Olive Wood Cutting Boards

[Rodney W]

I think it was here that someone mentioned cutting up olive wood cutting boards they bought at places like Home Goods for pen blanks. Another possible source this year is Trader Joes if you have one near you. I was at the one in Olympia yesterday and they had a couple pretty good stacks of them. I bought one with some nice crotch figure. They're about $13, about 3/4" thick and are around 1/2 a square foot in size. Home Goods, TJMaxx and Marshalls generally have a few but not in the amounts Trader Joes had. The ones I saw tend to be a little smaller and run about $10 each.

 

[Anson]

If you like to go treasure hunting for these rare woods, I would sometimes visit Value Village or other thrift stores to see any old small wooden ornaments or boxes that are thick enough for pen blanks. I managed to find a broken owl clock that was made from padauk wood, and the thickness of the walls of the clock were slightly less than an inch, but def bigger than 3/4". I bought that broken clock for 20 bucks, made like 40 blanks out of it!

Another few places I found some cool wood are Walmart, Winners and Dollar stores, where sometimes they'd get bulk items at FAR less than the value they sell at fancier retail shops. Got myself Acacia wood blanks out of a cheese serving board for 10 bucks at Walmart, made like 25 or so blanks out of it!

At least that's how I view grocery shopping nowadays whenever I visit Walmart and the like. I'd make a "quick" pitstop at the "Kitchen" section and survey around for a new cutting board to cut it apart!

 

[howsitwork]

One should always walk slowly through the biscuits section too….

Never easy to work on an empty stomach I say

 

[Anson]

One should always walk slowly through the biscuits section too….

Never easy to work on an empty stomach I say

Including the pizza section...then the ice cream section...last but not least, the snack section!

 

[TonyL]

I have bought one and had a good experience. However, you may want to check to see if grain is visible on both sides of the board if that is what you want.

 

[penicillin]

I salvage hardwood boards from old furniture. Often it becomes boards for woodworking projects, but the small pieces can easily become pen blanks.

If you harvest furniture for the wood, beware of particle board, plywood, veneer over cheap wood, etc. Understand how furniture is made and assembled, so you know where the nails, screws, staples, and other metal bits are going to be. I have friends who use metal detectors, but I believe that experience and attention to detail are more reliable and effective than metal detectors. Sometimes it is easier to cut off or cut around the wood with metal in it rather than removing the metal. One source for hardwood boards are my neighbors who put furniture out on the street for trash pickup and disposal. Occasionally one of my "prizes" becomes a "restoration project" if my spouse sees it and likes it.

Where this is all going:
Another great resource for inexpensive hardwood to recover from furniture is Habitat for Humanity. Sometimes we leave good furniture if it looks like someone will need it. Better to leave it for someone who can use it as originally intended. It is a judgement call.