Other sources of Olivewood are likely in existence, especially in the areas of California where the trees are extensively cultivated for the fruit. Many orchards have recently been removed due to relocation of the industry farther north as well as due to disease or the aging of the older trees to the point where they do not produce as generously as they once did. Small scale mills and vendors are likely easy to locate through Internet searches or through contacts which you might have in the areas of California in which these trees grow. In addition, Olive trees have been widely planted as ornamentals, especially in areas of low water availability and pruned pieces or removed trees may be available on an almost random basis from tree services in areas of the western United States in which these trees grow. It never hurts to ask around.
Woodfinder is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Olivewood, this can be an invaluable resource provided you use multiple search terms to capture all the possible listings. I can’t speak to the quality of any of the listed dealers, but Woodfinder does have the advantage of allowing searches to be performed based on location which might allow an interested buyer to visit a listed wood dealer in person to hand pick pieces at a comfortable price.
A significant problem with using Woodfinder is that many vendors are listed for woods that, upon further investigation, they do not offer. I don’t know if perhaps once they did and they didn’t update their listings or if some vendors use a standardized list of woods that include most everything conceivable with the idea that once you land on their page you will find something you want to buy even if you didn’t know it beforehand. It happens to me all the time!
My Personal Experience
I enjoy working with Olivewood and I always have from the first time I tried it after picking up pruned pieces from an orchard in Central California. I enjoyed making this pen and letter opener set from Olivewood from Israel and I know the source was especially appreciated by the person to whom I gave it. I do have bowl blank sizes in various stages of drying and I look forward to working with them in the future. Honestly, the only factor that prevents me from working with the material more frequently than I do is simply the price and the limited availability. If you have a chance to work with Olivewood though I would strongly recommend it and as I have always enjoyed it and expect I will continue to in the future.
As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever their wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today!