Article - May 25, 2009
Our question comes from Duane (you remember Steamer Trunk Duane). He writes:
“Hey Marc, I had a co-worker give me some olive wood recently. I was wondering if you have ever worked with this wood and if so any suggestions?”
I have not worked with Olive Wood before, so here is a link to some helpful information: hobbithouseinc.com. And just as an FYI, here is what I do whenever an unfamiliar wood comes through the shop. First off, I do a little research. Google the heck out of it and look through the various forum posts and websites you are bound to find. Always helps to go in armed with info. The site linked above is a great place to start. I will then inspect the wood itself. I start by poking it with my fingernail, trying get an idea of how hard the wood is and how durable it might be in a project. The harder woods usually won’t dent at all, but the softer woods will.
I also look to see if the grain and pores are open or closed (open like oak and walnut, or closed like maple or cherry). This may affect how I finish the piece. Closed grain woods tend to look good with just about any sheen of finish. But open grained woods look a little odd to me with a high gloss finish, unless you perform a pore-filling procedure first (just my opinion). I then rub the wood a little to see if there is likely to be a high natural oil content, as this would create finishing problems. A brightly or deeply colored exotic is likely to have a good amount of naturally-occurring oils. Sometimes I’ll even throw some poly over a test area. If there is a lot of natural oil, the finish will take longer than usual to cure.
The final thing I do is actually cutting and planing the piece. One or two test cuts and a few passes from a hand plane will give me a reasonable heads up on how the stuff is going to work. Is it going to have a tendency to chip out or tearout? Is it brittle? Or does it cut like butter? These are all questions I ask myself as I begin experimenting. When its all said and done, you will be much more familiar with the wood and its working properties. Add that to your research and you’ve got a pretty good profile of this new wood species. Now its time to make something with it.
Copyright © 2006-2023 The Wood Whisperer Inc. The Wood Whisperer, The Wood Whisperer Guild, TWW, and TWW Guild are trademarks of The Wood Whisperer Inc. All rights reserved.
This site uses affiliate links. Given this, please assume that any links leading you to products or services are affiliate links that we will receive compensation from. However, there are millions of products and services on the web, and I only promote those products or services that I would use personally. The Wood Whisperer abides by word of mouth marketing standards and holds integrity in the highest regard. Should I ever be compensated to write, I will make full disclosure. I always give honest opinions, findings, and experiences on products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely our own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question. All content on The Wood Whisperer is copyrighted, and may not be reprinted in full form without my written consent.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |