Stained wood products. Bog oak is a unique natural material! How does it happen that the result is stained wood

Bog oak is a unique material, the creation of which sometimes took many thousands of years by nature. What does this black material with silver-gray veins remember, having absorbed the history of centuries, millennia? It is impossible to find a more beautiful and elegant, strict texture of wood than bog oak. Unfortunately, at present, due to a number of reasons, there is an acute shortage of cognitive and specialized information on the topic of occurrence in nature, use and application of bog oak.

Often, as if in passing, in the works of venerable writers or in historical documents, we receive information about exquisite, valuable and unique products or objects made of bog oak. Either we learn that Tsar Peter gives his wife Ekaterina a box of marvelous work made of the unusual beauty of bog oak, then we learn that souvenirs made of bog oak, along with family jewels, were passed down from generation to generation. And paying closer attention to such information, we learn that bog oak products were an ornament, a source of pride for the most exquisite European palaces. For example, in 1713, the English craftsman Clausen made the Imperial Throne for Peter I from bog oak and gilded silver, which today stands in the Small Throne Room of the Winter Palace. The son of Mary Stuart, James I, expressed a desire to have a throne made of bog oak, "... so that its healing properties would contribute to righteous rule ...", and after the official coronation received this valuable gift from the English Parliament. The knights of King Arthur gathered around a round table made of bog oak to make serious decisions.

In Russia, presenting gifts made of ebony on especially solemn occasions has become a tradition. Cabinets, armchairs, bureaus were presented for anniversaries and official appointments. For the wedding and the day of the angel, the ladies were presented with caskets, caskets and small carved angels made of bog oak. These souvenirs, along with family jewels, were passed down from generation to generation. The generals bequeathed cabinets made of bog oak to their grandchildren, and the elderly countess could give her great-granddaughter a little angel, which she had inherited from her grandmother, for good luck. Currently, products from bog oak are stored either in museums (for example, in the National Museum in Dublin, etc.), palaces, or in private collections.

What is bog oak? Why is there so little information about him at the moment? What is its price? And how can you get it? Bog oak is a lumber obtained from black oak with a purple tint (popularly known as "blue wing" or "anthracite") and subtle silver veins. He was in a humid environment without access to oxygen according to radiocarbon analysis of 800 years.

In ancient times, oak forests grew on the banks of rivers and lakes. Rivers over the centuries often have to change the direction of their movement. As a result, the water, changing the direction of movement, washed away the banks, and the mighty centuries-old oaks gradually ended up in the river. As time went on, the sand washed away both trunks and branches with a multi-meter layer. Any tree in such conditions is doomed to complete destruction, but the oak is just starting its second life. Oak bark and wood contain a large amount of tannins - tannins, which are amorphous polymeric substances, the exact composition and structure of most of which have not yet been clarified. The content of tannins is very significant. In the oak core they contain 6% - 11%, in the bark from 5% to 16%. Tannins are perfectly soluble in water, easily oxidized. It should be especially noted that when combined with iron salts contained in water, tannins give a dark blue color, as a result of which the wood of oak located in the river acquires a black color with a dark blue tint and noble gray veins over the years. In general, bog oak strikes the imagination with the history of its creation. Seeing a dried, centuries-old stained tree, you admire the path he had to go through. Especially striking is the outer layer, consisting of rough plates of natural black coal. Do you involuntarily think about how much energy was seething in this tree deep in water or earth during its second life? How could the outer layer of wood turn into coal without being burned? And why is it already recycled, even in the form of a simple polished part, when touched, it radiates a soft, gentle energy? After all, it has long been noticed that the one who came into contact with the bog oak is forever subdued by its deep power, beauty and originality.

A flooded tree is greatly influenced by the flow of water and sand. The bark of the oak leaves the tree, and the peeled trunk is covered with a unique pattern created by water and sand. With the subsequent change in the riverbed, the trees covered with sand and silt are at a considerable distance from the flowering oak forests. After many years, as a result of another change in the movement of the river, the water washes away the sand, and the oak is again on the surface. And so from year to year, from century to century, from millennium to millennium. Lakes also go their way from birth to old age, turning into swamps and then into peat bogs, hiding fallen trees for many years. This process is also very long.

For example, during excavations of peat bogs in Ireland (1960), oaks were found, the age of which, according to radiocarbon analysis, is from 4000 to 7000 years.

S. I. Ivachenko in 1973, under a 6-meter layer of river sediment near the village of Shchuchye on the banks of the Don, discovered an oak canoe that had lain for 4000 years and was perfectly preserved. Currently, the boat is on display at the Historical Museum in Moscow. From ancient times, bog oak was mined in rivers from great depths. Then it was dried for many years, and the methods of drying bog oak were a strict secret. And since the amount of bog oak was very limited, the manufacture of products from it was trusted only by recognized, experienced craftsmen, the so-called cabinetmakers. From the second half of the 12th century until the 15th-16th centuries, in the best houses of England, Germany, Bohemia (Czech Republic), furniture and interiors made of bog oak and decorated with beautiful, virtuoso flat-relief and openwork carvings were very common. Later, with the appearance in Europe of a large number of mahogany from America and Africa (1720) and due to the lack of bog oak in sufficient volumes, cabinetmakers began to be called cabinetmakers. The stocks of bog oak in Europe, and later in America, were exhausted by the beginning of the last century. Currently, the discovery of bog oak in European countries is an event. And those few experts who know the true value of bog oak treat it very carefully.

