Bog Oak Jewellery

Hand carved in Scotland by Geoff King

The bog oak used for these pieces has been buried for over 4000 years. It is either from:

The Somerset Levels in England where it was preserved in the peat of Sedge Moor (giving it the characteristic colour), OR from near Culloden Moor in Scotland (see product details for which source each piece is crafted from).

Note: images not to scale

NOW WORKING MOSTLY TO COMMISSION:  https://www.woodlandtreasures.co.uk/commissions/

More About Bog Oak

The Somerset oak from Sedge Moor rose to the surface after years of land drainage. It has been dated using dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) by The Queens’ University of Belfast to approximately 2600 BC, i.e. over 4600 years old.

The Scottish bog oak is radiocarbon dated to approximately 4200 years old by the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre in Glasgow.

A copy of their letter is supplied with each piece, thus making it a truly special gift. I am both excited and enthralled by carving such a material, which has been buried and waterlogged for so long and yet after painstaking kiln drying can still be worked like any other hardwood, albeit with a unique texture.

The trees from which it came were much slower growing than modern oak due to the cooler climate, thus producing a closer grained timber. Its submersion in peat over such a long period has led to the deposit of tiny grains of silica, which can be seen in places as minuscule white flecks. I also like the combination of colours produced by adding amber to some pieces – another material originating from trees, although much older – between 1-30 million years.

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