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Bog Wood Bad!

Mr Finch

Full Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2013
Posts
172
Location
Fareham, Hampshire
First Name
Coll
Having shown off the bog wood blank on a thread the other, SWMBO asked me to make three slimlines and three stylus in the wood.

Drilled (and lost two blanks) and glued them last night and went to turn them this evening. First one went bang, leaving me with one intact. Ok...

Mounted the second one. That went bang too.

Third one seemed to be ok until I got to round. the lighter oak seems to be rather punky and started pulling too. I have left that one covered in CA to see if it will harden.

So, what to do with the intact parts? Obviously I couldn't put them together as the grain wouldn't match and they would just be weird. Then I remembered that in the stuff I got from my Dad there were some (about 20!) keyring kits. That'll do:

image.jpg

Not the world's most inspiring keyrings, but I like 'em!

As a bonus, we contacted the eBay seller Michael18000 (michael18000 on eBay) to ask his advice and within a couple of hours we had a response from him saying that he would put more in the post tomorrow. Now that is service I didn't expect! :)

The first batch we got from him were really black and solid and made some great pens from it. Yes, I still lost two blanks but I think that was down to inexperience at the time.

Coll
 

Jim

Grand Master
Joined
Oct 19, 2011
Posts
15,617
Coll, i have had similar experience with Bog wood in the past, it put me right off the stuff, good to see you improvised with your wood and made some great looking key rings ... :winking:
 

lignaterrae

Full Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2013
Posts
237
Location
Bolton
When bog oak is dug out of the ground ,it is utterly, utterly saturated. You wouldn't believe a timber could hold so much water! It takes a huge amount of careful drying and even at that, wastage due to splitting and distortion is huge. Believe me, for every cubic foot of timber sold, your supplier will have chucked 10 times that quantity into the firewood pile!
With this timber I would always recommend completing the drying process yourself by sealing the ends and just leaving it alone for another few months in warmish but not hot conditions. Patience pays, when it is properly dry, it is beautiful, dark, iconic and mysterious..
I'm off to bed...
 

Neil

Fellow
Joined
May 21, 2013
Posts
3,132
Location
Hitchin, Hertfordshire
First Name
Neil
I'm going to disagree with Dave about drying Bog Oak but only in a minor way! The stuff that reaches us is in the main fully dried and I have never had the need to hold on to it and dry it further. You might be right with Irish Bog Oak Dave, but I don't bother with it, I think its crap!

The reason for loosing the blanks is because the Irish Bog Oak is softer than the Fens stuff, its a bit older, the fens stuff is around 5,500 years old. When you turn it you can smell oil, its whats called the prefossilisation stage.

There are three sources of Bog Oak, Ireland, where Colls stuff came from, some valleys in Cheshire and the Fens. For what its worth, in my opinion, the Fens Bog Oak is by far and away the best, it is harder, more consistent, doesn't flake, is not quite as black and shows more of the features of the wood than the ebony colour of Irish and Cheshire Bog Oak. You can get a much better finish on Fens Oak than Irish or Cheshire. The reason for the difference in colour is the acidity and levels of tannin in the peat or silt. Cheshire Oak comes from the banks of rivers when the levels rose rapidly and tipped the trees into the water and silt.

Dave is absolutely right about the water content of Bog Oak, recently the Fenland Bog Oak project about which I made a post recently recovered a 13m section and when they planked it and dried it they extracted 3.2 gallons per cubic foot of wood. If the drying process is not started quickly and the wood planked then the outcome will be matchsticks. The planks shrunk from almost 60mm thick to 38mm! It must be planked before being dried, Oak is one of the most difficult woods to dry without loss be it Bog Oak or young stuff less than 600 years old! The differential between the tangental and radial contraction is the give away, the higher the difference the more likely hood of it self destructiung. The tangental contraction is the percentage reduction in the circumference and can be as high as 12%, The radial contraction is normally between 3 and 6%. As you can see the wood is trying to deform as it dries unless it is planked which results in it self destructing and splitting. Oak should be quarter sawn planked, by doing so the contraction forces are not working against each other and splitting will be minimised. I had a consignment of Oak cut by an Italian Mill and they had got it wrong - Italians don't know how to cut oak! I condemned the lot and it went to firewood as it was twisting, bowing and cupping. Made a lot of firewood, 180 tonnes! Cost someone a fortune!

If you want to get hold of some Fens Bog Oak, then you can get it from Home - MAC Timbers or Timberline. I am sure there are many more I just have had no reason to come across then!
 

bluntchisel

Registered
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Posts
3,849
Location
Kent, UK.
First Name
Bob
Hi, Coll,

I always deal with the guy you mentioned - recommended!!! A good chap to buy from as he honours his products!

Bob.
 

Buckeye

ペンメーカー
Executive Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2013
Posts
9,697
Location
UK
First Name
Peter
If you want to get hold of some Fens Bog Oak, then you can get it from Home - MAC Timbers or Timberline. I am sure there are many more I just have had no reason to come across then!

I am not sure if his notice on the website is current, but he says "The council is shutting me down!!
For those of you who have not heard they have demanded that my mill and stacks of timber are removed from my land. For details of the enforcement notice please see the East Northants District Council's website."

It's unbelievable that councils can interfere in something like this, unless they are in league with RBS.

Peter
 

Neil

Fellow
Joined
May 21, 2013
Posts
3,132
Location
Hitchin, Hertfordshire
First Name
Neil
I am not sure if his notice on the website is current, but he says "The council is shutting me down!!
For those of you who have not heard they have demanded that my mill and stacks of timber are removed from my land. For details of the enforcement notice please see the East Northants District Council's website."

It's unbelievable that councils can interfere in something like this, unless they are in league with RBS.

Peter

I've visited Mike on a number of occasions and heard his tale of woe and the arguments with the idiots that are the local government. Part of the issue is that some of his land is described as a monument site. It is the site of some medieval look out post or something obscure. There is no evidence remaining of the structure nor no archaelogical remains that anyone knows of. The site is surrounded by a buffer zone which is a conservation area. This is, a pile of earth, around three feet high apparently. Mike has mowed the grass, kept the pile clear of vegetation which he is not required to do and kept the site in good order. He even escorts all visitors to the site and gives them a guided tour. In the last five years both visitors expressed disappointment in that it was a pile of earth!

Mikes Saw Mill that you can see on his web site extends two feet over the boundary of the conservation area surrounding this pile which is still some thirty five feet away! And they have decided that he has to move it and the piles of wood that he has surrounding the site. The site by the way isn't exacltly in a built up area, it is in a very rural setting covered in living trees which obscure the view of almost everything from the little used local road. The council have told him to get rid of the saw mill despite the length of time it has been there and the fact that the only complaint they have had is from Mikes relative over which he has been having a family feud.

Hes a nice guy, pay him a visit if you get a chance, give him a call before you go, hes got some great bargains.
 

bellringer

The Young one
Registered
Joined
Feb 27, 2013
Posts
5,187
Location
Surrey
First Name
Alex
It sounds very petty from the council as he appear to be doing no harm
 

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Buckeye

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UK
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Peter
Councils do get uptight about monument sites, but they should see the bigger picture and realise that someone who is so close will stop people investigating the site for their own illegal purpose. I know of an iron age mound that got bulldozed and flattened by the land-owners and they were fined, it shouldn't have been destroyed, but the penalties were less than the benefits.

Peter
 
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