In our country, for a number of reasons, bog oak has long been deleted from the list of materials that could be widely mined and used. On the one hand, it was considered a valuable material, the extraction of which was officially prohibited, and on the other hand, bog oak, until recently, was quite difficult for technical extraction and processing.

As a result, in the USSR, a huge, rich country, bog oak has been equally used over the past 70 years both as a unique lumber and as elementary firewood. There are known cases of delivery of bog oak for the manufacture of a special order by helicopter technology. But, for example, when performing bottom-dredging works, the mined bog oak, due to small volumes and difficulties in processing, was easier to burn than to be officially credited and give it a new life. At present, due to new economic relations, bog oak reserves will be in demand very soon. However, the stock of bog oak in the Republic of Belarus is limited and one can be sure that in a few years it will be exhausted.

Like gold and platinum from metals, diamond from minerals, so bog oak is the most valued and hard-to-reach wood material created by nature over many centuries and millennia. Its reserves are limited and irreplaceable. Each bog oak has passed its own individual, centuries-old path. Therefore, each copy is unique and unique. Given the irreplaceable supply of bog oak, the true cost of bog oak lumber must be an order of magnitude higher than any of the most expensive lumber ever created by nature.

The extraction and processing of bog oak is associated with a number of difficulties. It should be immediately taken into account that the bog oak, from the moment it enters the water until it rises, withstands many thousands of cycles of alternating physical and climatic loads. Imagine a mighty oak fallen into the river, which for many years firmly holds its roots to the high bank. Meter by meter, for many years the crown of the tree and the trunk itself are immersed in water. For a long time, before it is completely immersed in water, it is helpless against the effects of water, wind, frost and heat, which in itself is already detrimental to wood. In addition, it is of no small importance in which soil the tree is subsequently immersed. Either it will be washed out with clay or sand, which in turn also affects the properties of wood in different ways. The thickness of the layer under which the tree is located is also important, and the pressure exerted on the tree depends on the value of which.

The type of oak also matters, as it is known that there are 600 types of oak in the world, each of which has its own individual differences, ranging from density to texture features. At present, only pedunculate oak is widespread in our Republic, and on the territory of the former Soviet Union there were only 19 species, and it is possible that during the millennia ago, the species component of oak was more extensive. It should be noted that for bog oak it is quite difficult to determine its botanical name. The age of the oak also affects the condition of the wood. Of great importance is the health factor of the tree, the presence or absence of diseases, wormholes and other damage. Constantly being in a humid environment, bog oak, like no other wood, is subject to swelling. The swelling of bog oak is due to the colloidal nature of the wood substance, which belongs to the class of limited swelling gels. It depends on many factors, among which the most important are the amount of absorbed bound water and the density of wood, its anatomical structure and morphology of cell walls, temperature, moisture stress, and others. Swelling is complicated by the fact that individual chemical components of wood are localized in different morphological elements of the cell wall and have different ability to swell. At the same time, the moisture content of the lifted wood depends on the duration of the stay of wood in water, which ranges from 110% - 200%. Moreover, it was found that with an increased moisture content (over 115%), the physical and mechanical properties of bog oak wood change for the worse and correspond to the properties of such types of wood as alder, aspen. This is due to the fact that with a very long stay in a humid environment, wood is destroyed at the cellular level, compaction and filling of the voids formed with moisture. Accordingly, drying the extracted material at a moisture content of 110%, while the moisture content of freshly cut oak varies within 65%, is not an easy task.

Due to the lack of technology for industrial extraction and processing of bog oak, the poor technical equipment of enterprises, the extraction of bog oak, with very, very rare exceptions, has not brought positive results to date and has led to huge unforeseen financial costs and the irretrievable loss of excellent raw materials.

There are three ways to extract bog oak. The first method is very time-consuming and painstaking - this is the extraction of bog oak when performing bottom-dredging works by water transport enterprises. A no less time-consuming method of extraction is in the development of peat bogs.

In the first and second cases, serious equipment and maintenance personnel are involved, which has a very significant effect on the cost of the extracted bog oak, since according to the estimate for the extraction of bog oak by the BELVODPUT enterprise, the cost of extracting 1 m 3 of firewood is 220 US dollars. However, it should be noted that the volumes of bog oak production in these cases are difficult to predict and cannot serve as a basis for industrial production of bog oak.

The third extraction method is much more efficient and less expensive. It consists in the work of a specialized enterprise, consisting of a number of divisions equipped with modern equipment and environmentally friendly technology.

The main condition for the efficient extraction of bog oak is the creation of a specialized enterprise for the extraction and processing of bog oak, equipped with special equipment that allows you to perform all work efficiently and in the shortest possible time. Scientific and technological progress makes it possible to use the latest achievements in lifting, prospecting and lumber drying. Moreover, during the work of a specialized enterprise, it will be necessary to use means and equipment unusual for logging, for example, such as floating. means, electronic search equipment, scuba divers. A specialized enterprise, equipped with modern equipment, is able to effectively and fully use the navigation period, which allows not to produce more expensive bog oak extraction in the winter. A specialized enterprise is able, which is especially appreciated in the business world, to fulfill an order of any complexity and guarantee the supply of this valuable, high-quality material in the required volumes at any time and in the shortest possible time. And, of course, such an enterprise has the opportunity to create a stock of bog oak and lead the market for its trade. At the same time, it should be noted that all bog oak, when a specialized enterprise is created and it carries out planned work in all special areas, receives the status of a valuable raw material, with a predicted volume of its production. The established enterprise will be able to constantly monitor the position in the bog oak market and conduct a wide advertising campaign in order to conduct effective trading activities.

