Olive wood
Olive wood is very beautiful timber. Its rich yellow tones are broken by subtle dark browns, creating an elegant grain pattern. The olive wood I use comes from a limb of a tree which was planted by some of the first settlers to Western Australia.
It is actually quite a difficult timber to process when it is green. It has to be dried very carefully so that it does not crack. My father and I found that the best way to dry it properly was to wrap the green timber in plastic and let it dry slowly over a year.
It is quite a hard timber and it also has a very high oil content. The grain is best shown off in larger pieces of jewellery, however, I have also used it for cufflinks.
To see all of the jewellery I’ve made using this timber click here.