acrylic blank was included in the other photographs, maybe that's the back side? Acrylic blank for scale, though the tape measures help, but I was all out of bananas.
Went to Trader Joe's and thought they were gone but finally found them in the back of the store on a bottom shelf. I dug through the lot and this is what I ended up with. The large board is my favorite and the only one like it. There were some checkerboard ones pieced together from a lot of different boards but I skipped those. The last one with the acrylic blank was included in the other photographs, maybe that's the back side? Acrylic blank for scale, though the tape measures help, but I was all out of bananas.
sorcerertd
Member
Those are going to make a lot of pretty pens!
jschoolcraft
Member
That's what I'm hoping.
Mike
Member
Those have nicer figuring than the ones I found at Home Goods, especially the one with the knot in the center.
Mike
Mike
jschoolcraft
Member
Yeah, that's the only one they had like that
SabertoothBunny
Member
jschoolcraft
Member
Good find. I only checked the kitchen area
SabertoothBunny
Member
They had olive wood carved bowls, utensils and other stuff. It was surprising how stuff they had.