Bog oak is the most precious tree (7 photos). Bog oak is a unique natural material! Where to get bog oak

Bog oak- beautiful building material. Its unusual color is very popular. Therefore, it is widely applicable, especially for the production of finishing building materials and furniture fittings. It is also used to make various design and household items. For example, from a block of bog oak you can make a knife handle, a box, a photo frame and much more.

IN home conditions excellent stained oak can be obtained, for example, from a block of ordinary oak.

To do this, we need a simple glass jar: liter or three liter - it all depends on the size of the piece of wood. You will also need simple shoe nails. And also a polyethylene lid for a jar, a hammer, a pharmaceutical solution of ammonia 10%, thin fishing line, stationery tape. And, of course, our oak material.

This procedure is best carried out in a well-ventilated area or outdoors.

To begin with, you need to hammer a nail in any place on the block that is not important for aesthetic use in the future. A short length of fishing line should be tied to it.

Pour the ammonia solution into the jar as quickly as possible. Then you should lower the oak block into the jar, but so that it does not touch the ammonia solution itself. The ends of the fishing line, which is tied to the nail, must be brought out beyond the edges of the can opening. Then, very quickly put the plastic lid on the jar. In this case, the lid will press the fishing line, and the block of wood will hang in the jar without touching the ammonia solution, as required by the technology.

Using stationery tape, glue the fishing line from the outside to the surface of the jar. Also, tape the lid and jar where they meet to prevent even the slightest ammonia evaporation.

In this position, the jar with the oak block should be left for one or three days. It all depends on how light or dark the color of the wood we want to get.

When opening the can, you should be extremely careful and try not to inhale ammonia fumes, as this can be hazardous to health.

If you keep a block of oak in a jar for more than three days, you will get a fairly dark color about bog oak. Because ammonia vapors reacted with tannins for quite a long time. And the longer this happens, the more saturated the color. In this case, the depth of wood impregnation will be up to 1 cm or more.

If it is possible to use fairly large glass containers at home, then in this way you can get a fairly decent amount of bog oak. Subsequently, bog oak can be used for construction purposes in summer cottage. It will look especially beautiful after opening it with furniture varnish.

Kappa Beta Phi

The Phantom in Berkeley Square

Deep ocean fish

The mystery of the dolphins. Galileo program

The largest museum in the world

The National Arts Center was recently opened in Tokyo. This art museum is the largest museum in the world in terms of exhibition size...

Fountains of Peterhof

Petrodvorets is a palace and park ensemble world famous for its fountains. The idea of ​​​​creating a country royal residence, which would not be inferior to Versailles in France, arose from...

Underwater SPA in the Maldives

The Maldives is a paradise on Earth, captivating with its elegance, bright summer mood, gentle sea surf and quality service. Huvafen Fushi - ...

How users get to the site

Nowadays it is very popular to create your own website and earn some profit from it. Someone makes a website to earn extra money, but...

How to become a successful businessman

Many people would dream of having their own business. But often projects remain unrealized, and people continue to go to their unloved low-paid jobs, wanting...

Monsters of the world

Nessie is not alone in this world. Reports of lake monsters have come from the shores of more than three hundred lakes around the world -...

Smart home of the future

There are a growing number of low-cost home communications control devices that can be controlled using an iPhone app. For example, the Nest thermostat. designed...

Bog oak refers to the most valuable varieties wood. It is used for making artistic and decorative items. But the extraction and processing of bog oak is a long and expensive process. Therefore, the price of the material is high. Drying stained wood using traditional methods is problematic due to the nature of its structure. We will tell you in more detail how to dry bog oak in compliance with all technologies.

Bog oak is mined on the banks of rivers. Wood can lie in water for more than a hundred years, and then it is taken out and processed. Products made from stained material have a pleasant dark color and are durable. In terms of density, moraine material is compared to iron, so even sawing it is difficult. The humidity of the freshly mined product can reach 117%. Compared to natural humidity of 50–65%, this figure is impressive.

The material is extracted in three ways:

1. For bottom-depth work, it is the most costly and painstaking.
2. When developing peatlands, it is less labor-intensive.
3. Manufacturing in specialized workshops is the simplest, but multi-stage method.

The weight of wet oak wood is 1500 kg/1 cubic meter. Therefore, immediately after extraction from the water, the material is cleared of silt and sand and cut into small pieces. Otherwise, transportation becomes more difficult.

The tree is afraid of sharp contacts with hot air and direct sun rays, therefore drying is carried out in a gentle mode. A proven old-fashioned way of drying bog oak is to place small blocks of wood in the grain in the fall and leave until spring. Natural drying is also allowed, but it must be carried out in a room with good ventilation and constant humidity and temperature. Dry the material in short terms It became possible only in the last 10 years, with the advent of new technical means.

