The Olive Family

oliveOlive

Scientific Name: Olea spp.
Location: Europe and Eastern Africa
Dried Weight: 62lbs/ft3
Janka Hardness: 2,700lbf
Crushing Strength: 11,180lbf /in2

Olive has a heartwood with a cream or yellowish brown color with darker brown or black contrasting streaks. The color will deepen with age. The grain may be straight, interlocked, or wild and it has a fine uniform texture. The wood gives off a moderate natural lustre. The end grain is diffuse-porous. Olive ranges from perishable to moderately durable depending on species. It is somewhat easy to work with and turns superbly. The wood glues and finishes well.

 

olive-ash-sOlive Ash

The term Olive Ash does not refer to any specific species of Ash, but instead is in reference to the darker, streaked heartwood found in some Ash trees, which tends to resemble the wood of Olive trees in the Olea genus. And it should come as little surprise that Olive Ash can be a dead ringer for actual Olive, (with the exception of the porous grain structure, which gives its true identity away easily), because both Ash and Olive are placed in the same family: Oleaceae.

 

russian-oliveRussian Olive

Scientific Name: Elaeagnus angustifolia
Location: native to eastern Europe and Western + Central Asia
Dried Weight: 43lbs/ft3
Janka Hardness: 1,240lbf
Crushing Strength: not available

Russian Olive has a light yellowish brown to darker golden brown color, sometimes with a greenish hue. The sapwood is a lighter yellow white color. The wood has a uneven grain texture and the end grain is ring-porous.