Comments on: Bog Oak

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 13:42:48 +0000

In reply to jaap. The Great Fen in the east of England has a lot of bog oak, I don't know why Irish people are trying to gatekeep it. A thing can exist in two places.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 13:41:38 +0000

In reply to Ciarán. It's associated with both countries. Most things you can find in Ireland you can find in England, and vice-versa- they're very similar environments. The Great Fen in east anglia has a lot of bog oak.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 22:22:36 +0000

Honestly the end grain looks terrifying. Overall this is interesting.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 02:01:26 +0000

In reply to Pedja. Thanks for sharing. Looks good. You might consider using thin CA glue for small projects like this to wick into those open areas and help stabilize the wood and fill in some of the gaps. Some turners even use CA to entirely finish small pieces too. There are some good tutorials on YouTube.

By: Pedja

Pedja — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 16:26:12 +0000

Three or four years ago I started turning non-exotic wood for inserts of fly fishing rods’ reel seats. A friend of mine supplied me with one pretty sturdy piece of the bog oak from a marsh in Southern Banat, Serbia. I had to cut it on the small hobby circular saw to the size appropriate for turning the wood insert. It was very difficult sawing, owing to high content of sand and a tedious turning afterwards for the same reason, that blunted immediately the otherwise sharp chisel. Sanding (120-to 1500 grit) that followed turning at high speed (6000rpm) failed to level completely the visible surface grooves. They appeared as new ones after I levelled the ones in process. But in time, with the perseverant covering with the linseed oil, the wood insert eventually became smooth outside and I have mounted it on the hardware. It is still the only, single one reel seat of this kind I made. The point is that it is not easy to work with bog oak wood, especially crafting the small pieces.

By: Ciarán

Ciarán — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 20:26:37 +0000

My understanding is that bog oak is primarily associated with Ireland, not the UK.

By: Neneh

Neneh — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 07:15:29 +0000

…when you find and get bogwood from water,how do you preserve it from cracking?

By: Loek van Hoof

Loek van Hoof — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 11:17:19 +0000

A few weeks ago, I found a stick in the forest that looked sturdy enough to be made into a walking stick. It was a crooked limb from an oak tree that had been rotting away on the ground. Probably over the course of more than a decade. The sapwood was completely gone, but the leftover heartwood felt safe and sound to use. So, unaware of what was hiding beneath the puckery brown surface, I took the stick home. When I sawed the piece to size, I noticed the wood was completely black about half an inch inwards. Only the very core of the wood had retained a normal oak colour. This piece, then, had turned into bog-oak – not over the course of centuries or millennia – but merely in years. Though, If I had not taken it with me, It would not have stood the test of time, because the conditions in the forest would not have allowed preservation like that of bog-oak found in bogs. I do not know exactly what phenomenon has turned this piece of oak black. there are multiple different natural and artificial ways to turn tannin rich wood dark brown or black. A proces called ammonia fuming can be used to artificially turn oak wood dark. This was a common method of darkening woodwork in churches. perhaps, in the peaty forest floor where this stick was found, a similar proces took place. different nitrous rich compounds, such as ammonia, might have reacted with the tannins. Another explanation could be that this forest floor was rich in iron salts as mentioned above. Gall ink was made through this proces. tannin rich oak galls were mixed in water with rust. in a short notice, you were left wilt beautiful black ink. for all I know, the stick might have just been ‘inkifying’. I have not, however, studied the composition of the forest floor or this subject well enough to come to a sound conclusion. I am planning to do some experiments in the coming years, so I might have more to add in the future.

By: Ed Davidson

Ed Davidson — Fri, 28 Jun 2019 22:43:51 +0000

This yo-yo is made from Russian Bog Oak, radiocarbon dated to be 3,720 +/- 50 years old.

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 20 Jan 2018 12:21:08 +0000

I propose a natural marine relic Bog Oak with the age of 8110 years-http://www.bogoak.biz

By: Robert S

Robert S — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 14:49:00 +0000

I think it would work best for the fret/finger board.

By: jaap

jaap — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 23:18:00 +0000

not in the uk most bog oak can be found on the bogs of ireland. if you want some, wait till they are digging for turf, they throw aside the bog oak and you can pick it up as much as you want.

By: ejmeier

ejmeier — Sat, 28 Mar 2015 02:05:00 +0000

In reply to Joe. Never heard of this before; do you know the moisture content of the wood? It sounds like you're dealing with green wood. I'd try cutting, stickering, stacking, and weighing the stack down -- or clamp it down if necessary.

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 23:59:00 +0000

And it stinks as rotten cheese.

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 23:57:00 +0000

I’ve bought this wood thinking that it would be amazing but is the worst wood i’ve ever found, At the first sight it looks like a dark oak, some minutes after every cut it bends, the day after the shape is completly crocked.

By: Timothy Tikker

Timothy Tikker — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 21:37:00 +0000

The pipe organ built by Jürgen Ahrend of Leer-Loga, Germany in 1972 for Beall Concert Hall at the University of Oregon at Eugene had sharp keys made of bog oak. Unforunately, in about ten years or so these hard worn down from constant playing, so that the surface of the keys had become quite rough and sinewy to the touch. So these keys were replaced with an exotic blackwood. I was an organ student at UO 1981-83.

By: Chris Budesa

Chris Budesa — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 16:28:00 +0000

from time to time carved Bog Oak items are offered for sale which have originated in Ireland.