Bog Oak 3000 BC

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Kcimdrib

Kcimdrib

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Recently purchased 5 Bog Oak Pen blanks and quite excited to turn them. They turned and finished well. Very open grain surface and interesting colours from grey to black. And at least 5000 years old. I think a Matt finish would be more suitable.
Please feel free to comment
 

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I've started putting a matte or low gloss finish on bog oak. It looks good when you can see the open grain, in my opinion anyway. The diagonal medullary rays look nice in this one. I had one that turned out similarly, and hope for more as I bought 10 blanks of it last time around.
 
sorcerertd said:
I've started putting a matte or low gloss finish on bog oak. It looks good when you can see the open grain, in my opinion anyway. The diagonal medullary rays look nice in this one. I had one that turned out similarly, and hope for more as I bought 10 blanks of it last time around.
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Yes this is my first attempt and showing off the open grain seems an excellent idea I may try Lime Wax.
Thanks for your reply.
 
Kcimdrib said:
Yes this is my first attempt and showing off the open grain seems an excellent idea I may try Lime Wax.
Thanks for your reply.
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I just had some pens plus arrive today. Have not tried it yet, but a couple light coats of thin CA has worked well for me, just burnishing with a scrap of t-shirt instead of sanding/polishing.
 
sorcerertd said:
I just had some pens plus arrive today. Have not tried it yet, but a couple light coats of thin CA has worked well for me, just burnishing with a scrap of t-shirt instead of sanding/polishing.
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This one was finished in what I consider my standard that is Sand to 600 then sanding sealer followed by Friction. Polish and Microcrystaline wax.
I no longer.use CA.
I think I will experiment in producing a Matt finish.
Thanks again for your comments.
 
I turned some bog oak pens and learned the same thing - CA is not a good finish for them. A CA finish turns the bog oak black and takes out all the interesting details.

I still have some Hut Crystal Coat on hand. While I do not recommend Hut Crystal Coat in general, a friction polish like that makes a better finish for the bog oak pens than the CA I had tried before.

Faith Hope Love Pen in Bog Oak.JPG
 
Thank you for your suggestions. I never use CA having spent many hours working with it and sticky fingers. I can get a good finish using the method mentioned previously.
 
penicillin said:
I turned some bog oak pens and learned the same thing - CA is not a good finish for them. A CA finish turns the bog oak black and takes out all the interesting details.

I still have some Hut Crystal Coat on hand. While I do not recommend Hut Crystal Coat in general, a friction polish like that makes a better finish for the bog oak pens than the CA I had tried before.

View attachment 350692
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That's a great looking Pen and I like the finish. What Pen kit have you used.
 
Kcimdrib said:
That's a great looking Pen and I like the finish. What Pen kit have you used.
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Thank you. It is a "Faith, Hope, Love" pen kit. I bought it at the local Rockler store, but it is also available from Penn State. Sorry, but I I do not know a local source in the UK.

Rockler:
https://www.rockler.com/faith-hope-love-twist-pen-hardware-kit-antique-brass
https://www.rockler.com/faith-hope-love-twist-pen-hardware-kit-antique-pewter
Penn State has the same pens, plus additional versions in rollerball form:
https://www.pennstateind.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SEARCH&q=faith
 
penicillin said:
Thank you. It is a "Faith, Hope, Love" pen kit. I bought it at the local Rockler store, but it is also available from Penn State. Sorry, but I I do not know a local source in the UK.

Rockler:
https://www.rockler.com/faith-hope-love-twist-pen-hardware-kit-antique-brass
https://www.rockler.com/faith-hope-love-twist-pen-hardware-kit-antique-pewter
Penn State has the same pens, plus additional versions in rollerball form:
https://www.pennstateind.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SEARCH&q=faith
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It's a great Kit I Will look for a local supplier buying from the US a bit expensive.
Thank you again.
 
keithbyrd said:
You can get a soft matt finish with ca by going through then micromesh and the dropping back 3-4 pads and it will take the gloss down
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... and I like and use that same technique for a matte CA finish myself.

The problem with those bog oak blanks (and sometimes other very dark woods) is that they darken to black and lose a lot of "character" with a CA finish - matte or otherwise.
 
penicillin said:
... and I like and use that same technique for a matte CA finish myself.

The problem with those bog oak blanks (and sometimes other very dark woods) is that they darken to black and lose a lot of "character" with a CA finish - matte or otherwise.
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I think I need more experience, this is my first attempt with Bog Oak.
 
Kcimdrib said:
I think I need more experience, this is my first attempt with Bog Oak.
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Take a bog oak blank and glue the tube(s) from a pen kit to prepare it for penmaking. Mount the blank and turn it to a basic cylinder ... try a finish ... turn it off ... try another finish ... turn it off ... repeat until satisfied. When you get close, turn it into pen and choose the finish you liked the best.
 
Hey, nice pen!

I made more than a 1000+ pens from Bog Oak and found out that the best finish is a food-grade walnut oil. Give it plenty of time to soak in, buff it with steel wool, clean the residue and that's all. If you want a little more shine, the white diamond polish will do the trick without killing the texture.
I have one BO pen cracked finished this way - it was laying under a spotlight in a jewelry shop all winter. That's not a fault of wood:)

As for a 5000-yrs old claim, I'll write a full separate post, stay tuned.
 
yaroslaw said:
Hey, nice pen!

I made more than a 1000+ pens from Bog Oak and found out that the best finish is a food-grade walnut oil. Give it plenty of time to soak in, buff it with steel wool, clean the residue and that's all. If you want a little more shine, the white diamond polish will do the trick without killing the texture.
I have one BO pen cracked finished this way - it was laying under a spotlight in a jewelry shop all winter. That's not a fault of wood:)

As for a 5000-yrs old claim, I'll write a full separate post, stay tuned.
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Thanks for the advice I will give it a go. As for the age of the wood it was advertised being 3000 BC. So you can add another 2000 but how they arrive at 3000 BC I have no idea.
 
Kcimdrib said:
Thanks for the advice I will give it a go. As for the age of the wood it was advertised being 3000 BC. So you can add another 2000 but how they arrive at 3000 BC I have no idea.
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See my post in SOYP, I went into great details about why I'm really dubious about those claims.
 
yaroslaw said:
See my post in SOYP, I went into great details about why I'm really dubious about those claims.
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Great read. I think I'll just say it's old. I have no intention of making many. I don't find it that attractive and have much nicer woods to work with. But that's only my opinion.
 
I'll say given by the looks yours is more than 2000 yrs old for sure. I may be wrong and you may have 5000yrs old wood, but you can't know. You can always ask your supplier how they assess the age of wood. Also, I'm basing my thoughts on Ukrainian Bog Oak, Irish may have very different preservation conditions and therefore different properties.
 
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