****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
The good:1. Blanks turn wonderfully easy and look fantastic when finished.2. Blanks are a full length, unlike a few other suppliers I've seen on various sites which sell 2" or so "blanks" for about the same price as these, or sometimes more. So for those folks a "10 blank pack" would net you 5 pens, but with this one you have enough material for 10 pens, plus some cut off bits for later use snazzing up other pens.The bad:1. Not all of the blanks are as highly figured as in the photo. A few in my order have barely any figure at all, though they're still pretty when turned, just not as visually exciting as the higher figured blanks.2. The blanks are undersized slightly from the listed 3/4" square. They're perfect for slimlines and other thin pens since you don't have to waste time turning off a bunch of unnecessary material, but for fatter pens you will be lacking for room to work with and better get your drill centered well. A couple have also not been remotely square for the "3/4x3/4" dimension, which is annoying but not that hard to work around.3. The price has jumped a decent bit from when I first purchased them so it's not as good of a deal as it was originally, though it's still not bad all in all when compared to other similar options.All in all, I like what has been made so far and I will undoubtedly buy again.Olive is a wonderful wood to turn, revealing contrasting grain. Holy land source became troubling for me as I don’t know if it is cut in the areas where Israel is expanding at the expense of Palestinians.Supposedly "100% first quality as none of them have cracks or defects of any kind". Soooo....every piece was slightly warped. Personally I'd consider that a defect. 1 was not just warped/bent but also slightly twisted. 3 were completely plain, no dark grain at all. 1 had a deep gnarly knot with a crack through it. 5 had nice full length dark grain. These 5 were slightly warped but still usable. Half the certificates were scuffed and had a blue dye or ink smeared on them so were unusable. Overall I'm not particularly impressed and will only get 5 full length pens, and maybe an extra 2" section, out of the 10 blanks.I know nothing about making pens, so I can't speak for use of them for that, but I bought these for a project my son had at school to make a Nativity scene. We thought using wood from the lands Christ himself walked would be extra special, and chose these to work with. We liked that the set that arrived had a mix of lovely "stripey" pieces (perfect to give the creche a bit of extra beauty), and a couple of plainer-looking pieces to use for the people, too. The pieces were of nice quality, no cracks or imperfecions. After whittling away at these by hand, we have an all new appreciation for your artisians--olive wood is STURDY stuff!!! My son loves his finished project, and it's quite a keepsake for the home now. We are really happy we found this because these pieces were the absolute perfect medium for his craft. Beautiful wood!I have turned Holy Land Olive wood pens and have loved the final result, plus the smell while working the wood is enjoyable. That said I decided to buy a block of blanks so I could make Olive wood pens when I someone who asked.The picture looks great. Lots of nice grain and solid looking wood. While I understand they are in marketing their goods and want to show them in the best light (i.e. moistening the blanks so the grain shows off better for the picture), BUT, this picture is very misleading compared to what came in the mail.While several of the blanks were nice, most had little to no real grain in the wood. One of the nicer blanks (grain wise) has the wood split on the end to the point where I could not make a slim line from it. So the tally is 70% of the blanks I received were not anywhere near to what the picture is.Have not found a contact number for the seller so I cannot answer for how they will handle this. I might have gotten a fluke delivery, but I will say I will NOT purchase anything from this re-seller again.This is my third order. The first two were great I had one blank crack but beautiful pieces. This last batch the blanks are blank no grain to them to mention. A little disappointed considering what I’ve received in the past. I’ll see how they look when done.I had an issue with my order.. gave a bad review at first.. but they took care of the problem in an hour or so...so thank you and my apologies for jumping the gun... mike west....I cannot believe that you would sell crap woop like this. This only a sample of the wood that I received. * out of the 10 blanks cannot be use because they are twisted and bent, not even close to being clear wood. They even have knots in them. I was going to turn this for members of or church but now there is now way. Not to mention that I did not receive the certificates that should have been sent. I will not but them again. I will have to order more from someone else.. So Sad..I've purchased from this supplier before and the blanks were outstanding and made some beautiful pieces...but on this occasion though they were a little disappointing unfortunately. All 10 blanks have very few markings / figure compared to my prior purchase and the product image, and out of the 10 blanks four are almost completely plain in appearance. And of the 6 that do have some figuring one blank has a rather large knot...so in total, only 5 of the 10 blanks are what I would actually consider using for a projectI will likely take a chance and purchase again in the future, but if I can find an alternative source then sadly they will have lost a customerOlive wood is beautifully marked. I was not that pleased with these blanks. Two I cannot use due to cracking etc, one was slightly curved and cannot be used. I will not be re-ordering this product. I have paid for ten and can use only seven - which are perfectly good.As previously stated by another reviewer they are barely 3/4" but can be made into pens and other things. As there is a sudden hike in price from just over £23 to £70 since I have bought them then this time I will be definitely giving these a miss and look elsewhere for them.They do make nice pens though!The ten pen blanks were not as portraid in the image, some of the blanks were plain with no visible grain, they were not all cut square and straight, one of the pieces had a large knot which I had to fill with super glue to ensure it did not break out while being turned. Only half of the certification was included. I will not be buying any more from here. Quality checks not to a very good standardNicely grained blanks with boring plain blanks mixed in. No stickers included as shown in the product image, I was looking forward to sticking these on the finish pens.