Specialized technical equipment of the enterprise allows in the shortest possible time to carry out seasonal exploration of bog oak reserves with fixing the location, to ensure prompt lifting and processing of bog oak. And modern advanced drying methods allow minimizing the loss of lumber. As a result, guaranteed industrial supplies of high-quality, most expensive lumber that meets the most stringent global requirements are possible. Moreover, it is especially important that a specialized enterprise is able to ensure the supply of bog oak both in the form of sawn timber and in the form of round timber (which is especially important for the manufacture of highly artistic, voluminous compositions) all year round. It should be noted that a specialized enterprise for the extraction of bog oak can successfully carry out its activities in the CIS countries, Poland, the Baltic countries, where, along with the main activity, it can effectively carry out work on the ecological cleaning of rivers and reservoirs. And what is important, such an enterprise is 70% equipped with Belarusian-made mechanisms and equipment. Those who have faced the problem of extracting bog oak know that extracting bog oak is not the main thing, the main thing is −

to produce high-quality drying of the extracted material. When saturated with water, bog oak wood retains its plasticity, but after drying it becomes much harder and more brittle than its natural state. The shrinkage of bog oak is 1.5 times greater than that of ordinary oak, which is explained by wrinkling (collapse) of cells with a reduced wall thickness, which is why bog oak wood cracks when dried more than usual. And, of course, this task becomes more complicated by more than one order when the issue of industrial (from 1000 m 3 ) extraction and processing of bog oak is solved. But in order to produce high-quality drying of bog oak roundwood at the initial stage, in contrast to simple wood, appropriate conditions are also required, and first of all, a specially equipped storage room adapted to work with overall, heavy objects, in which the necessary humidity and temperature settings. Storage of raised bog oak in the open air, even under a well-equipped shed, does not guarantee its high-quality drying, since it requires constant, labor-intensive maintenance of each specimen, and this is a difficult task on the scale of industrial production. When storing bog oak in specially equipped warehouses, the amount of work is significantly reduced. Without special costs, it is possible to bring the external and internal humidity in the logs to the range of 30-60%.

Currently, on the territory of the former USSR, bog oak in any form, from round timber to sawn timber, can be offered all year round by only one enterprise - GODO TRANS-CENTER, Republic of Belarus, Gomel.

To accomplish this task, the enterprise has worked out and tested the technology of storing bog oak. Specially equipped underground warehouses (5600 m 2 ) with constant temperature and humidity conditions are involved.

It is possible to cut bog oak directly at the place of lifting (the weight of 1 m 3 of lifted bog oak is from 1.5 tons), which can significantly reduce transport and storage costs. Raised oak immediately after lifting is not difficult to clean from sand, and due to the increased moisture content, it is much easier to saw. Bog oak, oversaturated with moisture, in the first days after sawing under appropriate conditions, significantly loses weight. It creates the possibility of rejecting substandard, damaged material. Quality material is sorted and preliminary preparation for drying is carried out.

At the same time, contracts were concluded with woodworking enterprises for the processing of bog oak from sawing and drying to the manufacture of lumber, furniture, and parquet. The results of practical cooperation with enterprises at all stages of the technological process have been obtained.

Processing was carried out both at state-owned enterprises and at private ones equipped with advanced equipment.

At present, the main activity of GODO "TRANS-CENTRE" is to finalize the technology of industrial extraction and processing of bog oak. The cycle from exploration, mining and processing to the manufacture of finished products - sawn timber, parquet, furniture - has been fully worked out. A technology has been developed for an effective, relatively inexpensive search for bog oak reserves. For example, the Russian enterprise RUSEXPORT, in order to carry out reconnaissance work, at the first stage uses aircraft equipment to conduct aerial photography of about 300 km of the river and obtain photographs, with the help of which the most probable bog oak deposits are analyzed, and then the results of underwater exploration are used. At the first stage, the specialists of GODO "TRANS-CENTER" analyze the distribution of floodplain oak forests in the proposed area of work (from 1000 years ago or more) based on the data of the Belarusian Scientific Research Institute of Forestry. And after that, with the help of special equipment, exploration of bog oak reserves is carried out in a short time. Submariners are used only to ascertain the presence of bog oak and to carry out preparatory work to lift the discovered wood. As a result of applying the technology developed by GODO "TRANS-CENTER", one search group is able to explore 2170 kilometers of rivers in detail within one month. In other words, all navigable rivers of the Republic of Belarus, the length of which is 2700 km, can actually be examined for the presence of bog oak in one - maximum two months.

Having reliable, verified data on the accumulation of bog oak, it is possible to effectively use the capabilities of the water transport enterprises of our Republic, which, due to various circumstances, are currently not fully used. At the same time, using equipment produced in our Republic, it is possible to effectively extract bog oak in non-navigable rivers, the length of which is 39,000 km.

It should be noted that in parallel, it is possible to use the river cleanup program of our Republic, based on a fundamentally new approach, involving the development of eco-business, which will positively affect the ecological state of the rivers. The drift wood accumulated in the rivers made them unsuitable for recreation. It also affects the process of changing the course of rivers. According to the latest scientists, wood in the water is a source of phenols. As you know, this chemical is the strongest poison for humans, and especially for children. The process of decreasing biological and landscape diversity in the floodplains is growing every year. This problem can be solved by a local environmental program, which should be carried out by local authorities. But in the current situation, there are not enough funds in the local district budgets for this. Today's difficult environmental situation can only be resolved by a program that combines business and ecology. Attempts to solve environmental problems in the conditions of economic instability of society, in the absence of a self-financing mechanism and mutual interests of government and business circles, are doomed to failure.

