The rarest wood in the world, which is a kind of precious material, is bog oak. cubic meter This wood costs an average of $2,000. The bog oak has two lives, one of which it lives on land, and the second under water.

This second life began many centuries ago, when, subject to intergalactic laws, rivers changed their course. Time eroded the shores, and trees from coastal oak forests ended up under water, where they remained until an inquisitive person discovered them.

Only in the post-Soviet space are such huge reserves of bog oak preserved. For example, in European countries for 100 years the discovery of a single specimen of bog oak has been an event. And such finds are reported in the media.

For 100 years, many enterprising people in all corners of Russia have been harvesting bog oak. Basically, bog oak as part of other firewood was used as fuel.

One day, having pulled the trunk to the surface and tried to process it, he was amazed at the beauty and strength of the resulting wood. Admiring, the man asked himself the question: what unknown force turned the familiar oak into a mysterious one, covered on the surface with torn pieces of coal, and inside hiding a strong, smoky, living, unique texture of the material? And he began to look for answers to his questions, working with bog oak and giving it a third life...

In Rus', furniture sets and souvenirs were created from bog oak, which now occupy pride of place in museums fine arts and antique showrooms all over the world.

Not a single foreign one furniture company cannot offer for public viewing products adequately made from natural bog oak. This is the prerogative of only Russian masters. Since from the beginning of the millennium to the present day, relict oak forests throughout the world have been completely destroyed, reserves of bog oak remain only in Russia.

Long-term natural processes contribute to the transformation of wood species. This concept can mean not only negative influencing qualities, but also positive ones. As a result of being under water for tens, hundreds of years, or even millennia, oak trunks acquire invaluable qualities, becoming extremely hard and receiving a unique color of a singed or even blackish tint.

Underwater, the integrity of oak is preserved due to a unique characteristic - the presence of a special tannin.

Bog oak- this is a component of a refined and expensive interior.

Features of the reaction

Changes in the physical and mechanical characteristics of wood associated with the passage of complex chemical reactions: leaching of water-soluble substances contained in the cell walls. The process has been proven by the results of numerous studies conducted by N. T. Kuznetsov back in the 30s of the last century.

As a result, it was possible to establish that stained wood contains 75% less water-soluble substances than natural wood. This indicates an increase in cell porosity and a decrease in their density, which results in an increase in the moisture content of the saturation limit, balancing shrinkage, and maximum humidity. It is this factor that explains the absolute shrinkage of boards or workpieces during the drying of the sawing material.

The analysis data contributed to the development of thought and the formation new technology drying of wood and pieces made from it with a thickness of up to 22-32 mm in a convective or convective-microwave drying unit.

The use of advanced technologies has resolved the issue of temperature treatment of wood. There is virtually no internal or external cracking. Collapse in such cases is unacceptable.

The interesting concepts put forward by researchers and scientists do not end there. The study of properties is at the stage of processing geoanalysis data and continues its evolution in the world.

Features of oak extraction and processing

The process is complex and labor-intensive, and not every specialist can handle wood processing. Despite this, the products deserve the highest praise due to their qualities.

Important! If you plan to process or decorate the surface with stained wood, then try to prepare the material in advance. It takes more than one year to process wood.

To obtain such valuable material, water areas of significant volumes are examined, especially the bottom of reservoirs. Moreover, the work is carried out in very difficult conditions.

How is a tree brought to the surface?

Having discovered the trunk, the bog oak is lifted ashore. In this case, it is impossible to do without the use of technology, since one tree weighs around 10-20 tons. Before starting to saw the material, the wood pulled from the water is assessed at the first stage for quality. Sometimes a tree that has been taken out of the water and prepared for processing is completely unsuitable for further work. As soon as the material is cut, they immediately begin making parquet, furniture, doors or window frames. Raw stained wood, kept under water for many years, quickly becomes unusable on the surface. Therefore it must be processed immediately. As you have most likely noticed, extracting bog oak is a labor-intensive process.

Scope of application of the material

Even if you have never heard of such a material, you can imagine that this type of wood is used in not one, but at least five applications.

Due to the fact that bog oak is a rather rare and even more valuable material, it requires fine manual processing.

Most often, furniture and souvenirs are made from wood, which are doomed to turn into antique objects. It is worth noting that the flooring or other types of coatings used in interior design differ for a long time operation.

