5000 year old guitar tonewood? Spotlight on Bog Oak

The history in how Bog Oak came to be is quite remarkable. So let’s dive straight in to the murky world of this aged timber.

The back story

The ‘Oak’ part is pretty straightforward – it’s an Oak tree. The ‘Bog’ part is where things get interesting.  You might initially be perplexed by its appearance because it’s much darker in colour than regular Oak and in some instances, jet black.

How did this happen? Approximately 7000 years ago there was a rise in the sea level that caused the rivers to backup which subsequently caused the Fenlands to flood. The trees that were unfortunate to have been growing there died whilst still standing and eventually fell into the silt of the forest floor. Many of them got buried and were preserved in these ‘boggy’ conditions.  The unique black colour is a result of a chemical reaction occurring between the tannins in the oak and the soluble irons present in the bog it was being preserved in. 

Spring forward to today, these sub fossilised trees start to rise up to the surface. Much of the land in this region now is agricultural and farmers often find one of these fallen oak when preparing their fields – and it can be a right nuisance to them! 

Getting it out of the ground

This is where a gentleman called Hamish comes in. A truly remarkable man who is unreservedly passionate about this wood. Having spent countless years working with and excavating the timber, many farmers now know that although a little pesky, these logs are very special, so when they hit one they give Hamish a call and he helps them to get it out.

When it comes out of the ground the timber is literally saturated with water. To get it into a useable form it needs to be dried out. It’s slowly dried in a kiln over a period of 9 months and during this time a staggering 4 gallons of water per cubic foot is extracted from the wood! The drying process needs to be very carefully controlled and monitored to avoid the wood warping and splitting. Once dry the wood has often shrunk by nearly 1/3 of its original size when initially pulled up.

The logs can vary hugely in colour and also quality – so Hamish needs to know what to look for to identify a log’s potential to produce great quality Bog Oak. The wood can also be radiocarbon dated and the current stocks establish a date of approximately 5000 BC – now that’s old!

Why is it a good guitar timber?

Hamish is also a true font of knowledge when it comes to understanding the characteristics of Bog Oak.  For guitar makers, we can be quite picky when it comes to selecting wood for certain parts of the guitar. Bog Oak has a weight ratio of over 900 kilos per cubic metre and between 35-40 annular rings per inch, so it is comparable to some of the world’s most highly-valued and sought after tropical hardwood.

And when it comes to the aesthetics, it’s black and just oozes ‘cool’. When Oak is quarter sawn, it often has some attractive grain figure running through it too.

Bog Oak is a national treasure

I have been using Bog Oak on my E-series guitar model for the fretboards and bridges for some time, but spending time with Hamish and learning more about this timber made me realise what a remarkably unique and truly wonderful timber it is.  There is clearly a finite supply of Bog Oak because of course there will come a time when there aren’t any more to pull up.  I am both thrilled and proud to be able to incorporate it into my guitars and show it off to the guitar-playing community. 

To find out more information about Bog Oak visit - www.adamsonandlow.com.