curing olive

[bregolad]

today, i acquired several stumps of olive wood about a year old. I'm guessing that the wood is almost fully dry by now, but it hasn't been cured (boiled, or what have you).
1. Does anyone have any insight as to the curing or aging of olive (cannan pipes? )
2. can i make a pipe out of the stuff without worrying about bad tastes or poisonous fumes?

[KurtHuhn]

Other than being dry, I don't think that olive wood requires any further curing. The same goes for most hardwoods that you would use in pipes.

[pennsyscot]

The flavor of olive wood is the best thing about olive pipes.

[bregolad]

awesome. i was thinking that i would have to boil it and then wait a year or two. i'm looking forward to it then

[Sasquatch]

I agree - just use it, it's tasty stuff.

[DaGamba]

I did buy a big block of wood from a German company some months ago. It was sealed with wax at the ends and I thought it would be well dry. I was wrong. I cut up a few pieces and starting to drill them. And upon drilling there was this moisture sort of trickling out of the wood. Since I don't have any experience or knowledge about drying wood, the result was terribly cracked drilled pieces of olive wood. And it's a pity cause the block I got had some really nice grain. How should I go about drying olive wood like this in the future? I would like to give it another go cause I really like olive wood and the price is pretty good. About $30 for a block that could give about 6 pipes....

Thanx in advance for any thoughts.

[Charl]

Seal the ends and let it lie for as long as possible!

[Abi Natur]

Sorry guys i did not catch this topic since absent on a trip, but would gladly help out with some of my practical knowledge on the theme 'curing olive wood'.
This describes the step with fresh olive wood ,harvesting semi-dry limbs that have been drying already on a olive tree for some century is a different story of harvesting and curing.
In the whole process you have to have in mind that the weather, the season of the year and even the fazes of the moon ,they all play its part in the decision of the right moment to go into the harvest on the right olive wood, because it is the quantity of water and the sun that are the mother & father to all cracks.

1.Every crack in the wood has its cause in the first day of the harvest,so after you cut a fresh limb from an olive tree it has to get out of the sun as soon as possible.Bring the tree limb into a cooler place with some humidity(like a cellar).
2 .After the first step you have to free immediately the tree limb from its bark as cracks appear from the outer rim reaching into the corona.
3.Let it rest for a few days in a cool place wrapped in a cloth lightly sprinkled with some water.
4.The right observation of the the limb will tell you where the internal flow of the grain suggest some possibility to crack or they are while growing intertwined in such a manner that you have clean first quality .
5.Cut it and size down to blocks which are comfortable to shape a pipe from.
6.Storage them again in a cool but NOT humid place without sunshine and forget it for 2 to 5 years yet checking on its curing process frequently.

There are also methods to cure the whole olive wood limbs without the bark in a shorter time span but it involves huge quantities of olive oil..., that again is another more expensive but also old fashioned way of curing.
Cooking, instant drying and similar practices are not the way olive wood is cured,time is of the essence here so the wood develops its stability in the new structure as a block and in the end as a pipe to come.

Best,
Abi

[Dries]

Sorry guys i did not catch this topic since absent on a trip, but would gladly help out with some of my practical knowledge on the theme 'curing olive wood'.
This describes the step with fresh olive wood ,harvesting semi-dry limbs that have been drying already on a olive tree for some century is a different story of harvesting and curing.
In the whole process you have to have in mind that the weather, the season of the year and even the fazes of the moon ,they all play its part in the decision of the right moment to go into the harvest on the right olive wood, because it is the quantity of water and the sun that are the mother & father to all cracks.

1.Every crack in the wood has its cause in the first day of the harvest,so after you cut a fresh limb from an olive tree it has to get out of the sun as soon as possible.Bring the tree limb into a cooler place with some humidity(like a cellar).
2 .After the first step you have to free immediately the tree limb from its bark as cracks appear from the outer rim reaching into the corona.
3.Let it rest for a few days in a cool place wrapped in a cloth lightly sprinkled with some water.
4.The right observation of the the limb will tell you where the internal flow of the grain suggest some possibility to crack or they are while growing intertwined in such a manner that you have clean first quality .
5.Cut it and size down to blocks which are comfortable to shape a pipe from.
6.Storage them again in a cool but NOT humid place without sunshine and forget it for 2 to 5 years yet checking on its curing process frequently.

There are also methods to cure the whole olive wood limbs without the bark in a shorter time span but it involves huge quantities of olive oil..., that again is another more expensive but also old fashioned way of curing.
Cooking, instant drying and similar practices are not the way olive wood is cured,time is of the essence here so the wood develops its stability in the new structure as a block and in the end as a pipe to come.

Best,
Abi

Hey Abi,

I have a large Wild Olive tree that I want to cut off a few branches to use for pipe making.
I live in South Africa (Southern hemisphere) and would like to hear what is the best season, moon phase, time of day, and weather to harvest the wood to minimize cracking?

Thanks