Is it possible to produce bog oak under artificial conditions?

Thanks to the development of innovation and the movement of technological progress, changing the natural characteristics, properties and performance of natural wood seems possible. Today, scientists are able to successfully imitate the stained wood color, maintaining aesthetic and durable characteristics, and achieving maximum moisture resistance.

Another option is staining oak at home. This option is simple and affordable and is ideal for those who want to get an unusual oak material with silver veins inside.

For this, stain is useful - a special mixture that imitates the color of natural moraine wood.

Apply the product in two stages: the first time on the surface of the wood at a slight slope, making strokes across the grain, the second - along. While working, use a flat, wide brush - a flute, intended for applying stain and simulating imperceptible natural transitions of tones. This best tool, characterized by softness and at the same time elasticity of the pile. Stains are often used to imitate the “stained oak” shade of laminate flooring.

What is included in wood stain?

Impregnation is made on the basis of three components:

1. Water. Compositions on water based are better absorbed and more quickly absorbed by the wood. During the processing process, the wood needs to be dried, which takes more time. The result is a uniform shade that can be easily adjusted with a sponge. After waiting for the material to dry completely, it is covered with paint and varnish.
2. Ethyl alcohol. It lends itself to instant evaporation, therefore it requires high-quality and quick application and caution in actions. Work with such impregnation only with special gloves and a mask. Otherwise, it will not be possible to achieve uniform tinting of the material. Therefore, craftsmen prefer to work not manually, but using special equipment - a spray gun.
3. Alkidov. In addition to obtaining wood in the desired shade, alkyd stain allows you to increase the resistance of the material to external negative factors acting on the material. Therefore, coating the product with varnish can be skipped, except for shine.

Remember that home-dyed raw materials can be easily distinguished from natural bog oak. Because artificial material often used in baths, saunas, swimming pools, and other rooms with high humidity.

Why is stained wood popular?

Back in the days when man had just begun to explore the Earth, the tree took a reliable allied position, as the first available material. No matter how the conditions and the development of scientific and technological progress develop, natural wood has always been in demand, and this trend will remain leading for many centuries to come. Eco-friendly wood is not only safe, but also gives the room a special charm and comfort.

Considering that ordinary wood is recent years has become not so interesting compared to other progressive materials - it’s time to collect laurels for the bog forest. In terms of strength characteristics, the material resembles stone due to the properties obtained during the period of being under water.

The color of bog oak is not the main advantage that makes the material preferable in choice. Rested wood is not afraid of cold, moisture, or pests that destroy hectares of forest. Stained material does not require specific care or additional processing. At the same time, it remains the standard of naturalness, environmental friendliness, and purity.

How does it happen that the result is stained wood?

The whole secret is in tannins, which, as a result of the formation of compounds with iron salts, are transformed into super-strong and durable ones. Stained oak boards can be called a reborn material with unique characteristics.

Interesting! Timber has been floated naturally down major rivers all over the world. The banks of the rivers were strengthened and when the trunks fell into the water, they remained there for natural treatment by the elements of nature. About 90% have already been processed, but some of the trees were washed away with silt and remained under water to this day, acquiring even greater value.

The use of stained wood in construction

Guess why such a house will not be afraid of snow, rain, windy or frosty weather. All thanks to the “school of survival” that the wood underwent at the bottom of the bay, polynya, lake, pond or other body of water where it was located.

The main advantage of building from stained wood is environmental friendliness. Even more natural material It’s hard to imagine for designing a residential building. Bog oak siding looks interesting.

What makes it a unique material, ideal for construction, is the lack of shrinkage during the drying process. Newly rebuilt housing is completely ready for use without risks to human life and health.

Stained wood in the interior

To create unique style often used:

• larch;
• birch;

The only requirements for the material used in interior decoration, - environmental friendliness and aesthetics, and products made from bog oak completely fulfill these needs. Often in mansions you can find parquet made of bog oak, which looks unsurpassed.

No fungi or insects are scary wooden buildings this type. Therefore, this coating does not require additional processing. protective equipment, and this is another plus for the environmental friendliness of the house.

The price of wood starts from 12,500 rubles per 1 m 3. It doesn’t matter how much bog oak costs, the main thing is that the material is of high quality.

Production of furniture from stained wood

The following are best suited for such purposes:

• larch;
• birch.

