Little Olive Bowl

[arcos]

This was a quick test turn with a piece of olive that I have been given.

Just a simple little bowl however the wood.... My goodness!

It is incredibly tight grained and BRICK HARD!

A few problems with it... It is about 4 years dried and has a number of critter holes as can be seen on the edge of the bowl that actually goes all the way through. Also, as you can see in the wood picture it has a couple of nasty cracks in what are already 'tricky' sized pieces!

Thinking out loud this wood is likely destined for pens as its too small for anything much else  but we shall see.

[woodndesign]

Arcos, that's a nice piece of Olive for all it's faults, that must be about a 3/8" - 10mm bore hole through the side .. some Bug.

A test as you've said, so the form doesn't matter, all too straight, the square bottom and a little thick, it's not the shape: but the practise that counts.

Keep on turning and having fun.

David

[arcos]

David, this is a TINY bowl!

The hole is more like 5mm and, I think, caused by a wasp/bee rather than a worm but even so it is the most beautiful piece of 'engineering' ever!

Too straight, too think... Yep have to agree... It is not the shape its the practice! This wood is ROCK hard! I had to constantly keep sharpening my gouge!!

I really am not too sure what to do with this wood as the pieces I have are long and thin... Pens? But then I need to find someone with a band saw to slice it into usable pieces.

Gotta keep playing and learning!!!

[woodndesign]

David, this is a TINY bowl!

The hole is more like 5mm and, I think, caused by a wasp/bee rather than a worm but even so it is the most beautiful piece of 'engineering' ever!

Too straight, too think... Yep have to agree... It is not the shape its the practice! This wood is ROCK hard! I had to constantly keep sharpening my gouge!!

I really am not too sure what to do with this wood as the pieces I have are long and thin... Pens? But then I need to find someone with a band saw to slice it into usable pieces.

Gotta keep playing and learning!!!

How Tiny 100mm more or less ...    ...

Onwards an upwards ...  Keep the Fun rolling ..

David

[Bryan Milham]

Arcos,

Is it an olive root ball you have there? Olive is not normally an exceptionally hard wood but roots and in some cases the low end of the stump can be as it's suffered the most stresses.

The pic on the inside shows some wonderful ripple, hopefully you'll find some more in the rest of the wood.

And this is a personal thing with me, but don't worry to much about 'critter holes', they are part of the wood's previous life and as long as the critters are all evicted, the holes are not too numerous or it's going to be used for food I don't think it's that much of a bother.

As you look around the web more, you'll come across American turnings with big holes and wonderful red flares caused by the Ambrosia beetle and they are spectacular.