Privet is best known and is most often seen as a garden hedge. Like Ash, it is a member of the Olive family. Because the bark is uninteresting, it is almost always peeled in stick-making. When fully stripped, the exposed wood is white but responds well to linseed oil giving a lovely golden yellow hue. If the underbark is retained, the shank displays a rich brown hue. It is an ideal wood for stickmaking as it grows relatively straight and is extremely tough when properly seasoned.
