Few words about Croatian Bog Oak ("abonos" or "morta")
Very soon I plan to make few shaving brushes from Croatian Bog Oak (in Croatia we call it "abonos" or "morta") so I want to say few words about it:
Bog oak is a very specific material. The trunk (or root) of oak wich lay uder the ground for thousands of years, having been washed by the river water and precipitated with mineral.
When the trunk gets trapped by its branches and roots to the river bed, in time it becomes covered with the layers of mud, sand and gravel. Deprived of oxygen the wood undergoes the process of fossilization and a long process of Bog oak formation.
The centuries-long process of timber change, often termed “maturation” results in colour alteration from golden-brown to completely black, and its hardness is incrased to such a level that later it can only be carved with the use of specially grind and exceptionally firm tools.
The time necessary for the oak to transform from the end of its biological growth to Bog oak is various. Acccording to the conditions under which “maturation” takes place, this process can last two, three, or seven thousands years. Due to the ecological reasons menitioned above no two trunks can be found of the same colour.
Bog oak is found in the entire dark and its pulling out of the water is in fact the first sight of it after many thousands of years. The age of Bog oak found in Croatian rivers ranges from several hundred years in the rivers on the southern part to the oldest retrieved so far in the river Krapina being 8290 years old.
Aesthetic effect of Bog oak is based on the very experience of naturally formed colour, noticeable wood structure, its “imperfect” appearance, and the fact that parts of the wood are combined which by their variation in the colour, directions of growth rings, or certain “damage” convey a strong aesthetic and ethical message about the immensity of the past times. Deep impression of the passing of time is also grounded on the knowledge of longevity of wood and the miracle of its intactnes indicates that wood is not affected by usual weather conditions or vermin which naturally spoil the looks and strenght of wood. Semidry Bog oak wood is exceptionally hard, sometimes of the golden or copper colour, or with a tint of some other hue. Older wood can be completely black.
FAQ:
Q: Has there been any wood- dating analysis done?
Wood dating is usually done for the samples taken from a single site, and carbon-14 method is used for the analysis. Analyses are performed at the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb, Croatia, or at an Institute in Ukraine. Collaboration has also been established with Cornell University within their project of climate change investigation, and they have been sent a few hundred samples for analysis. This proved to be one of the crucial points in data collection as, in addition to all the above, the age of all wood samples obtained has been confirmed.
Q: Why is Bog oak such expensive material?
Bog oak is a material which is very difficult a) to find, b) especially good quality Bog oak, c) to extract from the water, and d) to dry in a proper manner as well as to process. We in Croatia are definitely lucky to abound in very high quality material, which is the result of exceptionally good quality oak. The basic challenge is how to dry the wood, which is completely soaked with water, and at the same time avoid the splitting of the wood structure. The drying process takes at least two to three years; however, the rate of discarded material is very high.
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