Ancient Bog Oak Carbon Dated 3400 Years Old - Untreated Blocks

[Burl Source]

These are some of the Ancient Bog Oak Blocks that are in the web store for the pipemakers and knifemakers who don't want their bog oak stabilized. Some of you like to do some carving or texturing and need the wood to be untreated to get the best results. For those of you who want stabilized, some will be ready in a few weeks.

These are big blocks that should yield a couple knife handle blocks. There are some unusual colors. These blocks were cut from a log carbon dated to be 3400 years old. So about 3400 years ago an oak tree fell and was covered in the sediment of a river in Ukraine. For thousands of years it was buried in the muck absorbing minerals which ended up making these colors.



This is a photo to compare the size of one of these bog oak blocks to a couple normal knife handle blocks.

 

[i4Marc]

Mark,

What is the recommended use of ancient bog oak, stabilized or natural? When dealing with samples that have been buried so long, how does one determine the proper specific gravity when calculating MC before stabilization?

 

[Burl Source]

I prefer stabilized for knife handle material because like walnut it is easier to finish stabilized.
The meter does not have a problem getting a reading on the blocks.
In the past from a different source I got some that was over 40%mc. When that dried it changed shape and cracked a lot.
This batch is pieces that have been in the works since 2011. The mc reading I got was 6% when I unpacked the box.