# Crosscut mediterranean olive Vertex



## patmurris (May 15, 2011)

Hi all!

Nothing biblical about this olive from my neighborhood. I cut the blank out of a split log that i had put on standby under my work table, not far from the trash actually... A few days ago, while i was trying to grab some stuff down there, i looked at it again and it hit me that i could cut it sideways avoiding the check and still produce some usable shorts with a very interesting pattern:

















Miraculous, isn't it! :biggrin:


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## skiprat (May 15, 2011)

patmurris said:


> Miraculous, isn't it! :biggrin:


 
Yes, absolutely !!!  That is indeed a wonderful piece of wood:biggrin: Well done!


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## hilltopper46 (May 15, 2011)

Absolutely stunning!


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## Seer (May 15, 2011)

What a beautiful piece of wood and a great pen good work.


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## witz1976 (May 15, 2011)

Fantastic piece of olive.  Glad you didn't trash it.


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## pensbydesign (May 15, 2011)

crosscut pattern is beautiful nice job


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## robutacion (May 15, 2011)

Oh...! what would we do without cracked Olive wood...??? it couldn't be Olive wood to start and it would be no fun to make usable larger blanks out of most logs.  I'm glad that, the "fellow upstairs" invented pens that are made with bits of wood, otherwise we would be pushing a lot of sand up hill...!:wink:

Nice to see a nice tight pattern on that log, and unless the log is/was under 5" in length, is no reason why you couldn't have cut a few in straight grain...!

You have some damn old Olive trees in most parts of France, try to get a root from one of those old trees, well..! get the trunk also, off-course, the grain and colours would be "mad":wink:

As for "biblical significance", all Olive wood is biblical, regardless where it grows but is better not to go there, as the subject has already caused more than enough "noise" in these walls...!:biggrin:  so calling it Olive wood, with no tags, is good enough...!:wink:

Very nice made pen, with a kit style that is growing on me, latelly...!

Cheers
George


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## G1Pens (May 15, 2011)

Beautiful. Really like the wood. I love Olive Wood and it being crosscut really sets it apart.


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## BKelley (May 15, 2011)

That is one gorgeous piece of wood.  It is the nicest olive wood I have ever seen.  The workmanship is great also.

Ben


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## Bobalu (May 15, 2011)

Beautiful piece of wood....


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## BSea (May 15, 2011)

WOW . . . . . . Just WOW!!!:bulgy-eyes:


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## PaulDoug (May 15, 2011)

That is a beauty for sure.


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## MartinPens (May 15, 2011)

that is super sweet! Nicely done. Wood grain is just mesmerizing!

Martin

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner


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## thewishman (May 15, 2011)

Beautiful wood and great finish! Your photography is good, too.


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## mikeschurer (May 15, 2011)

Congratulations.  You have utilised a nice bit of wood to it's full advantage.  A good example of moving from craft to art.

Mike the Pipe in Pangborne by the Thames.


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## crabcreekind (May 15, 2011)

SWeet pen, I wish i had olivewood for trash.


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## robutacion (May 15, 2011)

G1Pens said:


> Beautiful. Really like the wood. I love Olive Wood and it being crosscut really sets it apart.



Yes Gary, cross cut Olive wood "can" be stunning...!

Interestingly, you don't see good Olive wood pen blanks on sale (stores, etc...!) cut in any other style but straight cut (with the grain), I have made many good Olive wood blanks cut in cross and diagonal and people don't seem to be interested, for whatever reason, which is strange really, when they can look as impressive as the pen shown here...!

Cross cut Olive wood is not easier to work with than most cross cut woods, they can be extremely fragile, requiring always some extra care, which our French friend patmurris done a top job with...!:wink:

Cheers
George


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## boxerman (May 15, 2011)

Wow that is one very nice looking pen.


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## le_skieur (May 15, 2011)

It is a MASTERPEACE! Why this kind of tree doesn’t grow in my yard.?
 
Nice work Patrick


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## jppensplus (May 15, 2011)

what a beautiful piece of wood!!  Got any left?  I'd love to have a piece or two--


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## corian king (May 15, 2011)

Super nice piece of wood..Great job on the pen!!!


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## Tom D (May 16, 2011)

Nice piece of wood, Fantastic job on the Pen


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## MarkD (May 16, 2011)

WOW, what a stunning pen. Glad you kept the wood around!


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## wizard (May 16, 2011)

Stunningly beautiful pen. I too have never seen that pattern with any olivewood before.
Really nice of you to show it with the actual lumber and a representative blank. Awesome job! Doc


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## maxman400 (May 16, 2011)

Great Looking Pen and Photos, you really captured the details.


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## renowb (May 16, 2011)

Awesomely beautiful!


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## patmurris (May 16, 2011)

Thanks a lot for your positive response and all the nice comments. 

I agree with robutacion, olive wood can be really stunning and it's a bit strange we see so few pens with this timber. The thing is most blanks being offered by the suppliers are of rather low grade with very little figure, and i will refrain from expressing my thoughts regarding the so called BOW that is way overrated IMO - half the price is the story... Even here where we have a lot of olive trees - France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Tunisia to name a few sources, the blanks we get are very plain. 

I have yet to start offering blanks for sale on the forum, but this is something i'm seriously considering, at least to pay for the great blanks i buy from others here, and I'll make sure to include some similar crosscut olive. :wink:


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## johncrane (May 17, 2011)

Everyone is saying stunning! i totally agree, great find and work.


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## patmurris (May 22, 2011)

Here is a Zen rollerball dressed with the other blank we see in the first picture of this thread:












This is my first such kit and i like it a lot.


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## PenPal (May 22, 2011)

Patrick,

Love your Olive pens and I do like those two kits you used. I find Olive grown out in Australia from younger trees quite light in colour, just as wild too but the darned tree takes for ever to season dry and following the grain involves cutting across the grain that I try to do always for preference.  I have some distictive Aussie cross cut blanks to exchange with some of yours if you would like send me a pm.

Olive is also harder than most difficult to prepare but undoubtably one of the most satisfying timbers for pens.

Thankyou for your before and after pics as well I enjoyed the journey.

Kind regards Peter.


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## Jim15 (May 23, 2011)

That is a really beautiful pen.


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