Wood Species Guide
Black Olive
Bucida buceras (now often placed as Terminalia buceras)
Also called: Bucida, Gregory Wood, Bullet Tree, Pucte, Pucté, Oxhorn Bucida, Jucaro, Úcar
What Black Olive looks like
Heartwood is a yellowish brown to olive brown, sometimes with darker streaks. Sapwood is lighter and not always sharply defined. It is not related to true olive trees, and the color is more tan than the swirled olivewood people picture.
Grain and texture
Fine texture with grain that can be straight or irregular around branch knots. The wood is very dense and heavy for its size.
Working Black Olive: planing, cutting and gluing
Hard on tools. The wood carries silica, so it dulls steel blades fast; carbide is a must. Expect slow feed rates on the planer and plenty of sanding. Pre-drill every screw.
Finishing Black Olive: oil, film finishes and epoxy
Its density means oil soaks in slowly, so use thin coats and wipe off the excess well. Film finishes and hardwax oils both work. For epoxy, the tight surface bonds well once it is sanded and clean.
Durability, stability and Florida humidity
Very hard and long-lasting, with good natural resistance to insects and fungus. It can check while drying, so slabs should be sealed and dried slowly. Once dry it handles Florida humidity well.
Shop notes from our Fort Myers shop
Black olive is one of the most common South Florida street trees, so it comes up often when people ask about milling a downed yard tree. It makes heavy, tough slabs, but it will eat saw chains and blades. We recommend carbide tooling and patience if you work it yourself. It is a good candidate for small tables, cutting boards and turnings rather than giant slabs, since big pieces get extremely heavy.
Common uses for Black Olive
Posts, heavy construction where native, turnings, small tables, boards and salvage projects.
Sustainability and CITES status
Not listed in the CITES Appendices. In Florida it is a non-native landscape tree, so using salvaged trees puts waste wood to work.
Safety and toxicity
- No common reactions reported
Few reports. No reactions are documented beyond ordinary wood dust irritation. The wood is very dense, so the fine dust hangs in the air.
- In the shop
- Normal dust collection + good mask when sanding
- Food contact
- Use with care for cutting boards, bowls and utensils
General information, not medical advice. See a doctor if you have a reaction.
No specific reactions are well documented. The wood is very dense and sands to a fine dust that hangs in the air, so use dust collection and a good mask.
Black Olive in stock now
Ask us. We can often source it.
We don't have Black Olive listed online right now, but new slabs and lumber come in all the time and not everything makes it to the website. Tell us what you're building and we'll check our racks and suppliers.
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