Multi trunk Olive gets attacked by an angry beaver

[Eric Group]

Had this one a little over a year, bought it off a FB auction for practically nothing.. looks like the guy just sawed a branch off the base of an old Olive, got it to root and viola... which I am fine with! It has a great flare at the base... three decent sized trunks and has grown pretty well in the pretty much pure pumice mix it is in.
Right off the bench:

I had already gnawed at it a bit before I remembered to take pics..

Most the trunks were left with large stubs at the top which give me plenty to carve on
Little less than halfway through


And where I left it for now:


So- going forward, more wire (so far, pretty much just wired it to move the branches out the way of my carving tools), the carving is only partially done- I am going to add some holes all the way through of varying sizes, burn it and smooth it out..

Never done an Olive before, so anybody who has a little more experience with them is welcome to chime in with advice!
Thanks for looking.

 

[Wilson]

Looks like a fun carving project! I picture this with a lot of dead wood/hollows, similar to Graham Potter's fairytale style trees. I know @BobbyLane has a good bunch of solid trees all hollowed out, and looking great. I look forward to the updates on this one.

 

[Eric Group]

Looks like a fun carving project! I picture this with a lot of dead wood/hollows, similar to Graham Potter's fairytale style trees. I know @BobbyLane has a good bunch of solid trees all hollowed out, and looking great. I look forward to the updates on this one.

Thanks Wilson! Hope I can move it along a little further this weekend...

 

[bonhe]

Eric Group, post:
I am going to add some holes all the way through of varying sizes, burn it and smooth it out..
I agree.
I see you used Dremel. As you already know, the olive wood is really hard. The chainsaw blade is not sharp anymore after cut through 50 cm diameter trunk of olive! I would use die grinder for rough carving at first, then Dremel for detailed carving later.
Bonhe

 

[Eric Group]

Eric Group, post:
I am going to add some holes all the way through of varying sizes, burn it and smooth it out..
I agree.
I see you used Dremel. As you already know, the olive wood is really hard. The chainsaw blade is not sharp anymore after cut through 50 cm diameter trunk of olive! I would use die grinder for rough carving at first, then Dremel for detailed carving later.
Bonhe

Yeah... don't have a die grinder or I would have.
All hand tools and dremel work...

 

[Dalmat]

so anybody who has a little more experience with them

Olive is really hard wood it does not rot, but you can not have jin on them it will dry and decay with the time, like in couple years.

 

[Eric Group]

Olive is really hard wood it does not rot, but you can not have jin on them it will dry and decay with the time, like in couple years.

Eventually any job is going to dry rot and disappear... but what you are implying is kind of the opposite of everything I have read, been told and observed about these trees in the past. The hard wood is why they typically have lots of deadwood features on these trees... as to how long they last I don't know but I have seen numerous good ones that were styled around the prominent deadwood features... case in point- the first three images a google search turned up in no special order:




Not doubting what you say I guess just asking for some clarity here. The good Olive bonsai I have seen all seem to have massive amounts of deadwood- both Jin and Shari- and in nature many exhibit similar features... Are you saying I need to do something special to treat the wood?
Thanks

 

[Dalmat]

Notice they all have bark at least on one side. Shari works fine, but classic jin like on junipers and pines without bark will decay,
like this part for example,especially on the top. It will stay but it will brake easily on any mechanical force. You can crush it with two fingers. Instead of this "spike" you can make a hole and that is ok ,life time guarantee


"Protection" that is used on olive is more to simulate age with color effect on freshly carved ones.
To depict it more, take two olive branches , peel a bark on one and put them in the ground. Come back in couple years and step on them , one without bark will brake on ground level the other one will probably have leafs on it. That is also reason why we here use pine polls for support young trees and vegetables like tomato from winds.

 

[Eric Group]

Notice they all have bark at least on one side. Shari works fine, but classic jin like on junipers and pines without bark will decay,
like this part for example,especially on the top. It will stay but it will brake easily on any mechanical force. You can crush it with two fingers. Instead of this "spike" you can make a hole and that is ok ,life time guarantee
View attachment 129165

"Protection" that is used on olive is more to simulate age with color effect on freshly carved ones.
To depict it more, take two olive branches , peel a bark on one and put them in the ground. Come back in couple years and step on them , one without bark will brake on ground level the other one will probably have leafs on it. That is also reason why we here use pine polls for support young trees and vegetables like tomato from winds.

Got it- thanks for clarifying and I did leave bark on one side of the two smaller pieces, with living growth on both sides of the middle one... just the largest piece has a significant amount of bare Jin. I was planning on exposing it further down the trunk and carving that area, sounds like from what you are saying that would be longest lasting deadwood..

 

[Eric Group]

Did a little more to it today
The larger Jin after some drilling, smoothing... Not quite done yet, but it is looking a little better IMO

And Yeah DAYUM this wood is hard! The drill was smoking and squeaking like I was drilling through solid rock! Next thing I knew, snapped a damn roll bit! LOL


After a little more wiring, pruning and that extra carving... let's compare where it started to where I got it to this weekend...


It ain't gonna win any awards like this but I pushed it a few steps further up the road for sure!

 

[Danielm]

Trying this on my last purchase... and wondering what to use to get a polished trunk effect?

 

[BunjaeKorea]

Nice work. Fits with the profile of how ancient olives weather in Spain and the Middle East.. .nice work!

 

[Danielm]

Thank you ? I may make more of the old branch node by drilling out later next year