I went to a specialty exotic hardwood supplier, and rooted through his olive for piece that contained a bit of dark heartwood and some nice sapwood, which is the light green/straw color.
I've got two pipes on the go, but will get about a dozen from 50 bucks worth of olive. This wood is FAR easier to work than briar, and would be a much better introductory material for a beginner. It works easily, has very (unbelievably) uniform texture - no flaking, no pores.... it works almost identically in every direction.
Sanding is far easier - olive is a lot softer than briar, so it is much easier to sand for shape and to sand out scratches. It does NOT however, take to a tripoli wheel worth crap. The wood stains up and just doesn't polish.
White tripoli might work, but I'm not happy with my results so far. I think I will be doing a high level sanding on the stummel and wax it from there.
The results are nice, from a woodworking point of view. The grain of olive wood is totally different from briar of course, and the result is anything from a really mottled pipe to a completely clear one. The sapwood I have is dead clear. No pits, and hardly any color variation, so the pipes look almost like seasoned meershaum.
Will post some pix when I've got things polished up.
Report on olive
Re: Report on olive
That is the reason why I only use coloured compounds for buffing metal. Menzerna compounds are all light in colour, but are available in a few different grits.Sasquatch wrote:It does NOT however, take to a tripoli wheel worth crap. The wood stains up and just doesn't polish.
White tripoli might work, but I'm not happy with my results so far. I think I will be doing a high level sanding on the stummel and wax it from there.
Regards,
Frank.
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Grouch Happens!
People usually get the gods they deserve - Terry Pratchett
Frank.
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Grouch Happens!
People usually get the gods they deserve - Terry Pratchett