March 1, 1865. J THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



IRISH BOG-OAK ORNAMENTS. 359 



nirs of the locality. The trade prospered sufficiently to induce him to 

 establish himself in Dublin some twenty years ago, and at his retire- 

 ment the business, now a profitable one, passed to his son-in-law, Mr. 

 Cornelius Goggin, of Nassau-street. The beauty of the carving and the 

 elegance of the designs, chiefly taken from objects of antique Irish art, 

 made these ornaments in fashion not only in Ireland, but in England. 

 The Queen, the Prince Consort, and other members of the royal family 

 and the nobility were purchasers of the most beautiful specimens ; and 

 so carving in Irish bog-oak attained the position of a native art, giving 

 employment to many hands and supporting many establishments. 



The oak is black and hard as ebony ; that best suited for carving is 

 brought from the counties of Meath, Tipperary, Kerry, and Donegal. 

 Of a load which will be purchased for about thirty shillings, a consider- 

 able portion is unfit for use, by reason of flaws or splits. The wood is 

 cut into pieces suitable for carving and is worked on the end of the 

 grain or section, and not on the length of the grain, or plankwise. The 

 process of carving is similar to that of ivory. The more experienced 

 workmen carve designs without any pattern before them, and can earn 

 from forty to fifty shillings a week. The wages of the less expert vary 

 from ten shillings upwards, and women earn nearly as much as men. 

 The total number of persons employed in this artistic handicraft is 

 something over two hundred. Many of them work on the premises 

 of their employers, while others take the material to their own 

 houses. 



A method of producing very fine effects at a great saving of cost and 

 labour has been patented by Mr. Joseph Johnson, of Suffolk-street. 

 This is effected by stamping : the piece of wood, cut to the required 

 size, is placed on the top of the die, which latter is heated by means of 

 a hot plate of metal upon which it stands ; over the wood a similar hot 

 plate is laid ; upon this a powerful screw-press descends, and the wood 

 receives the impress of the die as freely as wax, the bitumen in it pre- 

 venting the fibre from cracking or crumbling. In this way objects of 

 exquisite delicacy and very high relief, almost to the height of an inch, 

 are produced in a moment. The designs thus obtained by the die 

 are readily distinguishable from those wrought by the carver's tool ; 

 they want the extreme sharpness of the carving, but they are capable of 

 showing, in compensation, more minute figuring and more elaborate 

 details. The dies, some of which are very beautiful in design and all 

 sharply cut, are made on the premises. 



This branch of trade has done some service to Art in Ireland, by 

 producing many excellent native carvers, several of them in the hum- 

 blest walks of life. Amongst those one pre-eminently deserves to be 

 mentioned. Many years ago, three ladies of the name of Grierson, 

 persons of education and refinement, turned their attention to educating 

 some of the young people in their neighbourhood, in the Dublin moun- 

 tains, in the art of wood-carving, as they had seen it practised in 

 VOL. v. R R 