Specialists of GODO "TRANS-CENTER" conducted marketing research on the subject of demand and the possibility of selling bog oak both in the CIS countries and in foreign countries. An analysis was made of the capabilities of enterprises, to some extent engaged in the extraction of bog oak, to ensure uninterrupted supplies of high-quality bog oak lumber. The real price of its quality material has been determined both at the moment and the estimated price for bog oak in the coming decades. Important factors influencing the demand, supply and price parameters of bog oak have been identified. A thorough analysis of legislative requirements in the field of extraction, processing and sale of bog oak, both in our Republic and in countries near and far abroad, was made.

Stained bog oak

Currently, you can often find offers to supply artificially stained bog oak, which surpasses natural bog oak in its physical and mechanical properties. Sellers guarantee impeccable color parameters of lumber. The price of such oak is slightly more expensive than processed natural oak. It is assumed that such material completely replaces natural bog oak, which is very expensive to extract and process and which requires a serious, qualified attitude. In fact, artificially stained bog oak only remotely resembles natural oak (as artificial honey resembles natural) and has a number of disadvantages. There are times when sellers, passing off wood of an indefinite color as artificial stained oak, cannot accurately, intelligibly answer the question of what color natural bog oak is.

There are major differences between stained oak and natural bog oak.

Bog oak is a fossil material, it is fundamentally different from freshly sawn oak, because for a long time in a humid, airless environment, completely different processes occur in it related to the conversion of internal energy.
Natural bog oak used to grow in ecologically absolutely healthy, pre-industrial conditions, which makes it possible to produce environmentally friendly products from it, which are currently in high demand and attention.
Stocks of natural bog oak are limited and irreplaceable.
The vast majority of known products from bog oak are of cultural and historical value.
Currently, there are dozens of methods for staining oak, birch (including Karelian) and others. Basically, chemicals and elements are used for staining wood, the use of which in the future can have a negative impact on the consumer. The quality of the processing of such wood is also questionable. And definitely - a specialist in external and internal features will always distinguish natural bog oak from artificial stained oak.
At present, mainly 50-100-year-old oak wood is being processed, that is, wood that has been fully exposed to technogenic factors at the cellular level.

A special line should be noted the absolute absurdity of the production and use of natural bog oak veneer, since one of the main advantages of bog oak, as we noted earlier, is its irreplaceability in nature, and for coating lumber made using synthetic resins, as well as plastics, it is quite you can successfully use veneer from any lumber treated with paints and varnishes, including bog oak.

The situation with the extraction, processing and sale of bog oak at the moment

With the advent of new market relations in the countries of the former USSR, attempts were made to extract bog oak everywhere. Everything seemed very simple. There are a lot of logs in all rivers, the labor force is cheap - take a tractor, a truck, take the first log that comes across in the river to the sawmill, or you can bypass the sawmill and immediately send it to the West. And in the early years, there were indeed frequent cases of lifting and storing large volumes of wood on the shore, which by the end of summer lost all its unique properties. There were cases of sending large volumes of the so-called bog oak to the West. In those days, it was necessary to observe the loading for sending abroad logs, which were lifted from the water a few days ago onto railway platforms, which were wet from the water flowing from them. Or sawing logs at the collective farm sawmill, when, despite the fact that water oozes from the boards in a stream, they are stacked in open air. But things did not go further, since the issue of lifting and processing bog oak on an industrial scale turned out to be many orders of magnitude more difficult than expected. Firewood, whose moisture content is from 110%, was lifted from the river and unloaded onto the shore. Under the influence of sunlight, summer heat, the wood completely deteriorated in a few weeks. That wood, which was sent by unprepared transport, also fell into disrepair. Due to the lack of technology for industrial production and, most importantly, the processing of bog oak, the presence of only superficial knowledge of the properties of fuel wood, including bog oak, absolutely all enterprising people engaged in this type of activity suffered significant financial losses, which for a long time discouraged them from desire to run this business. At the same time, Western partners, instead of the promised high-quality material of vaunted bog oak, received substandard, destroyed material, which also discouraged them for a long time from dealing with bog oak. Thus, within 3-5 years, a large-scale anti-advertising work was carried out on the vast territory of the former Soviet Union with the involvement of Western potential investors and a huge number of responsible employees of water transport enterprises and enterprising people.

The result of this company was the complete discrediting of bog oak as a unique, the most expensive in the price range, environmentally friendly, irreplaceable lumber.

Ten years later, the situation has changed radically. In 1996-1997, scientists from MarSTU developed a program and methodology for studying the composition of sunken wood in water bodies of the Mari El Republic based on the standard methodology of TsNIILesoplav, MLTI and BTI. Planned studies of the volumes of sunken timber in the Republic have begun in order to organize industrial production. In September 2002, at a session of the Regional Coordinating Council for Timber Science, held at the Bryansk State Academy of Engineering and Technology, in which about 90 representatives of educational, research, expert and other organizations took part, for the first time since 1947, the terms “fuel wood” were discussed in detail. ” and “bog oak”, agreed versions of their definitions have been developed. Professor E.M. Runova (Bratsk State Technical University) reported on the properties of firewood. New advanced technologies and equipment for wood processing have appeared, and the range of effective search tools has expanded. In the countries of the former USSR, a real market has appeared, which lives and develops according to well-known market laws. More and more free funds are being discovered and fewer unoccupied economic areas. And accordingly, such a resource as bog oak will soon be in demand.