When describing furniture made of bog oak, a simple name is appropriate - “exclusive material”. The tone and texture of natural wood is unique. The depth of color varies: from light gray to black-blue tones, from pale pink to amber shades.

Interesting! Craftsmen compare the pattern of bog oak slices with a map of the starry sky - the same unimaginably beautiful picture.

Unmistakably, such furniture is an unobtrusive, but pronounced sign of the taste and specific level of well-being of the owner of the house.

Manufacturing of products from stained wood

Products made from natural wood that have undergone centuries-old natural processing are widely available on the market. From bog wood they produce:

• stairs of any shape;
• windows “stained oak” (shade);
• window sills;
• furniture panels;
• floor covering;
• wall panels;
• tinted doors “stained oak”;
• siding and other materials for exterior construction work and home improvement.

Bog wood - interesting solution to create a room in a Scandinavian style.

It's nice to look at the interior when there is something unusual in it. Stained wood is the element that fully meets the needs of the designer, creating more and more new things to improve human comfort.

Once again I came across the expression “bog oak” in the book and I realized that from the context I understand that this is something expensive, a sign of wealth, but I have absolutely no idea who killed this oak :)
So, let me begin my story.
An oak forest grew on the banks of one of the many rivers. Over time, the river washed away the bank with its current and the trees fell into the water. In the absence of oxygen, the wood was not subject to rotting, but under the influence of iron salts and other elements of the periodic table contained in dissolved form in river water, the color of bog oak acquired different shades, from light gray to coal-black with a purple tint, depending on the time spent in the river and the composition of the water in it. The age of some samples of bog oak, according to radiocarbon analysis, ranges from 400 to 8000 years or more!

In the Middle Ages in Rus' and in a number of European states bog oak was highly valued and was very popular among the noble class. Various interior elements, furniture and even royal thrones were made from it.

Currently, there are no longer any industrial deposits of bog oak left in Europe. And in Russia, the reserves of bog oak are not unlimited, every year due to the growing popularity of this unique material, bog oak production is actively growing. Bog oak is used not only in “handicraft” workshops of wood carvers, for the manufacture of various souvenirs, but also in large industrial production of parquet and furniture.

For comparison.
Common oak wood

Bog oak

Extraction and processing of natural bog oak

If the harvesting of ordinary wood, be it pine, birch or backwood, rosewood, is a common operating process, polished by people over thousands of years, supported by proven technologies and a variety of mechanisms and equipment, then the purposeful harvesting of natural bog oak, both in ancient times and now, was and is being done very rarely and mostly exclusively when performing important tasks. Harvesting natural bog oak is a complex, labor-intensive process and qualifies as mining natural resource. After all, in order to cut down a tree, you can simply approach it at any time, determine its condition, quality, and cut it down. Moreover, this can be done by one person without excessive effort. And in order to obtain bog oak, it must first be found at the bottom of a body of water, for which it is necessary to examine significant underwater areas, sometimes in difficult conditions.
Having found bog oak, it needs to be prepared for lifting. Then, using serious equipment or mechanisms, you need to lift multi-ton mining to the surface, and the weight of bog oak can reach 10 and 20 tons.
Having raised it to the surface, it needs to be moved to the place of bucking and only after that can one begin to evaluate it as a material and the subsequent mandatory processing. After all, it often happens that a bog oak, which looked quite impressive under water and which required significant effort and expense to lift, was completely disappointing on the shore.
The bog oak raised to the surface must be urgently put into circulation, since it is practically unpreserved after many years of being in an airless environment and can become unusable in a short period of time.
The approach to the extracted bog oak to the place of ascent to land also very often represents a serious amount of work. Since when loading and transporting ordinary wood, due to its significant volumes, work on constructing reliable access roads is economically justified, then when approaching, for example, a timber truck to the place where bog oak is loaded, it sometimes becomes an almost insoluble problem. To the place where each bog oak is lifted onto land, it is impossible to make a passage with a bulldozer and do not pollute the swampy places. Not to mention the fact that environmental workers are counting the damage done down to the centimeter and piece by piece. environment in the coastal zone. And then the transportation of the extracted bog oak has to be carried out by individual solution according to the parameters of the wood. Moreover, the logs of bog oak themselves are saturated with water to the limit and are almost twice as heavy as the same logs of ordinary oak, which, of course, complicates the work. But obtaining high-quality bog oak is still a long way off. The most difficult issue lies ahead - storage and high-quality drying of bog oak. The storage and drying of ordinary wood has been thoroughly studied, scientific works and treatises on drying common wood form enormous technical libraries throughout the world. National and international norms and standards for ordinary wood have been introduced. But studying the issues of storing and drying natural bog oak to obtain the maximum yield of quality products is at an early stage. This situation significantly affects the cost, supply and demand of high-quality bog oak. You can listen to many opinions on this matter, but the fact remains that today there is no stable demand for natural bog oak. And this is due to the fact that, due to the very high cost of high-quality bog oak, there is no stable supply of high-quality bog oak wood on the market. Many of those who decided to try themselves in the extraction and processing of bog oak as a result of the lack of demand for what they had already received, mostly not the most best quality material, close the topic and sell to buyers for pennies what can be taken from it, and the rest of the material is thrown into the furnace. Unfortunately, this is the reality. Over the past 20 years, thousands of enterprising people in the post-Soviet space have tried to set up a business in the extraction and processing of bog oak. It seems like there might be difficulties. He drove the tractor to the river, pulled out the oak tree, took it to the collective farm, and lately to a private sawmill, sawed it, sold it. But this simplicity is very deceptive. There is a known case when, in the 90s, about 700 m3 of natural bog oak was lifted and stored ashore during the navigation season. Several wagons were sent to the buyer, some were thrown back into the river in late autumn, and a significant part was used for firewood. And, unfortunately, there were many similar cases. Cars with wet bog oak were sent abroad, which also lost all its consumer properties at the final destination. Thousands of cubic meters of bog oak went into ovens or are still sunk in oxbow lakes and lakes, after a summer of storage under the scorching sun. Get quality material It will be very difficult to lift and process again.

