# Olive Wood finish



## wolf creek knives (Apr 18, 2020)

I've got a box of Olive wood coming from a friend of mine who grows Olives and Grapes.  In exchange for the box of wood he wants a couple of bottle stoppers and a couple pens.  I've never turned Olive wood so I'm looking for advice on finishes.  I'll be honest and upfront, I don't use CA as a finish.  But, I'm open to try anything else.  Feel free to share how you finish your Olive wood.
Best part about the trade is that I'm also not only getting the wood but a bottle of their Olive Oil, which is out of this world.  Maybe a bottle of wine later too.  Thanks in advance.


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## eharri446 (Apr 18, 2020)

I did eight pens out of olive wood and used Doctor's Woodshop - Doctor's Woodshop Pens Plus as a finish and they came out great.


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## GraiDawg (Apr 18, 2020)

bottle stoppers i would use BLO and renaissance wax, pens i would be inclined to do a few coats of thin CA - because olive wood is very prone to cracking, then sand it off (so it,s in the grain and fills the gaps) then BLO and whatever non-wax finish took my fancy, probably aussie oil


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## Roly (Apr 18, 2020)

I give three or four coats of Danish Teak oil the a couple of coats of normal wood polish finished with two to three coats of EEE friction polish.  Gives an aromatic durable finish that tend to improve with age and handling.


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## magpens (Apr 18, 2020)

Any of the finishes already suggested should work just fine. . You will ADORE working with olive wood !!!!


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## sorcerertd (Apr 18, 2020)

Olive is such a great wood to work with and has such a beautiful and varied grain.  I have a hard time bringing myself to put a heavy duty finish on olive wood because I love the smell of it and don't want to seal that in.


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## robutacion (Apr 19, 2020)

My first piece of advice is, get some closed up pics of the olive wood so that we can make suggestions on how to cut it, one of the reasons I say this is that, 99.9% of the Olive wood you see here and everywhere, are not from plantation groves but from bigger and older trees from the same species found in Europe and even in Australia, plantation olive trees have been genetically modified to grow less wood, grow smaller, the wood fibres are more elastic (for mechanic vibrating harvesters) and also are made to start to produce fruit a lot earlier than the common species and produce more fruit.

With that said, the only negative side of Olive trees from plantations is that they don't produce much heartwood, which is what has the value, I've seen plantation olive trees 25 years old with a trunk diameter of 8" and a heartwood diameter of 1", even though you don't need 1" of wood to turn a pen the problem is that in that 1" the centre is the pith and that is the first place from where the wood will split as it dries.

My second suggestion is, find out how dry/wet it is, I mean, the moisture content percentage, Olive wood is one of the tree species that take the longest to properly dry (air dry) so, slicing the wood when green will reduce dramatically them drying time but it will take still a few years.  The wood can be dried in an oven or microwave and we have here/library plenty of info about that.

Olive wood is oily, stabilisation and CA will take some doing/preparing so, any of the finishing methods already discussed here will be OK.

Best of luck,

Cheers
George


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## MyDadsPens (Apr 29, 2020)

All finishes will look great right after you apply them - but my experience is the oil finishes, waxes and friction finishes eventually sink in or wear off (sometimes in less than a year) so for the longest lasting and glossy finish I would say either CA, hand rubbed polyurethane or spray lacquer - Olive is one of the few woods that doesn't give me problems with CA, several coats and sand, buff (no grain filling or oil issues) BUT for a couple of stoppers and pens I would just get a rattle can of minwax lacquer and spray 6 coats (20 -30 minutes between each coat- no sanding between coats) and then 8-12 days later wet sand it with 600 and 800 grit until smooth to touch and then buff to shine. Poly would be the most protection but the least smooth to the touch (I have heard some people try wet sanding poly but I haven't tried it)

I know some people don't like the glossy look of CA or Lacquer But I think Olive wood cutting boards can look pretty drab and dirty after a while I think in general lighter colored woods look best when shiny


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## Sylvanite (Apr 29, 2020)

CA is my go-to finish most of the time, but for olive I prefer bare polished wood.


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