Try olive wood for easy turning

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grpass

Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2020
Messages
103
Location
Grants Pass, Oregon
I just turned some olive wood and thoroughly enjoyed the event. It smells great, turns easily and sands to very smooth quickly. It also takes many finishes well. I use CA and it looks superb after coats of CA.

It many not be the cheapest wood, but it may be one of the most user friendly.
Olive wood is one of my favorites also. Find some olive wood cutting boards at various stores, cut them up and usually blanks are less then a dollar each,
 

Monty

Group Buy Coordinator
Joined
Mar 4, 2005
Messages
8,343
Location
Pearland, Texas, USA.
How much do olive wood blanks cost in the us?
Olive wood pens are one of my best sellers along with olive wood letter openers.
As for cost, Bethlehem olive wood pen blanks can run from about $3 each and up. As posted by grpass, you can purchase an olive wood cutting board, most likely Italian olive wood, and cut it up for pen blanks for a cost off around $1 per blank.
 

Monty

Group Buy Coordinator
Joined
Mar 4, 2005
Messages
8,343
Location
Pearland, Texas, USA.
I just picked up a 1x1x12 from my local Woodcraft for $8.99

Out of curiosity where are people finding these solid olivewood cutting boards? So far all I have seen at my local homegoods is laminated boards of unknown species.
I have 5 solid olive wood cutting boards in my shop right now that I picked up from Homegoods. They don't always have them.
 

daveppeters

Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2022
Messages
34
Location
Grand Prairie, TX
The place I get my lumber sells offcuts for $15-20. I got a piece of olive with some really nice burl and swirly grain and have been able to cut a bunch of blanks from it. I've only turned one slimline so far, but it turned out really well.
 

mmayo

Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Messages
2,958
Location
Tehachapi, CA
Here is a pen called a Triton made with exhibition quality Bethlehem olive wood. Blanks can be purchased from WoodTurningz.
 

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