Old Wood???

[melogic]

A customer was talking to me at a craft show yesterday and was asking me about an old wood. He said he was reading somewhere there was this old wood someone had recently found and dug it up. It is supposed to be really old and very very expensive. It is so old and been buried for so long that it has more of a petrified lokk and feel to it. Anyone have a clue?

 

[coach]

Irish bog oak?

 

[Rifleman1776]

New Zeland kauri? Much older than even Irish Bog Oak.

 

[mrcook4570]

Some of the Kauri is carbon dated to be between 30,000 and 50,000 years old. Most of the carbon dating ob the IBO is about 1500 years old.

 

[alamocdc]

Sounds like ancient Kauri to me too. I bought two jumbo blanks in it awhile back, but still haven't had the nerve (or project) to turn it.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Originally posted by mrcook4570
<br />Some of the Kauri is carbon dated to be between 30,000 and 50,000 years old. Most of the carbon dating ob the IBO is about 1500 years old.

There is, at least to my knowledge, only one radio carbon dating existing (and given away with the wood) for Irish Bog Oak penblanks. This dates the wood to the time of St Patrick. I have bought IBO from different sources, all coming with the same certificate of the Queen University of Belfast. Some of my suppliers in Ireland are telling me that this is a faked certificate. Here is an excerpt from an e-mail I got from one of my suppliers regarding the question if he has a radio carbon dating analysis done on his wood:

"I do not have carbon dating for this wood, and I suspect that the
carbon dating certificate that you received with your wood was fake.
Queens University Belfast Charges 1700 Euros for to carry out 1 carbon
dating. Who could afford to pay for this just to sell some wood?
Also another thing that would suggest that the Dating Certificate is
fake is that St Patrick came to Ireland in approximately 433 AD, that is 1573 years ago. Surveys of Irish bogs suggest that bog oak needs to be at least 2 metres from the surface in order to cut off the air supply and prevent the wood from decaying. Wood found above this level is usually rotten. Wood found below this level is usually preserved. Bogs grow at 1mm per year. If this wood was from the time of St. Patrick, it would have been 1.5 metres below the surface and rotten and unusable.
I think that this was just a selling scam to make his wood more appealable to Americans, most likely his wood is between 3000 and 5000
years old and most likely he is good with a computer and managed to
draw up a wonderful looking Carbon 14 dating certificate."

Lately, most wood is advertised as being 3000-6000 years old. I also believe that the older the wood is, the darker it is. Also, other species have been found in the bogs, like Beech, Yew and Pine, but mostly all wood found in the bogs sold is "Bog Oak", even if it is not oak.

 

[DCBluesman]

Rudy and all - this came up about about 6 months ago so I emailed Queens University in Belfast. If anyone would like to make an independent validation, their email address is sobb.office at qub.ac.uk Here's the response I received.

Mr. Metcalf

We have the original record of the radiocarbon testing from Mr. Alan Bell. Due to our policies, we cannot provide you with a copy of this certificate, however, we can confirm that the information that you have received from Mr. Bell matches our records.

Thank you for your inquiry.

Also, while I do not have a price quote from Queen's University, I got two two quotes for carbon dating of wood. Both were in the $500-$600 range.

This doesn't put the question to bed, but I certainly feel much better about my purchases. [8D]

 

[Rudy Vey]

Originally posted by DCBluesman
<br />Rudy and all - this came up about about 6 months ago so I emailed Queens University in Belfast. If anyone would like to make an independent validation, their email address is sobb.office at qub.ac.uk Here's the response I received.

Mr. Metcalf

We have the original record of the radiocarbon testing from Mr. Alan Bell. Due to our policies, we cannot provide you with a copy of this certificate, however, we can confirm that the information that you have received from Mr. Bell matches our records.


Thank you for your inquiry.

Also, while I do not have a price quote from Queen's University, I got two two quotes for carbon dating of wood. Both were in the $500-$600 range.

This doesn't put the question to bed, but I certainly feel much better about my purchases. [8D]

Lou, glad you clarified this issue. I never even thought about contacting the university myself after I heard it from two suppliers independently that these certs maybe fakes. Could it be that they are envious?? Both are not wood dealers at all, they just have some access to IBO through owning some land where it is found and through inheritance. This is quite an interesting wood, and has lately become my personal favourite to work with (and pens made with it sell good, too).
Where would send samples for the radiocarbon dating, the cost you mentioned seems to be about 1/3 - 1/4 of the one I was told.

 

[DCBluesman]

[/quote]

Lou, glad you clarified this issue. I never even thought about contacting the university myself after I heard it from two suppliers independently that these certs maybe fakes. Could it be that they are envious?? Both are not wood dealers at all, they just have some access to IBO through owning some land where it is found and through inheritance. This is quite an interesting wood, and has lately become my personal favourite to work with (and pens made with it sell good, too).
Where would send samples for the radiocarbon dating, the cost you mentioned seems to be about 1/3 - 1/4 of the one I was told.
[/quote]

This is one of the replies I received from radiocarbon.com.

We do radiocarbon dating of wood, but we do not validate or authenticate age claims of any kind.

The price is $595.00 each analysis, delivery in 20-30 days, we need about 0.2 grams of fresh wood (no oils, preservatives, or applications of any kind). Payment is requested with the sample. The submitted material will be consumed in the analysis.

Darden Hood
Director/President
Beta Analytic Inc.
4985 SW 74 Court
Miami, Florida 33155 USA
Tel: 305-667-5167
Fax: 305-663-0964
www.radiocarbon.com