The following methods are used to dry bog oak in a short time:

1. Vacuum chamber.
2. Pulse.
3. Adsorption.
4. Infrared.

But when dried in chambers, moraine material discolors and becomes less dark. Therefore, many criticize unnatural drying methods. But as it dries naturally, the areas exposed to the sun also become lighter. Chamber drying of bog oak saves time, and if it is carried out in compliance with the technology, then cracks will not appear and the product will not be subject to internal stress.

When chamber drying to different humidity levels, minor changes are allowed geometric shapes. But if you pre-treat the product chemical composition, then the changes decrease. Details are shown in the table below:

As chemical treatment a penetrating antiseptic solution is used. The product is soaked in it for 2–3 hours. Drying is also affected by the temperature in the chamber and air humidity. Maximum permissible temperature 50 degrees - maximum drying. Smaller changes are acceptable when temperature conditions 25 degrees.

Main processing steps

How to dry oak in various ways Let's tell you in more detail. The technology is followed step by step and skipping one of the stages is unacceptable. Otherwise, the wood will crack and become brittle.

Vacuum effect

Vacuum drying oak is carried out in special chambers, where under the influence of low atmospheric pressure Excess moisture is drawn out of the wood. It takes place in several stages:

1. Bog oak is soaked in an antiseptic solution for 2–3 hours. Sanezh will do.
2. The product is placed in drying chamber, where it is kept at a temperature of 25 degrees and a humidity of 50% for 5 to 10 days. Temperature and humidity must be constant.
3. The oak is placed in a sealed chamber, where, under the influence of a vacuum, it is treated a second time with an antiseptic solution.
4. Dries at a temperature of 35 degrees and humidity not higher than 25% for 10 days.

The method has advantages:

• Oak wood dries to a predetermined temperature.
• Only 2-7% color change.
• Fully ready within 4-5 weeks.

The disadvantages include high energy costs and the complexity of the process. If you do not monitor humidity or temperature, the wood will crack and become unusable.

Pulse method

The pulse method of drying bog oak is rarely used in Russia due to high costs. But it is considered effective and the material dries evenly.

Performed in the following steps:

1. TO wooden blank Conductors are connected on both sides.
2. The second ends of the conductors are connected to a special electrical appliance that will supply current.
3. Under the influence of electrical impulses, the workpiece gradually dries to the required humidity.

If you have the skills and knowledge, then you can assemble such a device with your own hands and use it for work.

Adsorption method

The adsorption method resembles the old one and is available to everyone at home. To dry, a small piece of oak is placed in a material that absorbs moisture as much as possible. Craftsmen use special mineral granules. But newsprint will do.

Drying is performed in the following steps:

1. Small pieces are soaked in a container with an antiseptic solution for 3–4 hours. But you should not use solutions with bleaching effects, otherwise the black color of the valuable breed will disappear.
2. The workpiece is wrapped in several layers of paper and placed in a well-ventilated and dry place.
3. Every day the product is unrolled and folded into new sheets of newspaper.

Drying is carried out for 1–2 months. The wood will not crack and will retain its noble shade.

Infrared plates

Infrared light heats the wood evenly and drys it gently. The workpiece does not heat up and no internal deformation is observed. The method is available in enterprises and at home. It is enough to purchase several infrared heating elements and place them on a frame made of timber or metal.

Drying is carried out in the following stages:

1. The workpiece is soaked in an antiseptic solution for 3–4 hours.
2. Place on a flat surface under infrared heaters.
3. Once an hour, the workpieces should be turned over so that the heat is distributed evenly.

Humidity is checked using a manual moisture meter. When the product dries, it is allowed to rest for 3–4 days in a dark and cool place with a humidity of 15–25%. Then use it for its intended purpose.

The advantages of drying under infrared plates include:

• The wood does not deform or crack.
• Does not lose its black color.
• Drying occurs evenly over the entire depth and length.
• Electricity costs are minimal.

The method has no disadvantages, but due to its novelty it is little trusted. The video below details one of the available ways drying hardwoods:

How to properly dry bog oak is the secret of woodcarving masters. It was passed from father to son and carefully preserved. But with the advent of new technologies, it is not difficult to dry stained wood at home. The main thing is to follow technology and adhere to our instructions.

