yaroslaw
Member
Hi there.
I'm probably the biggest expert in Bog Oak given I've made much more than 1000+ Bog Oak pens over the last 10 years. I live in Ukraine (where there's a lot of it in rivers) and was lucky to meet and become friends with a guy whose father's hobby was finding and processing this exceptional material. I make him some Bog Oak pens, he gives me wood.
It's my main seller, just got an order for another 20 bog oak pens yesterday.
Having said that, I was always really dubious about claims on US sellers' sites about 3000-5000-7000yrs old Bog Oak. I was always telling my customers "it's probably 1500-2000 yrs old" with black wood and 1000-1500 with greyish-brown.
A year ago, just before the full-blown War started, my friend presented me with a big board (2"x4-5") of Bog Oak so I took an offcut and sent it for Radio-Carbon (C14) dating. And I have my certificate back, stating I have 2950+-75 year old wood.
It's almost pitch-black all the way through the heartwood after an oil finish, it has A TON of small internal "cracks", and it dulls HSS tools after just a few passes. I have to sharpen my skew several times just to take last finishing passes and if not fortified with thin CA at the ends it may self-destroy in a blink of an eye.
And now it seems to me like claims about 5000-7000yrs old bog oak are a bit "overestimated". I bet you really don't want to have and work with something older than 3000yrs. I would prefer to work with 2000 yrs old Bog Oak but I've got what I've got. And 1000-2000-3000 yrs for customers is really not that much of a difference. Some prefer more black, some prefer lighter colors, but it is about looks and not age.
It's not a fault of fine US folks who sell this material nor penmakers - C14 dating is rather expensive so no one wants to test materials unless they have a lot of it. And you really can't check the age any other way, as even if I show you a certificate (real certificate from a lab, not a useless piece of cardstock you get in a penmaking shop) there's no easy way to verify it was from the same piece of wood. And Photoshop can make things much more complicated in a moment...
So what's my take on it? Take it with a grain of salt. Don't overpromise your customers. They'll be happy to have 2000yrs old pen as much as 5000yrs old. I personally don't belive 5000 or 7000 yrs old Bog Oak is at all workable, seeing how fragile and mineral infused is 3000yrs old wood. But I may be proven wrong.
If you have any questions about working with this beatyfull material regardless of it's actual age, feel free to ask.
Cheers, Yarek.
I'm probably the biggest expert in Bog Oak given I've made much more than 1000+ Bog Oak pens over the last 10 years. I live in Ukraine (where there's a lot of it in rivers) and was lucky to meet and become friends with a guy whose father's hobby was finding and processing this exceptional material. I make him some Bog Oak pens, he gives me wood.
It's my main seller, just got an order for another 20 bog oak pens yesterday.
Having said that, I was always really dubious about claims on US sellers' sites about 3000-5000-7000yrs old Bog Oak. I was always telling my customers "it's probably 1500-2000 yrs old" with black wood and 1000-1500 with greyish-brown.
A year ago, just before the full-blown War started, my friend presented me with a big board (2"x4-5") of Bog Oak so I took an offcut and sent it for Radio-Carbon (C14) dating. And I have my certificate back, stating I have 2950+-75 year old wood.
It's almost pitch-black all the way through the heartwood after an oil finish, it has A TON of small internal "cracks", and it dulls HSS tools after just a few passes. I have to sharpen my skew several times just to take last finishing passes and if not fortified with thin CA at the ends it may self-destroy in a blink of an eye.
And now it seems to me like claims about 5000-7000yrs old bog oak are a bit "overestimated". I bet you really don't want to have and work with something older than 3000yrs. I would prefer to work with 2000 yrs old Bog Oak but I've got what I've got. And 1000-2000-3000 yrs for customers is really not that much of a difference. Some prefer more black, some prefer lighter colors, but it is about looks and not age.
It's not a fault of fine US folks who sell this material nor penmakers - C14 dating is rather expensive so no one wants to test materials unless they have a lot of it. And you really can't check the age any other way, as even if I show you a certificate (real certificate from a lab, not a useless piece of cardstock you get in a penmaking shop) there's no easy way to verify it was from the same piece of wood. And Photoshop can make things much more complicated in a moment...
So what's my take on it? Take it with a grain of salt. Don't overpromise your customers. They'll be happy to have 2000yrs old pen as much as 5000yrs old. I personally don't belive 5000 or 7000 yrs old Bog Oak is at all workable, seeing how fragile and mineral infused is 3000yrs old wood. But I may be proven wrong.
If you have any questions about working with this beatyfull material regardless of it's actual age, feel free to ask.
Cheers, Yarek.