Stocks of bog oak are limited and irreplaceable. The use of valuable bog oak as firewood in the age of scientific and technological progress is an unaffordable, criminal luxury, bordering on an anti-state attitude towards the country's natural resources.

A. A. Dupanov

GODO "TRANS-CENTER",
247001, st. River 8a, Chonki settlement,
Gomel, Republic of Belarus.
t / f (375 232) 96 13 89, 55 90 82, 55 93 77.

Bog oak wood is considered the most expensive in the world. A simple frame for a small photo from this natural material can cost hundreds of rubles. Only the richest people on the planet can afford furniture made from material conserved by nature itself. In our country, there are impressive reserves of this wood, there are technologies for its extraction and processing. That's just the extraction of a valuable resource is often illegal and goes beyond the budget. Why is this happening?

Raising an oak tree from the bottom of a river is not an easy task. The trunk can weigh up to 4-6 tons

Chair for the price of a car

There are dozens of ads on the Internet for the sale of bog oak products. For example, a slab of this wood (a sawn trunk or, simply, an unedged board) is traded at $440 per linear meter. The simplest coffee table is offered for $1,700, and a more powerful TV console for $6,300. A decorative book rack will cost an immodest $3,400. For a square meter of floor board or wall panel, you will have to pay about $ 700. A bar 20x5x5 cm can be bought for 10-15 dollars. There are more radical proposals on our market. For each cubic meter of round timber, they ask for 2-4 thousand euros. And there are buyers.

Bog oak is a unique material, the creation of which nature has spent millennia. In those days, when mammoths walked around the planet, a mighty tree grew on the banks of the river. The water washed away the shore, the oak fell to the bottom. It was covered in silt. For thousands of years, it has been "stained" under exceptional conditions, with little or no access to oxygen. As a result, its structure has changed - it has become much stronger, acquired a noble dark color with silver veins. And the main thing that attracts people is the age of such material. Agree, few people refuse to touch the table, knowing that it is thousands of years old. Where are the antiques!

The fishery was covered with silt

In a unique and, speaking professionally, narrow market, only a few firms work legally in our country. One of them is headed by Alexander Dupanov. Back in the 1990s, by sheer chance, he became interested in this topic. He was visited by foreign friends who casually asked about the opportunity to buy a few cubic meters of bog oak. In the end, nothing came of the idea - too many intermediaries had to be involved. But Alexander realized that this business, with a competent approach, has more than real prospects. Since then, for 20 years, the company has been working on technologies for finding, extracting and processing firewood. And along the way, like every businessman, the director of the enterprise with his team carefully monitors the activities of competitors.

Right now we can drive along the banks of the Sozh, and I will show you about a dozen places where stained wood has recently been developed - there are traces of heavy equipment, oak fragments, sawdust, and so on - Alexander met me at his base in Gomel. - The question is how legally the miners operated. I used to travel for days along the section of the river allocated for exploration and production. And invariably met lovers to profit. They tore the wood with tractors, sawed it off in pieces, loaded it into trucks, carts, horse-drawn carts and tried to take it out.

There is no digestible statistics on the world production of valuable raw materials today. Some figures “emerge” only from Soviet times. At that time, the turnover of stained (fuelwood) wood and, in particular, oak, was regulated by the Department for Precious Metals under the Ministry of Finance. In 1937, the Council of People's Commissars even gave instructions to study the issues of stocks and methods of timber extraction. Such studies were carried out on the Sozh, Dnieper and Iput rivers, from where over 3 years even about 2 thousand “cubes” were lifted - a fantastic volume for this type of material!

Alexander Alexandrovich shows a log, which is 7150 years old. He says that these are still old stocks. Since 2015, the enterprise has not been entitled to engage in its main activity - exploration and production directly. The new edition of the Water Code banned the extraction of valuable wood:

Previously, we issued the entire package of permits and legally engaged in our activities. The new law does not seem to prohibit oak mining, in any case, there is no direct ban and the term “fuel wood” does not appear there, however, the procedure for legalizing such activities has become impossible to go through.

Perhaps this could be an end: it is forbidden to get stained wood out of the water and there is nothing more to talk about. However, for “black” miners, as in other profitable areas, prohibitions are a side effect.

Vendors with a tarnished reputation

On the Internet I find such offers: “I will sell bog oak, about 2 cubic meters”, “Bog oak-round timber, 4 trunks, butt diameter from 55 to 88 cm”, “Selling firewood (bog) oak, almost black on the cut, 2 dry logs. Pickup".

I'm calling under the guise of a buyer. Interested in a number of questions. First, is there any guarantee that it is oak and not aspen? Secondly, will there be evidence that it is bog oak, and not soaked in the nearest puddle? And, thirdly (and most importantly), when and where was the wood mined? After all, it has been impossible to legally conduct this trade for 4 years already.

Dialogues are standard. A seller from the Zhlobin region wants to get as much as 150 dollars for each cubic meter of his production. For reference, a “cube” of high-quality lumber from ordinary pine costs about the same:

Hello, is wood available? Where is it stored? Is that really oak?

In the yard under a canopy. It has been lying since June, it has already dried up. What am I, I can’t tell the oak? Yes, see for yourself.

Where was it obtained?

The boys swam in the Dnieper, groped near the shore. Pulled out of there. The lads will confirm if you don't believe me.

Is it possible to pull out oaks just like that? Or do you have documents?