IN once again in the book I came across the expression “bog oak” 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, the extraction of bog oak is actively growing. Bog oak is used not only in “handicraft” wood carving workshops for making various souvenirs, but also in large industrial production for the 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 purposefully harvesting natural bog oak as in ancient times This is how they were and are still doing it very rarely and mostly exclusively when performing important tasks. Harvesting natural bog oak is a complex, labor-intensive process and qualifies as the extraction of a 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 get bog oak, you must first find it at the bottom water body, for which it is necessary to survey large 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 this can one begin to evaluate it as a material and to 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 rises to 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 down to the centimeter and piece by piece the damage caused to the environment in the coastal zone. And then the transportation of the extracted bog oak has to be carried out according to an individual decision in accordance with 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.

Real or natural bog oak is a unique material created by nature. Its beauty and properties have nothing to do with human skills. When cut black, with silver veins or grayish, it inspires craftsmen to create unique things.

It is oak wood mineralized with metal salts under natural conditions. For many hundreds of years, due to erosion of banks and changes in river beds, coastal oak groves found themselves under water. Under the influence of tannin (hallotannic 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 magazine “Russian Forestry” No. 12 by forester Chernitsky, where the author of the article points to accumulations of bog oak in the former Kostroma province.

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 mining was not carried out earlier. WITH for a long time bog oak was developed in a makeshift way: the trunks were found in the water by prospectors and pulled to the surface almost by hand.

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

Usage

Speaking about bog oak, one cannot help but start with a story about. Decorative design Gorodets Donets carved and inlaid with bog oak appeared in the second half of the 18th century.

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

In Russia, giving ebony gifts on special occasions has become a tradition. Cabinets, armchairs, and bureaus were given as gifts for anniversaries and official appointments.

For weddings and angel's day, ladies were presented with boxes, caskets and small carved angels made of bog oak. These souvenirs, along with family jewelry, were passed down from generation to generation.

The generals bequeathed cabinets made of bog oak to their grandchildren, and the elderly countess could give them to her great-granddaughter little angel, which at one time she got from her grandmother, for luck. Currently, products made from bog oak are stored either in museums and palaces, or in private collections.

Photo gallery

Useful information

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

Peculiarities

The characteristic features of bog oak wood are increased hardness, heavy weight, high strength and resistance to rotting.

Bog oak lends itself well to mechanical processing.

After 300 years of staining, the wood acquires a delicate fawn tint, and after 1000 years it becomes black.

Cabinetmakers

In historical descriptions you can find the names of bog oak as “ebony” and “ironwood”. Such names are due to the properties of the wood, but we are talking specifically about oak seasoned under water.

It is characteristic that in Rus' there was no concept of “cabinet maker” - craftsmen working with elite wood were called “cabinet makers”.

And today, following the centuries-old traditions of the master, they respect the natural uniqueness of each piece of material they work with, identifying and presenting its best qualities.

Main differences from artificial

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

• Bog oak is a fossil material; it is fundamentally different from freshly cut oak, since during a long period of time in a humid, airless environment, completely different processes take place in it, associated with the transformation of internal energy.
• Natural bog oak grew at one time in ecologically absolutely healthy, pre-industrial conditions, which makes it possible to produce environmentally friendly products from it, which are in great demand and attention at the present time.
• Reserves of natural bog oak are limited and irreplaceable.
• The vast majority of famous bog oak products are of cultural and historical value.
• Currently, mainly 50-100 year old oak wood is processed, that is, wood that is cellular level was fully exposed to man-made factors.

Bog oak wood is considered the most expensive in the world. Simple frame for small photos made from this natural material can cost hundreds of rubles. Furniture made from materials preserved by nature itself is affordable only richest people planets. Our country has impressive reserves of this wood, and there are technologies for its extraction and processing. But 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 the river is not an easy task. The barrel can weigh up to 4-6 tons

A chair for the price of a car

There are dozens of advertisements on the Internet for the sale of products made from bog oak. For example, a slab of this wood (a cut of a trunk or, simply, an unedged board) sells for $440 per linear meter. The simplest coffee table is offered for 1,700, and a more powerful TV console for $6,300. A decorative stand for books will cost an immodest sum of $3,400. For square meter a floorboard or wall panel will cost about $700. A block of 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 spent thousands of years. In those days when mammoths walked around the planet, a mighty tree grew on the bank of the river. The water washed away the shore, the oak tree fell to the bottom. It was covered with silt. For thousands of years, it “starved” in exceptional conditions, with virtually no access to oxygen. As a result, its structure changed - it became 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 will refuse to touch the table, knowing that it is thousands of years old. Where are the antiques?

