Bog Oak

[Castanea]

Hi Folks,

I'm Ian in Northampton, I've been turning for a year and I enjoy turning local timber from the nature reserves where I work. I'm making bowls and platters as well as spindle-turning little boxes and tool handles. Lots of chunky out-of-balance pieces of tree go straight from the chainsaw onto my poor little lathe to be gradually knocked into round. The lathe's surviving so far but I'm aware that I am pushing it a bit at times!

I've just got hold of a pile of "bog oak" from the fens of Cambridgeshire. I was told that some of the bog oak is actually bog pine but the piece I've just turned (and messed up by trying to go as thin as I would with more "normal" wood!) looks every inch like a very dark oak. It is oak-hard in the middle gradually getting darker and softer towards the edge by which point it is turning into something resembling peat - hence my loosing this evening's little bowl! It does smell a bit pondy when you cut it but it comes up to a lovely soft shine straight from sanding. I suspect it will take a wax polish very nicely.

Has anyone on the forum had any experience of turning bog oak? I'd appreciate any advice anyone can give me. I've picked up a few bigish bits but I suspect there will be rather limited amounts of useable wood tucked between the cracks and soft bits so I'm keen to avoid ruining too many pieces in the learning process. Rumour has it at these are trees which were alive 5,000 years ago and have been lying in the fenland peat since so the prospect of turning things from something which predates virtually everything I know is rather wonderful. I'd be very grateful for any guidance.

Many thanks and all the best

Ian

 

[keithkarl2007]

Bog oak is typically black but some of the brown colour can be found closer to the centre of the log. These trees were part of large forests thousands of years ago and other bog woods are available such as bog yew, bog ash, bog willow and bog pine. Here in the Midlands of Ireland I'm surrounded by bog oak and bog yew. I love the stuff. It pre-dates the pyramids in Egypt and the monuments in Newgrange

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I've not turned any myself but my understanding is its quite valuable. You might want to think about wearing a full face mask given how unpredictable the splits can be. Just today I had a tiny sliver of Laburnum hit me in the cheek after a v cut with a skew on nothing more than an egg cup and it cut my face.

 

[CHJ]

So called/labelled 'Bog Oak' can be very variable in texture, obvious really when you consider it could have been immersed in a whole variety of waterlogged situations from a very wide origin timescale.

I've had some from Cambridgeshire that was Hard, Chocolate Coloured and quite sound that finished well and some from Southern Ireland that was Jet Black, Reasonable Hard, Full of minute Fissures, turned like dust and refused to cure CA glue to hold it together. Beautiful when a finish eventually obtained but not one to make a living turning from.

 

[strat]

hi

At the moment I am on enforced R & R due to a flare up of an old back injury. Sadly it doesn't mean I get any lathe time, therefore I am reliant on this forum to protect me from the dire day time TV.

So whats this go to do with this thread....well about 10 years or so ago I was browsing the interweb, a notorius auction site and saw Irish bog oak pen blanks for sale.

The mind cogs started to whirr and I thought it might be a a good idea to try making a pen. Good idea except I didn't own a lathe or any turning tools, had no experiance, a good start.

I started at the logical place, brought the blanks.

As yet I have not turned a pen entirely of bog oak. I prefer Irish bog oak as I tend to find it easier to work and darker. The biggest piece I've seen is at Wicken nature reserve, it is a huge trunk, not sure they would appreciate any turners taking more than a passing interest.

I've turned a few things since but recently turned loads of pens to sell to suuport a children's after school club in eastern Ukraine, an area blighted by Chernobyl and the recent fghting with the pro Russian forces.

 

[Castanea]

Many thanks for the replies.
Keith - bog yew sounds fun and yes, the age of this stuff makes the hairs on my neck stand on end!
Bob - I had exactly the same thought and turned in my chain saw helmet until I was convinced the piece I had on the lathe was behaving and reverted to just eye protection. It does seem to be very unpredictable stuff. I hope you heal quickly from your injury - it's a constant danger. I can live with a cut to the face as long as I can keep any damage away from my eyes!
Chas - I picked through a big pile to find the best looking stuff but it is fantastically variable both in colour and workability.
Strat - I hope you get your pens turned eventually. I don't know what the forum rules are on links but if you put a name to the charity you're involved with it might prompt one or two of us to sling a quid or two in the direction of kids living through hard times - particularly those of us who are feeling very lucky to have come into a nice big pile of bog oak
I'll be having another go this evening so I'll post pics if I get anything half way presentable out of it.
Cheers
Ian

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

very wise young man because of course as the forum knows: If we don't see pictures....it didn't happen

 

[Castanea]

I may well fall in a heap this evening rather than turning so here's a pic of what I tried and ultimately messed up last night. I should have left the side wall a little thicker and then I really really shouldn't have let a scraper anywhere near the inside. The dark side just started to fall apart with the stresses. It fells pretty strong where I've not damaged it though so I'm hopeful that I can get the next one to work. It's 190mm diameter - I think I'll struggle to get anything much bigger out of the logs I have but we'll see!