Fumed oak

Currently, you can often find offers for the supply of artificially stained bog oak (Fumed oak) due to its physical and mechanical properties that are superior to natural bog oak (Bog Oak). Sellers guarantee impeccable color parameters of lumber and veneer. The price of such fumed oak (Fumed oak) is comparable to the price of modified wood MHMD, TMD, PMD. It is assumed that such material completely replaces natural bog oak (Bog Oak), which is very expensive to extract and process. In fact, artificially stained fumed oak only vaguely resembles natural fumed oak, and this despite the fact that artificial staining technologies involve the use of drugs that are sometimes very harmful to humans. The European Union introduced a ban on the use of chemically treated wood. Similar restrictions apply in the USA.

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 river banks and drowning the roots of oak trees, this “master” ensures that the trees are completely immersed in water. Next, the tannins contained in oak wood come into play. They prevent the wood from rotting. Metal salts dissolved in water, combining with tannins and resinous substances, change the properties of wood.

Thus, an oak tree that has been 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 removed from the water, a person takes hold of the bog oak. His main task– dry the wood properly. This will take several years and special technology. After stained oak can be processed, making elite wooden products from it.

There are only a tiny number of bog oaks left in the world. Each new copy is worth its weight in gold. The complexity of extraction, processing and processing of wood affects 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 necessary inorganic salts and connections, carry out deep processing of the material. To increase density and improve resistance to external influences masters resort to heat treatment and steaming. Impregnation with natural oils is also used to protect wood. Bog oak of artificial origin is close to natural in color and characteristics. This allows the use of analogues in the production of furniture, stairs and finishing materials. However artificial wood is not so valuable and cannot become a source of pride for a true connoisseur.

Unique characteristics of bog oak

Bog oak wood has a unique color scheme and a wealth of patterns. Its main difference is its dark, noble shade. Depending on the age of the tree, chemical composition water, precipitation levels and other factors, black with silver streaks, coal with a purple tint, ashy, silver tone may appear.

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

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

Valuable gift made of bog oak

Any item made from bog oak has high artistic and aesthetic value. Furniture, figurines, paintings and others decorative elements become collectible and luxury items. By placing a table or chair made of bog oak in the office, you will be able to emphasize the high status of the owner.

Products made from bog oak are a winning gift for both a business partner and loved one. They can become family heirlooms, serving as a reminder of eternal values ​​and beauty.