The fishery is covered with silt

In our unique and, to put it professionally speaking, narrow market, only a few companies operate legally. One of them is headed by Alexander Dupanov. Back in the 1990s, he became interested in this topic by pure chance. Foreign friends were visiting him, and they casually inquired about the opportunity to buy several cubic meters of bog oak. Ultimately, nothing came of the idea - too many intermediaries needed 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 developing technologies for searching, extracting and processing driftwood. And along the way, like every businessman, the director of the enterprise and his team carefully monitor the activities of competitors.

Right now we can drive along the banks of the Sozh, and I will show you a dozen places where bog wood was recently mined - 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. It used to be that I spent days traveling along a section of the river allocated for exploration and production. And I invariably met people who wanted to make money. They tore the wood with tractors, sawed it off piece by piece, loaded it into trucks, carts, horse-drawn carts and tried to take it out.

There are no digestible statistics on the global production of valuable raw materials today. Some figures “pop up” only from Soviet times. At that time, the turnover of bog wood and, in particular, oak, was regulated by the Department for precious metals at the Ministry of Finance. In 1937, the Council of People's Commissars even gave instructions to study the issues of wood reserves and methods of extraction. Such studies were carried out on the Sozh, Dnieper and Iput rivers, from where about 2 thousand “cubes” were even lifted over the course of 3 years - a fantastic volume for this type of material!

Alexander Alexandrovich shows a log whose age is 7150 years. He says that these are still old stocks. The company has no right to engage in its main activities - exploration and direct production - since 2015. The new edition of the Water Code has banned work on extracting valuable wood:

Bog 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 count goes into hundreds of thousands of “cubes”

Previously, we prepared the entire package of permits and legally carried out our activities. New law It does not seem to prohibit the extraction of oak, in any case, there is no direct ban and the term “flywood wood” does not appear there in any way, but the very procedure for legalizing such an activity has become impossible to go through.

Perhaps we could put an end to this: it is prohibited to take stained wood out of the water and there is nothing more to talk about. However, for “black” miners, as in other profitable areas, there are no prohibitions.

Sellers with a tarnished reputation

On the Internet I find the following offers: “I’m selling bog oak, about 2 cubic meters”, “Bog oak round timber, 4 trunks, diameter at the butt from 55 to 88 cm”, “For sale bog oak (bog oak), almost black when cut, 2 dry logs. Pickup."

I'm calling under the guise of a buyer. I'm interested in a number of questions. Firstly, is there a guarantee that it is oak and not aspen? Secondly, will there be evidence that this is bog oak and not one soaked in a nearby puddle? And thirdly (and most importantly), when and where was the wood obtained? After all, it has been impossible to conduct this fishery legally for the past 4 years.

Dialogues are standard. A seller from the Zhlobin region wants to earn no more than 150 dollars for each cubic meter of his production. For reference, a “cube” costs about the same quality lumber from ordinary pine:

Good afternoon, is the wood available? Where is it stored? Is this really oak?

In the yard under a canopy. It's been lying around since June and is already dry. Why can't I tell the oak apart? Just look at it for yourself.

Where was it obtained?

The boys were swimming in the Dnieper and found it near the shore. They pulled me out of there. The guys over there will confirm if you don’t believe me.

Is it really possible to pull out oak trees just like that? Or are there documents?

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

A Mozyrian fished out oak trunks from Pripyat in the spring:

The water receded and they appeared. It probably washed up from under the shore. What is the price? You understand that this is not some kind of birch, this is bog oak! It's very expensive. I won’t give it for less than a thousand dollars for a “cube.”

He also does not have documents for production, nor does he have any other evidence of the purity of the transaction.

Image - in the firebox?

Sellers are trying to gently dictate terms, which means 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 clean water sabotage.

It’s not enough to find and lift a tree from the bottom, says Alexander Dupanov. - After all, under the influence of oxygen, the processes of its destruction immediately begin. For example, natural humidity ordinary wood - about 70 percent. For driftwood it can be 150-200 percent. During improper drying, the over-moistened wood tears and crumbles into splinters.

Indeed, the process of “drying” bog oak is very long and painstaking. Lasts, as they write in some sources, almost a year, and, in certain conditions. Few homegrown 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 of cases when logs were sent by railcar to the customer, but along the way they managed to lose their characteristics and were sent to the kilns. In 2006, at one reputable wood processing enterprise, round timber was successfully sawn into boards, but then about 100 “cubes” were already finished products burned. And from the next batch with a volume of 150 cubic meters, in the end, only 30 were saved. As a result, the cost of the remaining material was simply outrageous. But in these cases, experienced people worked, no match for most small “predators”. As a result, the country is rapidly losing one of the most valuable natural resources, although it could make it its own brand, improve its image on the international market of precious materials.

