Classic Handtools of Blighty sends out a newsletter now and then. Their latest contained a pointer to this astonishing project to make a 13 metre (yes metre) long table from a 5000 year old black oak hoisted out of a bog in The Fens.

https://www.thefenlandblackoakproject.co.uk/blog

https://www.thefenlandblackoakproject.co.uk/what-is-black-oak

https://www.thefenlandblackoakproject.co.uk/the-table-top

It’s a very good website read, so it is. Of course, I too now want a black oak. But how does one go prospecting for such a beast? My neighbour Eirian does have a very large variety of weird and wunnerful farming & building site machines ……. There are a few bogs up in the Cambrian Mountains and The Black Mountains, both only a few miles from here. ……..

Lataxe, with only a teeny lump or two of ebony.