“Black as the pit from pole to pole,
- Thread starter ZanderPommo
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Very nice work Alex and a beautiful finish!
The bog oak I have turned is Ukrainian and the same age (I have the radiocarbon documentation which is pretty cool). It turns nicely but I have learned to stop short and sand to the bushings as the pieces I have are very open grained. Then lots of work to get a nice CA finish filling in all that grain. You did a BEAUTIFUL job of that.
I took mine to high gloss, and then backed down to a satin finish so I could see the grain and coloration in the wood better. I'll post pictures sometime, but wouldn't dream of doing so on this post of your beautiful work.
The bog oak I have turned is Ukrainian and the same age (I have the radiocarbon documentation which is pretty cool). It turns nicely but I have learned to stop short and sand to the bushings as the pieces I have are very open grained. Then lots of work to get a nice CA finish filling in all that grain. You did a BEAUTIFUL job of that.
I took mine to high gloss, and then backed down to a satin finish so I could see the grain and coloration in the wood better. I'll post pictures sometime, but wouldn't dream of doing so on this post of your beautiful work.
ZanderPommo
Member
Please do! I'd love to see. And the bog oak sold by Twvaman came with the data packet too which was awesome for sure, that was a first for me. It did take a long time to finish. I used medium 2-3 coats and sanded down and it's STILL took ~20 coats of thin to fill all the pores. Thanks for the kind words David.
Woodchipper
Member
ZP, that shows you have a lot of patience...20 coats.
ZanderPommo
Member
I usually do 10-12, which generally takes me about 10-15 minutes from first coat to final polish, so it wasn't too annoying, but I think the problem could have been mitigated and brought back to the normal 10 by doing an extra coat or 2 of medium at the beginning.
ZanderPommo
Member
Only when I'm doing something I enjoy
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. One coat of thin to act as a sanding sealer, then medium after that for filling, leveling, and layers of finish.
I appreciate the heads up.
Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I typically do 4 Thin to soak in and seal the material, then 8-12 coats of medium to build it up. In the case of Bog Oak I and others with really open grain, maybe even more coats to fill, but in those situations, I usually do sanding in the middle of the process as well.
Alan Morrison
Member
I have to say that I prefer my bog oak to look like bog oak.
ZanderPommo
Member
Can you elaborate?
ZanderPommo
Member
I generally use medium till the voids are filled or nearly so, then do 10 to 12 coats of thin, then micromesh to 12000 and buff with Novus 2. Full finish takes ~5-8 minutes
I have a bunch of bog oak, 5500 yr from what the certificate said, that is very dark (not quite black unfinished, more of a very dark gray). I turned a couple of them, but it was extremely soft stuff, and even with thin CA, it never really sealed. I have held off on turning the rest, until I had a stabilization setup. I think, instead of trying to stabilize the wood with CA, I'm going to use cactus juice in a vacuum chamber. That should really thoroughly stabilize them, and eliminate the need to use so much CA.
In lieu of stabilization, have you thought of using GluBoost Fill n' Finish Ultra Thin? This stuff has DEEP penetration. You might not need to use 20 coats, if you can saturate the blank with ultra thin first.
In lieu of stabilization, have you thought of using GluBoost Fill n' Finish Ultra Thin? This stuff has DEEP penetration. You might not need to use 20 coats, if you can saturate the blank with ultra thin first.
ZanderPommo
Member
This particular wood was very hard and quite easy to turn. Honestly it was probably very similar to something like red oak, but it has open grain more akin to paduak. I plan to play with gluboost soon but it's tough to justify when I've been using stick fast with no issues for like 10 years.
If you want to get into stabilizing, it's really easy, and quite useful, and not too expensive to get into. I did it for probably like…I dunno maybe $300. If you go with the cactus tank you'll probably be happier about it but if you're on a budget there are super cheap chambers that work quite well. Nothing about it is difficult, so don't be too intimidated to get into *another* "new thing"
1080Wayne
Member
I`m like Alan in that I prefer my bog oak to look like bog oak , i e with open pores , visible grain structure , and matte finish . CA blackens it too much , and the colour nuances are lost with that and with the glossy finish .
Alan Morrison
Member
Sure. While I admire the pen that you made, I would be hard pushed to recognise it as Bog Oak; it could be any dark timber.
The attraction to Bog Oak is its age, the character that it shows, its open grain and pores, and the fact that it has been lying in a bog for thousands of years. All that is lost when applying multiple layers of shiny CA glue. It is like removing the patina from an old piece of furniture (to me).
There are multiple ways of treating bog oak that enhances its features and most of us who work with it find that, where the finishing is involved, less is more.
Interesting... I didn't realize some bog oak was hard. All the stuff I've picked up is super light weight and....well, I guess its not really punky, but, its not really hard. And its a little brittle.This particular wood was very hard and quite easy to turn. Honestly it was probably very similar to something like red oak, but it has open grain more akin to paduak. I plan to play with gluboost soon but it's tough to justify when I've been using stick fast with no issues for like 10 years.
If you want to get into stabilizing, it's really easy, and quite useful, and not too expensive to get into. I did it for probably like…I dunno maybe $300. If you go with the cactus tank you'll probably be happier about it but if you're on a budget there are super cheap chambers that work quite well. Nothing about it is difficult, so don't be too intimidated to get into *another* "new thing"
I actually do have stabilization gear. I've fiddled with it a bit, but haven't had a chance to really dive in deep. I am probably in for more than $300, but, I got a really tall tank that would allow me to stabilize a good number of blanks at once, or so I hope. I did find, though, that if the juice gets over about 50% of the tank height, then as it bubbles it can potentially get sucked out. So I think before I really get into this, I might pick up one of those pump-saver reservoirs that will capture any juice that gets sucked out and keep it out of the pump. That's another $60.
Its a never ending hole...
Alan Morrison
Member
Jon, the bog oak that I get is more akin to coal than to timber!