What documents do I need? Consider that I prepared firewood for myself and at the same time did a good deed - I cleared the beach.

Mozyrian fished out oak trunks from Pripyat in the spring:

The water came down and they appeared. Probably washed out from under the shore. What is the price? You understand that this is not some kind of birch, this is bog oak! It is very expensive. I won't give you less than a thousand dollars for a "cube".

He also has no production documents, as well as other evidence of the purity of the transaction.

Image - in the furnace?

Sellers are trying to gently dictate terms, which means that there is demand. But something else is curious: all their activities, it turns out, are illegal. Moreover, it can be regarded not only as theft, but also pure sabotage.

It is not enough to find and raise a tree from the bottom, - says Alexander Dupanov. - After all, under the influence of oxygen, the processes of its destruction immediately begin. For example, the natural moisture content of an ordinary tree is about 70 percent. Firewood can have 150-200 percent. In the process of improper drying, waterlogged wood tears, it crumbles into chips.

Indeed, the process of “drying” bog oak is very long and painstaking. Lasts, as they say in some sources, almost a year, moreover, under certain conditions. Few home-grown businessmen will wait that long, and therefore the amount of initially high-quality, but hopelessly damaged wood is simply catastrophic, says Alexander, based on his personal experience. As a result, more than 90 percent of raw materials go to waste. He tells cases when the logs were sent by wagons to the customer, but along the way they managed to lose their characteristics and were sent to the furnaces. In 2006, at one reputable woodworking enterprise, round timber was successfully sawn into boards, but then about 100 “cubes” of finished products were burned. And from the next batch of 150 cubic meters, in the end, only 30 were saved. As a result, the cost of the remaining material was simply crazy. But in these cases, experienced people worked, not like the majority of small “predators”. As a result, the country is rapidly losing one of its most valuable natural resources, although it could make it its own brand and improve its image on the international market of precious materials.

Stained wood is a non-renewable resource. What we extract from the water will never be replenished. Its reserves around the world are more than modest. The account goes to hundreds of thousands of "cubes". According to Alexander Dupanov, only in the last 20 years and only our country has lost tens of thousands of “cubes” of oak. Most of it, no matter how blasphemous it may sound, went to firewood. In particular, not a single coastal dweller will pass by a huge oak tree, which is perfectly sawn when raw, and burns perfectly when dried. A lot of raw materials are spoiled by miners and processors. How many? Every week Alexander receives 2-3 calls supposedly from oak buyers. Interested in cost. And they disappear. In the vast majority of cases, these are sellers who monitor the real prices for relic wood. There are dozens, if not hundreds, Alexander estimates. And, therefore, you can imagine the real volume of trade. At the same time, not so many raw materials are physically “thrown out” on the market. Most likely, everything else is lost:

The extraction of bog oak can often be compared with the harvesting of non-ferrous metals: if it lies poorly, then they will definitely “whistle”. I would not be surprised if every second owner of a sawmill in the vicinity of large rivers has fuel wood, - says Alexander Dupanov. - Many customers among the owners of cottages. And what master cabinetmaker refuses to work with a unique material? And if there is demand, there will be supply. Which is exactly what we are seeing. It is enough to turn to the guys from any coastal village, and they will drag the required amount of wood to order.

In the legal vein

As a rule, the “black” market develops under special conditions. On the one hand, it must be admitted that the circulation of bog oak today is not regulated in any way. On the other hand, under the new Water Code, even official producers were forced to curtail their activities. Demand has remained the same.

Earlier, according to BelTA, Andrei Khmel, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, said that the reserves of bog oak in Belarus were not officially calculated: “But this resource exists. This is evidenced by studies of individuals, we own this information. This is a rather expensive material, specific in processing.” The result - at the moment, the department's specialists have prepared a draft document "On some issues of extraction and circulation of amber and firewood." In turn, the head of the main department of natural resources of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Vasily Kolb, confirms that the decision to establish legal order in this area was not spontaneous:

From time to time we were approached by individuals and commercial structures. We understood that sooner or later the issue would be posed point-blank, and therefore we carefully prepared for changes in legislation. In particular, the notorious Water Code, which actually banned the fishing of firewood, can be regarded as a pause. We needed time to collect data on this resource.

There are several leitmotifs of the draft of the new decree. For example, the Ministry of Natural Resources proposes to completely ban the export of round oak abroad - firewood, as a particularly valuable raw material, must be processed domestically, creating goods with high added value. In addition, when fishing, it will be necessary to be guided by project documentation, which has necessarily passed an environmental review, and coordinate actions with local authorities. In the case of extracting firewood without excavation or dredging, the fisherman will also need to acquire a technological map.

The "roll" of the project is obvious - towards the protection of nature. It is understandable - any intervention in the regime of the river, especially such a rough one, inevitably entails negative consequences. In addition, says Vasily Kolb, after the extraction of wood to the surface, in many cases, the troubles of the watercourse and adjacent territories do not end:

Under water, it is impossible to distinguish a bog oak from the same birch or Christmas tree. Appropriate analyzes can only be carried out after the tree is brought ashore. But fishermen need only oak. Q: Where does the rest of the wood go? I can assume: either it is dumped back into the water, or it litters the shores, or (and this is the best, but unlikely option) is given to the locals for firewood.

