Olive and Elm

About the name

Olive and Elm represent two of the hardwood species of trees that grow on the property we live on in Idaho. Siberian elm and Russian olive, neither of which are native to Idaho, are often considered weedy species here. But Idaho is not blessed with a large variety of hardwoods suitable for woodworking like the eastern US. Although these species are not typically used in woodworking they are useful for woodturning and have given me some spectacular results. 

Siberian elm has a light brown heartwood and yellowish to whitish contrasting sapwood. It is a fairly sturdy wood and It also has a somewhat open grain that takes up a stain and makes for cool patterns on a wizard wand. It is a fast growing large tree that produces lumber large enough to use in large salad bowls or pillar candle stands. 

Russian Olive has a cinnamon brown heartwood and thin yellow sapwood. I have used in primarily for Christmas ornaments and a few other smaller items, It is  typically a smaller tree and is so is hard to get pieces of large straight wood. It also has a substantial difference in hardness between it rings of spring growth and summer growth and so is prone to tear out if not worked carefully with sharp tools.  In my opinion it is a beautiful wood and usually a beautiful tree. 

Other species in the area that are native of introduced that I have tried to harvest/salvage, mill, and turn include silver maple, Norway maple, and box elder maple (including box elder burls and wood brilliantly stained strawberry pink). I have also made small items from small trees including hawthorn and buckthorn (which can have an amazing pumpkin colored heartwood) mountain mahogany, and fruit woods such as apple, plum, and cherry, and some larger items from larger trees such as aspen, willow, and cottonwood as well as from softwoods like Blue spruce and Douglas fir.  I also salvage a lot of wood from other woodworking processes such as cabinetry which will often discard smaller dimension wood that isn't suitable for their larger projects and have been able to get a lot of red alder as well as some sugar maple, oak, hickory, walnut, and mahogany. 

Each species of wood is a unique combination of color, grain, weight, and strength but they also have a unique smell when they are worked. I love to turn cherry wood which smells like cherries when I turn it. Oak reminds me of dill, (Siberian elm sort of reminds me of a wet dog smell) and others i can recognize but can't really compare with anything. 

 

Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone | Harry's Wand

Ollivander's

The other origin of the business name is based on Ollivander's (hence oliveandelm) wand shop from the character in the Harry potter series. 

One of my favorite parts of the film is when Harry goes into Ollivander's shop to purchase his wand. This is a truly magical experience for him that i hope some of purchasers of my wands will experience when they receive their wand.

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Our own little wizard and witch!

Rolling Pins

Rolling Pins for cooking and kids

Rolling pins shown from 7.50 two 15.00. Wood is cherry, elm, alder, and black walnut. Most of the handles 

painted red. 

Full size rolling pins come in several varieties. The front is specifically for rolling tortillas out and is only 12" long and 1.5" in diameter shown in alder, and are 10$. The next pin is a cylinder and is not tapered as much as the tortilla pins on the end, like the handled ones behind it, but without the handles (shown in walnut) for 15$. The handled ones are 22.50 unpainted  and 25.00$ for painted handles. The tapered pins toward the back are called french pins and sell for 20$ shown in oak. THe handled and tapered pins are usually about 21-21" in length.  

Wizard Wands

Wands in inventory

Most of the wands for sale are between 8 -10 dollars. More ornate wands including the famous Elder wand from the Harry Potter series are around 20 dollars. I can make a wand to your specs as well. We will update this post to keep it with current products available.

Wands Available as of 12/81/12 below.

This is the Basic Harry Potter style wand for 8.00$ Most of these wands are made of Red Alder. 

Some additional details with typically longer wands are 10-12.00$ and may come in a variety of woods. 

Special woods like Mahogany, or with additional details, may run around 15$. Some examples of these type of wands follow. 

Elder wands are typically constructed of Oak, Hickory or Elm and require a lot more work off of the lathe and so cost about 20$. They are usually stained black on portions of the wand. 

Introduction

So... We are creating this blog to showcase woodturning work that Joshua does and provide info and specific products for purchase and contact information.

We live in St. Anthony, Idaho where Joshua grew up and where we have lived for the past 7 years.  Joshua worked with a professional woodturner in Brigham City, Utah for about a year when we were living in Logan and going to Utah State University.  He became interested in wood working and more specifically woodturning after doing some reading and researching traditional woodworking methods including books by Roy Underhill (The Woodwright's Companion etc.) and was influenced by other books such as George Nakashima's The Soul of a Tree. He purchased a cheap wood lathe on ebay and began looking for wood and turning when he could in a small closet under the stairs in our apartment that made Harry Potters room look spacious. Some of the first attempts were not too pretty, but eventually he upgraded his lathe and moved out of the understairs "lerkim" and into "the shed."

Most of the projects Joshua has been working on are rolling pins and Wizard Wands. He also has been making some ornaments and pillar candle holder stands which will hopefully show up on the site soon.