Irish Bog Oak and Irish Yew

[William Young]

I received a nice gift of woods in the mail late yesterday from Ian (puzzledmoose) from Truro, Nova Scotia , Canada . Included was some Irish bog oak and a beautiful piece of yew.
I was invited out for supper last night and then we played cards all evening in town with relatives and all the while I was thinking what those pieces of wood would look like if turned into pens. So this morning I got at it and made a couple .
The bog oak is black with brown streaks through it and is unlike any other wood I have ever seen. Quite unique . Ian will hopefully provide us with some history about that wood.
The yew was so nicely figured that I have not decided if it was birds eye or crotch wood or burl. Maybe Ian would like to fill us in on that also..
The finish is four coats of Deft WB lacquer applied at half hour intervals .

Comments or critiques welcome.
Oh yes, I noticed a couple specs of dust in the pictures so they just became a part of it . Don't know if they were on my camera lens or on the pens.

W.Y.

[bigEd_H]

That's some beautiful wood and beautiful work, Bill. It was nice of Ian to share his bounty with you. Thanks for sharing.

[William Young]

Thanks Ed .
There are nine responses so far in my own site about this topic and it appears as if I might be mistaken as to whether the light colored one is actually yew or if it is a form of English elm that looks different than what the elm looks like around here. Ian can tell more about this than I can if he sees this message and responds. .
The one that I called yew might very well be English Elm Burl .
More on that as we endeavor to get it straightened out and I post a picture of what looked to me like elm..

Yes . it was very kind of Ian to share some of what he had. Turners are like that. We share different woods often. I have sent out dozens of parcels of wood and recived more than I have sent in return. Sometimes we expect nothing in return except *** I owe ya one*** which was the case with Ian this time because he was not looking for an exchange at this time.
And other times we send a gift made from the wood that we have received or exchanged. Ian turns pens himself so he is not looking for a pen in exchange.
W.Y.

[Doc249HMCS]

Gorgeous pens WY! The contrasting center bands is a very nice touch!
I look at some beautiful woods and see pens, bowel, and other beautiful turnings. As well as some scroll saw art. It is also neat to see the beautiful grains in the wood and sometimes, with a little imagination, faces.

[William Young]

Thanks Doc249.
To save myself a lot of repetition of typing I am posting one of the responses below from my site on the topic. Apparently the one I called yew is actually English Elm . Woods from different areas can easily be mistaken sometimes.
W.Y.



OK , Ian, I can now see where I confused the woods.
I took a picture of all four sides of the one that you said was yew.
Included in the pictures are what the bog oak looks like before being turned into a pen.






.

Now that I see the orange coloring in the heartwood I can relate to it as being yew wood . It is the lighter colored sap wood that threw me off because it looks so much like elm wood that I am more familiar with..
The amount of heartwood is fairly thin especially at one end. If I was to make a slimline pen it would show mostly all of the sapwood. I will try to use a bigger kit like a cigar pen if I still have some of those kits in stock. Even with that large a diameter of pen it will still probably show some sapwood as well as heartwood and should make an interesting transition between the two colors.
W.Y.

[Doc249HMCS]

William,
Do you buff your pens after the last coat of lacquer? If so, with what?
Thanks,
DonO

[William Young]

William,
Do you buff your pens after the last coat of lacquer? If so, with what?
Thanks,
DonO

I do not have a fancy three wheel Beal buffing system like some woodworkers do. So far I have not had a need for one.
The finish that is on my pens is just like you see it after applying several coats. I do wipe on a tiny smear of Renaissance wax with my finger and then polish by hand with a soft cloth. The wax does not increase the shine but it does add fingerprint protection.
W.Y.