Stocking up
If you use olive oil, you’ve probably noticed that the price has gone up and, on occasion, availability has gotten scarce. That’s because a nasty strain of bacteria spread by insects has devastated olive orchards in southern Italy and elsewhere.
If you use olive oil, you’ve probably noticed that the price has gone up and, on occasion, availability has gotten scarce. That’s because a nasty strain of bacteria spread by insects has devastated olive orchards in southern Italy and elsewhere.
And although the olive fruit market has been impacted, Jennifer Hicks reports in Feb. 2024 issue of Woodshop News, that just the opposite has happened for availability and pricing of olive wood.
Olive wood has always been a favorite of mine, but I don’t work with it a lot simply because of availability. But when I read Jennifer’s report, I started checking online sources, and sure enough there was plenty to be had.
So, I ordered some from a couple suppliers and couldn’t be more satisfied with what I got. Nice figure, great eye-popping color, and prices lower than I remember. I don’t have any specific projects in mind, although some boxes and kitchenware are on my list.
I don’t take pleasure that this wood supply windfall comes at the cost of a blight on an area of the world dependent on these trees. Yes, it’s good news for woodworkers, but bad news for olive growers.
But there are couple of hopeful aspects. The first is that all olive wood being sold is pumping some cash back into the Mediterranean to help offset the olive crops a bit. There are also promising reports that the spread may be slowing in a few areas, while research is ongoing to develop a means of mitigating infection rates.
In the meantime, woodworkers should take advantage of the availability of olive wood and stock up. If they find a means of stopping this blight, it will become scarce quickly. As much as I love working with olive, that would be the best news I could hope to hear.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.