Stained wood, stained oak is a unique wood, rare and incredibly expensive. Elite furniture, parquet and even jewelry, unusually strong, unique and durable. It is valued all over the world and its fashion is everlasting, like the fashion for gold and diamonds.

But rarely does anyone think about its origin. More precisely, the official information is:

For many hundreds of years, oak tree trunks that sank during floods or rafting lie at the bottom of rivers and oxbow lakes. They are partially or completely covered with sand and silt, which means that the wood is largely isolated from oxygen. In such conditions, the tree becomes as strong as stone. It undergoes a change in chemical composition, and at the same time it is treated with a natural preservative such as tannins. Next. Tannins, of which there are plenty in oak wood, enter into chemical reaction with iron salts dissolved in water. After such a difficult and long process the sunken tree is qualitatively transformed. Its wood acquires unique physical properties: It becomes not only durable and strong, but also amazing in color.

But are floods in the past capable of “planing” so many trees in almost all rivers of the European part of Russia and Ukraine?

My friend on LiveJournal tar_s shared his photos:

Oaks under clay. Central Russia. The wood is stained and was torn out of the river in large quantities for construction purposes.
I filmed it on my phone. And to take a good photo, you need to take it from the river, from a boat. It can be seen that the oak is as straight as a string and a meter in girth. Above the place where it goes into the cliff, there is about four meters of soil - clay and sand. The chernozem layer on top is approximately 15 cm.
Usually they have roots something like this:

So I look at them - no more than 300 years maximum. Or rather, less. It is actually very difficult to pull them out. Locals told how a truck buried itself when they were pulling a log from the water, one end of which was in the bottom.
Apparently, the river changed its course (and there were several oxbow lakes around), and simply washed away the place where there used to be an oak grove. I was especially struck by the thickness and evenness of the oak trunk. This is necessary large number years for him to grow up like this; in the area all the oaks are at most 20 cm in girth. And there are no straight lines, everything is knotty and curved. This suggests that conditions for trees were more suitable. For comparison, in that photo the phone case is 12 cm long.
there really was a ship's timber. I don’t see any natural dams; trunks stick out evenly along the river, here and there. Rather, as I said, the river washed away the previously buried trees.

The usual version - A river in a forest washes away trees, they fall and are carried away by the stream. Then in the whirlpool they are covered with sand and clay and... we wait a couple of hundred years. But judging by the amount of it in the rivers, the rivers have washed away all the forests, completely. Leaving nothing for posterity. The depth and condition indicate that it is several hundred years old; if it is more than 500, then the tree will have already petrified. I read that in the 19th century there was so much stained wood that it was mined to heat stoves. And this despite the fact that to pull it out, it would be easier to cut down several trees in the forest. But since they didn’t cut it down, that means there were no trees. All the photos of the 19th century in Russia show that there was practically no forest. The current forests are about the same thing - the trees are no more than 200 years old. By the way, in the 20th century there was a whole industry of building houses from stained wood - OAK, LARCH, BIRCH AND PINE! How many forests have the rivers washed away? And it was like this - the forests washed away by the wave were washed into the rivers and carried down the stream. There were a lot of trees, they formed natural dams, due to which the river level locally rose, sand and clay from the stream filled them up and “cemented them.” This is confirmed by rocks that are homogeneous in thickness and content in the layer of buried trees. Tell me, is there anything visible on this issue in your case.

Such a trunk can only grow in a forest; its thickness is over 300 years, add 200 (let’s say), for a total of at least 500 years from birth. There are also oak trees over 500 years old. In the European part of Russia, oaks over 500 years old are practically never found. Maximum single copies. Conclusion - 200-300 years ago, some kind of cataclysm washed a huge number of trees into the water. The question is what could have done this, then washing the uprooted trees into the rivers. I think those trees that were not under clay, water and sand without oxygen, the bacteria processed in a maximum of ten or two years, completely into dust, so there are no traces upper layers on land from trunks and no. Only in clay layers.

I supplement with photographs that I found on the Internet:

If you follow this link, you will see that the following souvenirs are made from this wood:

Extraction of bog wood in Ukraine

Why aren't these growing now? We haven't had time to grow yet. Oak trees take hundreds of years to grow into such giants.

Please note that the trunk is broken off at the root. Those. This fact cannot be explained by washing away the tree with flood water. This tree was broken off by a catastrophic flow.