Olive wood is a heavy, dense hardwood which contains various dark and light grain lines and swirls. These trees grow very slowly, sometimes living for thousands of years! Olive often grows twisted in unusual shapes, which makes getting large pieces of this wood difficult. Even smaller sized slabs come from trees that may take 100 years to be large enough to harvest for lumber. Olive Burl and Figured Olive Wood is prized around the world for its strikingly beautiful appearance.