These barbaric methods should no longer be used. Moreover, stained wood is recognized as a particularly valuable resource on a par with, say, amber. This can be judged at least by the rates of the environmental tax on the extraction of driftwood. For comparison: the withdrawal from the bowels of the earth of each ton of building sand for a business entity according to the Tax Code costs 5 kopecks, rock salt - 75 kopecks, facing stone - 1.65 rubles, brown coal - 1.7 rubles, grape snail - 30 rubles. And bog oak - 69 rubles. At the same time, in the 1990s, the state enterprise "BelGeo" assessed the predicted reserves of stained wood on the territory of the country. It was about 500 thousand cubic meters of resource. It is easy to calculate what the benefit can be.

For now, there is nothing to brag about. According to available data, in the period from 2010 to 2014, only 1.5 thousand cubic meters of firewood oak were actually identified for industrial production. And raised - again, according to some sources - only 123.8 "cubes". If there is movement in this area, then it is deep in the “shadow”, Vasily Kolb sums up:

It does not matter how many organizations and for how long have been working in the field of driftwood fishing. There are facts. Starting to study this issue, we made appropriate requests to the tax authorities. In 2014, one payer paid taxes for the extraction and removal of bog oak. There were two in 2015. There is no information about exports at all.

Precious but not metals

Despite the colossal cost of bog oak, there are more valuable tree species on the planet. And the point is not only in their technical characteristics, but also in distribution.

Grenadil is an African ebony native to Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and is endangered due to poaching. Its matte black wood is very beautiful. Today, according to some reports, the cost of a cubic meter of this material (if, of course, it appears on sale) can easily exceed 100 thousand dollars.

Ebony. There are in Africa, South India and Ceylon. The market value of a cubic meter is up to 100 thousand dollars.

Buckout (iron tree). It grows in Haiti, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Jamaica, Guatemala and Cuba. The cost of a cubic meter in some years reached 80 thousand dollars.

Rosewood, originally from Brazil, has long been in demand among cabinetmakers for its unusual pink or red wood structure. Hence the price - more than 50 thousand dollars per "cube".

Agarwood from South Asia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam or Laos has exceptional aromatic properties. The most exquisite incense is made from wood and resin in India, Japan and the Arab countries. Of course, agar is not sold in cubes, and a kilogram of it costs an average of about 5-7 thousand dollars.

To the point

Maxim Ermokhin, Candidate of Biological Sciences, Leading Researcher at the Institute of Experimental Botany of the National Academy of Sciences:

Bog oak actually has an increased value, but not so much that a hype is created around it. Judge for yourself. From the point of view of physical and chemical properties, it is not much different from ordinary oak wood. Thanks to the tannins contained in the structure, it is simply preserved, the decomposition processes slow down, in fact, the wood only changes color. This material mainly attracts people with its appearance. In the usual nature of our country, a similar color of wood - from dark brown to almost black - does not occur. And the same furniture made from exotic natural materials is always highly valued. Once upon a time, oaks were even artificially stained - they were immersed in water for 20-30 years, so that children and grandchildren could use them in due time.

Is bog oak worth the increased attention we are seeing at the moment? Definitely, but to a greater extent from the point of view of nature conservation. If some private structures will be engaged in the extraction of stained wood, the role of the state in this process is to control the careful use of natural resources.

For example, during excavations of peat bogs in Ireland (1960), oaks were found, the age of which, according to radiocarbon analysis, is from 4000 to 7000 years.

Processing was carried out both at state-owned enterprises and at private ones equipped with advanced equipment.

Stained bog oak

There are major differences between stained oak and natural bog oak.

Bog oak is a fossil material, it is fundamentally different from freshly sawn oak, because for a long time in a humid, airless environment, completely different processes occur in it related to the conversion of internal energy.
Natural bog oak used to grow in ecologically absolutely healthy, pre-industrial conditions, which makes it possible to produce environmentally friendly products from it, which are currently in high demand and attention.
Stocks of natural bog oak are limited and irreplaceable.
The vast majority of known products from bog oak are of cultural and historical value.
Currently, there are dozens of methods for staining oak, birch (including Karelian) and others. Basically, chemicals and elements are used for staining wood, the use of which in the future can have a negative impact on the consumer. The quality of the processing of such wood is also questionable. And definitely - a specialist in external and internal features will always distinguish natural bog oak from artificial stained oak.
At present, mainly 50-100-year-old oak wood is being processed, that is, wood that has been fully exposed to technogenic factors at the cellular level.

The situation with the extraction, processing and sale of bog oak at the moment

The result of this company was the complete discrediting of bog oak as a unique, the most expensive in the price range, environmentally friendly, irreplaceable lumber.

A. A. Dupanov

GODO "TRANS-CENTER",
247001, st. River 8a, Chonki settlement,
Gomel, Republic of Belarus.
t / f (375 232) 96 13 89, 55 90 82, 55 93 77.

In contact with

Real or natural bog oak is a unique material created by nature. Its beauty and properties have nothing to do with human skills. Black, streaked with silver or greyish when cut, it inspires craftsmen to create unique pieces.

, CC BY-SA 3.0

It is oak wood, mineralized with metal salts in natural conditions. For many hundreds of years, due to erosion of the banks and changes in the course of rivers, coastal oak groves were under water. Under the influence of tannin (gallotannic acid), the wood changes its chemical composition there.

Story

The earliest official information about the extraction of bog oak in Russia dates back to the 70s. XIX century. The researcher of that time Stal reported, describing the Sura River, that it had long been “clogged” with oak trunks.

Later, in 1882, information about bog oak was published in an article published in the journal "Russian Forestry" No. 12 by the forester Chernitsky, where the author of the article points to accumulations of bog oak in the former Kostroma province.

