Neil, that's amazing info, thank you!. If I'm judging right then, this is big oak. It is horrendously fragile, terrible to turn & a crying shame now that my 6th pen blank has b****y exploded!!, I can imagine this wood as being very old, as it was covered in clay type mud I would assume it has been dug up @ some point. Well, I've managed to finish my 2nd pen, I'm not overly happy with it as it has taken all day, lots of filling with CA & dust that I sanded a broken blank into. Again & apologies to all about the poor pic ( I'm getting there! ), but I think it shows how black the wood is if not the grain contained.
Wood I.D......any ideas?
- Thread starter VikingAl
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tekno.mage
Established Member
It might not be really really old. I was given some pieces of very black "bog" oak which are actually the points from uprooted oak fence posts that had been in an acidic hill farm soil in Mid Wales - they were probably 50 - 100 years old. Some are deep black but you can still see the classic oak grain and rays, others are dark grey. They are all very hard and some have lots of splits in them. They drilled turned okay but quickly blunted tools. The resultant lightpulls, pendants and blindpulls looked great in a range of colours from completely black, through deep grey, paler grey and pale greyish brown. Sorry I can't post pics of the finished work - the customer that brought me the wood has them now 
I've also tried to turn another piece I was given which the doner claimed to be Irish Bog Oak, thousands of years old. It was hard, black and full of splits, It was quite horrible to turn with a very rough finish and lots of bits that splintered off or fell out. I didn't manage to make anything bigger than a light pull from it in the end as there were so many defects in the wood.
I've also tried to turn another piece I was given which the doner claimed to be Irish Bog Oak, thousands of years old. It was hard, black and full of splits, It was quite horrible to turn with a very rough finish and lots of bits that splintered off or fell out. I didn't manage to make anything bigger than a light pull from it in the end as there were so many defects in the wood.
Neil Farrer
Established Member
Kym - that makes a lot of sense as the piece looks like "normal" oak, plus the fact that if it was Bog Oak its a long way from home! You're spot on with your comment about a very rough finish for the Irish Bog Oak, if you've never turned Fenland Bog OAk do get some and give it a go, very different.
Hi Kym, I concur with the turning issues, I'm lucky to have got 1 & a 1/2 pen so far, it just splits, falls apart, fractures, disintegrates or explodes. Once I've finished the 2nd pen the remainder is being put in a dark corner until my patience returns!. I wouldn't say this is Irish Bog Oak but I'm inclined to agree with it perhaps being buried in an acidic field somewhere!.
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