Olivewood (Olea europaea) comes from the Mediterranean region, Italy, Greece, Middle East and North Africa. The tree grows very slowly and can get thousands of years of age and its wood is said to be one of the most beautiful woods of the world. Its colour and structure varies so much that its hard to describe it: the sapwood is creamy bright goldenyellow, the heartwood shows unique figures like fiddle back, burl and wavy structures in brown to rich greenish brown, reddish salmon pink colour, streaked with dark brown lines and has a very nice contrast. Due to its slow growth the wood is hard and heavy, its limited availability makes it even more precious. Beautiful wide boards are only available when very old trees are cut down because they don't bear olives any more, this happens only after a few hundred years. The lumber then takes 10 to 20 years to season, depending on thickness.
The wood has very fine texture and its a pleasure to work with it because it cuts and carves very well. Additionally it has a really wonderful fragrance when working on it. It happens to be my favourite wood due to this fact.