Guide to Russian Crafts, CC BY-SA 3.0

Gradually, information about the extraction and transportation of valuable material is increasingly appearing in various printed publications.

But printed evidence does not mean that oak has not been mined before. For a long time, bog oak has been developed in an artisanal way: the trunks were found in the water by prospectors and pulled to the surface almost by hand.

Later, an industrial method for the extraction of this elite material was also developed; it was used by the Moscow-Kazan Railway joint-stock company.

Usage

Speaking of bog oak, one cannot help but start with a story about. The decorative design of the Gorodets donets with carving and inlay from bog oak arose in the second half of the 18th century.

Sergey Sokolov, CC BY-SA 3.0

They were made by peasants from the surrounding villages located in the picturesque valley of the forest river Uzola. Inserts carved from solid black bog oak effectively stood out against the background of the light surface of the bottom.

In Russia, presenting gifts made of ebony on especially solemn occasions has become a tradition. Cabinets, armchairs, bureaus were presented for anniversaries and official appointments.

Guide to Russian Crafts, CC BY-SA 3.0

For the wedding and the day of the angel, the ladies were presented with caskets, caskets and small carved angels made of bog oak. These souvenirs, along with family jewels, were passed down from generation to generation.

The generals bequeathed cabinets made of bog oak to their grandchildren, and the elderly countess could give her great-granddaughter a little angel, which she had inherited from her grandmother, for good luck. Currently, bog oak products are kept either in museums and palaces, or in private collections.

Photo gallery

Useful information

"Bog oak"
(from the French "marais" - swamp)

Peculiarities

Characteristic features of bog oak wood are increased hardness, heavy weight, high strength and resistance to decay.

Bog oak lends itself well to mechanical processing.

After 300 years of staining, wood acquires a delicate pale shade, and after 1000 years - black.

blacksmiths

In historical descriptions, one can find the name of bog oak as "ebony" and "iron tree". Such names are due to the properties of wood, but we are talking about oak aged under water.

It is characteristic that in Russia there was no concept of "cabinet worker" - craftsmen working with elite wood were called "cabinet makers".

And today, following the age-old traditions of the craftsmen, they respect the natural originality of each piece of material they work with, revealing and presenting its best qualities.

The main differences from artificial

Nowadays, there are technologies for artificially creating the effect of bog oak. But there are always ways to distinguish a fake.

Bog oak is a fossil material, it is fundamentally different from freshly sawn oak, because for a long time in a humid, airless environment, completely different processes occur in it related to the conversion of internal energy.
Natural bog oak used to grow in ecologically absolutely healthy, pre-industrial conditions, which makes it possible to produce environmentally friendly products from it, which are currently in high demand and attention.
Stocks of natural bog oak are limited and irreplaceable.
The vast majority of known products from bog oak are of cultural and historical value.
At present, mainly 50-100-year-old oak wood is being processed, that is, wood that has been fully exposed to technogenic factors at the cellular level.

There are two ways to obtain bog oak wood - in natural conditions and artificially. In the first case, nature itself acts as the creator. By eroding the banks of rivers, by melting the roots of oaks, this “master” ensures that the trees are completely submerged in water. Further, tannins contained in oak wood come into play. They prevent the wood from rotting. Metal salts dissolved in water, entering into combination with tannins and resinous substances, change the properties of wood.

So oak, which has lain in water for hundreds of years, covered with a layer of silt, not only does not lose its characteristics, but also becomes a precious material. After being pulled out of the water, a person takes the bog oak. Its main task is to properly dry the tree. This will require several years and special technology. After bog oak can be processed, making elite wooden products from it.

There is a meager amount of bog oaks left in the world. Each new copy is worth its weight in gold. The complexity of the extraction, processing and processing of wood affect the cost of the final products. So natural bog oak wood is an elite material, rare and expensive.

Cheaper analogues are obtained by artificial staining, using mordants and dyes. Oak wood is placed in a bath with a solution of the desired inorganic salts and compounds, and the material is deeply processed. To increase the density and increased resistance to external influences, craftsmen resort to heat treatment, steaming. Also, to protect the wood, impregnation with natural oils is used. Bog oak of artificial origin is close to natural in color and characteristics. This allows the use of analogues in the manufacture of furniture, stairs and finishing materials. However, artificial wood is not so valuable and cannot be the pride of a true connoisseur.

Unique characteristics of bog oak

Bog oak wood is distinguished by its unique color range and richness of patterns. Its main difference is a dark noble shade. Depending on the age of the tree, the chemical composition of the water, the level of precipitation and other factors, black with silver veins, charcoal with a purple tint, ashen, silver tone may appear.

In terms of strength, bog oak wood is compared with iron. Products made from this wood are durable and wear-resistant. The undoubted advantage of wood is naturalness. Created without dyes and other chemicals, this material is 100% environmentally friendly. In addition, the tree from which it is obtained grew in a more favorable ecological environment, long before the appearance of exhaust gases, radioactive waste, pesticides and other pollutants.

Cultural potential is another characteristic for which antique dealers and fans of things with history appreciate bog oak. Any product made of bog oak carries a part of the unique energy of the tree that grew centuries before our era and lived an amazing life under water.

Valuable gift from bog oak

Any object made of bog oak has a high artistic and aesthetic value. Furniture, figurines, paintings and other decorative items become collectibles and luxury items. By placing a table or chair made of bog oak in the office, it will be possible to emphasize the high status of the owner.

Bog oak products are a winning gift for both a business partner and a loved one. They can become family heirlooms, serve as a reminder of eternal values and beauty.