Bog 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 count goes into hundreds of thousands of “cubes”. According to Alexander Dupanov, only over the last 20 years, our country alone has lost tens of thousands of “cubes” of oak. Most of it, no matter how blasphemous it may sound, was used for firewood. In particular, not a single coastal resident will pass by a huge oak tree, which can be sawn beautifully when wet, and burns well when dried. A lot of raw materials are spoiled by miners and processors. How much? Every week Alexander receives 2-3 calls allegedly from oak buyers. They are interested in the cost. And they disappear. In the vast majority of cases, these are sellers who monitor real prices for relic wood. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of them, Alexander estimates. And, therefore, it is possible to imagine the real volumes of trade turnover. At the same time, not so much raw material is physically “thrown out” onto the market. Most likely, everything else disappears:

The extraction of bog oak can often be compared to the harvesting of non-ferrous metals: if it lies poorly, it means they will definitely “whistle”. I wouldn’t be surprised if every second sawmill owner stores driftwood in the vicinity of large rivers,” says Alexander Dupanov. - There are many customers among cottage owners. And what cabinetmaker would refuse to work with unique material? And if there is demand, there will be supply. Which is exactly what we are seeing. It is enough to contact the guys from any coastal village, and they will cut the required amount of wood to order.

Legally

As a rule, the “black” market develops under special conditions. On the one hand, it must be recognized 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. The demand remained the same.

Earlier, according to BelTA, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Conservation environment Andrei Khmel stated that bog oak reserves in Belarus have not been officially calculated: “But this resource exists. This is evidenced by research from private individuals; we have this information. This is a fairly expensive material with specific processing.” The result is in at the moment Department specialists have prepared a draft document “On some issues of the extraction and circulation of amber and driftwood.” In turn, the head of the Main Directorate 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, individuals and commercial structures contacted us. We understood that sooner or later the issue would be raised head on, and therefore we carefully prepared for changes to the legislation. In particular, the notorious Water Code, which actually banned the fishing of driftwood, can be regarded as a pause. We needed time to collect data about this resource.

There are several leitmotifs of the draft new decree. For example, the Ministry of Natural Resources proposes to completely ban the export of round oak abroad - driftwood, as a particularly valuable raw material, needs to be processed within the country, creating goods with high added value. And when fishing you will need to be guided project documentation, V mandatory passed an environmental assessment, and coordinate actions with local authorities. In the case of extracting driftwood without excavation or dredging, the fisher will also need to acquire a technological map.

The “leaning” of the project is obvious - towards protecting nature. This is understandable - any intervention in the river regime, especially such a rough one, inevitably entails negative consequences. In addition, says Vasily Kolb, after removing the wood to the surface, in many cases the troubles of the watercourse and surrounding areas do not end:

Underwater, it is impossible to distinguish bog oak from the same birch or fir tree. Appropriate analyzes can only be carried out after the tree has been lifted ashore. But fishermen only need oak. Question: Where does the rest of the wood go? I can assume: it is either dumped back into the water, or litters the banks, or (and this is the best, but unlikely option) given to local residents for firewood.

These barbaric methods must 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 environmental tax rates on the extraction of driftwood. For comparison: the removal of every ton from the bowels of the earth construction sand for a business entity, according to the Tax Code, it 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 state enterprise“BelGeo” assessed the forecast reserves of bog wood in the country. We were talking about approximately 500 thousand cubic meters of resource. It's easy to calculate what the benefits might be.

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

It doesn’t matter how many organizations and for how long they have been working in the field of driftwood fishing. There are facts. When starting to study this issue, we made appropriate requests to the tax authorities. In 2014, taxes were paid by one taxpayer for the extraction and removal of bog oak. In 2015 there were two of them. 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 their distribution.

Grenadile is an African ebony native to Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique that 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 becomes available for sale) can easily exceed 100 thousand dollars.

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

Backout (iron wood). It grows in Haiti, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Jamaica, Guatemala and Cuba. Price cubic meter in some years it reached 80 thousand dollars.

Rosewood, originally from Brazil, has long been in demand among cabinetmakers for its unusual pink or red wood grain. 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 Arab countries. Of course, agar is not sold in cubes, and a kilogram of it costs on average about 5-7 thousand dollars.

On topic

Maxim Ermokhin, candidate 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 there is a stir around it. Judge for yourself. From the point of view 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, decomposition processes are slowed down, in fact, the wood only changes color. This material mainly attracts people precisely because appearance. In the ordinary nature of our country, a similar color of wood - from dark brown to almost black - is not found. And the same furniture made from exotic natural materials is always highly valued. Once upon a time, oak trees were even artificially stained - immersed in water for 20-30 years, so that children and grandchildren could use them in due time.

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