The wood selected for this press was excavated from a riverbed in Estonia sometime around 1998.  It is said to have been lying there for 800 years, falling into its resting place when the tree had reached the age of 500, making these pieces well over a thousand years old.  This material is very rare, and even rarer in this hemisphere.

All bog oak used today comes from European stock. The color is natural;  no dyes or stains have been used to enhance it in any way.  The sub-fossilized wood is saturated and preserved by the bog itself.  It has gone through a chemical reaction between its own tannins and the soluble iron in the mineral subsoil.

I am making these presses in a limited edition from the cut-offs and scraps created from some furniture pieces I made a decade ago.  My experience working with it is that it imbues unspoken stories of long ago, and in this form, will continue where its own preservation has left off.  What plant life was lurking in its habitat so long ago?  Answers lie hidden in its very essence.

Press dimensions are 11.5”W X 11.5”D X 13.5”H. Cardboard inserts are 11.5” X 9”.