I've struggled to show the colour - it's less orangey than the picture and more chocolatey. I'm pleased as punch with the colour and grain - just need to learn how to turn the stuff

 

[keithkarl2007]

Here's a piece of quartersawn bog oak I am planning to make a jewellery box from.

 

[Castanea]

That bit's dark and lovely looking. The really dark bits of the logs I have are much too soft to work - it really is turning to peat. The stuff in the middle though it hard and chocolatey and promising. I guess the stuff you have there is more the Irish "jet black" wood Chas described rather then the paler Cambridgeshire material. I shall play with it, see what I can do and trundle back over to Cambridgeshire as and when I have a yearning for more

 

[CHJ]

From this Thread

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Nice Chas. Unusual form, very contemporary and of course your usual juxtaposition of the contrasting woods. I guess the bowl is your bog oak then. It's like rich chocolate isn't it. I'd love to get my hands on some of that. One of the chaps in our club tried fuming oak to bring out the tannins and said he got a similar effect.

 

[CHJ]

... One of the chaps in our club tried fuming oak to bring out the tannins and said he got a similar effect.

From a productive turning and visual satisfaction point of view I would think that has a lot of merit, it's the history of the media and satisfaction of finally producing something from natures 'scrap' that she did not manage to recycle completely herself that has the appeal I suspect, a bit like New Zealand's Ancient Kauri on a small scale.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

agreed....the provenance has a huge part to play doesn't it. Not least is that the piece becomes a fabulous talking point.

 

[JimB]

I remember reading somewhere that the Romans used logs laid as corduroy for the base of their roads when they had to traverse boggy areas. I wonder if some of the bog oak dates from that period? It could explain differences in colour.

 

[Castanea]

I've finally got around to finishing a bog-oak bowl without any disasters! Working around the splits and soft areas I was pleased to find a piece of solid wood which I could get a 20mm deep 150mm diameter bowl out of. The smell whilst cutting is very different from the green wood I'm more used to. It smells like a warm bog and the shavings look much darker than the finished bowl (like grated bournville!) and contrasted nicely with the birch shavings on the floor from the turning I did yesterday.

I'm afraid the nice wax finish is reflecting the light something rotten. The only way I could avoid the reflections was to photograph it in the dark and the results were even worse

My garage was broken into over the weekend and the b'stards had away with my bike. Thankfully they decided not to take the four or five hundredweight of bog oak sitting in there. Phew - thank heaven for small mercies!

If anyone on the forum knows a way to get carbon dating on the cheap I'd love to know the age of this wood. The going rate seems to be three or four hundred pounds per sample which is more than I'm prepared (or able) to pay just for curiosity

Cheers

Ian

 

[Castanea]

A day at the Great Fen on Monday meant I dragged home another pile of cracked, smelly, disintegrating logs. My partner innocently asked whether I could make a natural edged bowl out of bog oak. Having patiently explained that the crumbly edges would make it impossible I found a less crumbly log and made a bowl big enough and meaty enough to hold together despite the cracks. It's not elegant - it looks like something Grendel's mother might have drunk from but I like it. It's got a couple of coats of finishing oil on and I intend to oil it again and polish it once it's stopped moving. It's living in a paper bag at the mo to try to slow the movement down a bit!
Then I tried a little bowl which got smaller and smaller as I turned away the rubbish to find the little nugget of good stuff in the middle. That one's waxed and seems to be drying slightly oval which I think's a good sign - better than the alternative!
Finally I'd cut a chunk which looked quite promising so I tried a thinner natural edged bowl about 9mm thick. I'm hoping it won't crack horribly but there's a danger that the cracks already in it will just get bigger. We'll see. So far I haven't put any finish on that one - just bunged it in a paper bag to dry slowly and hope to be able to turn the bottom off once it's stable and has some finish on.
The little bowl is dark enough that it seemed to just ask to be photographed with a birch bowl I turned a couple of weeks ago for a bit of an ebony and ivory moment!
My verdict on bog oak is that it's interesting but a bit limiting due to the cracks and huge variety of density and hardness. I've bagged the stuff in the garage and hope it will remain useable for a while. I'm hoping to pick up some un-handled gouges at the Daventry show in a couple of weeks so some of the smaller bits of bog oak might make interesting tool handles fitting in with the colour coding idea someone on the forum mentioned recently.