Lime and oak box

Description

Lovely handmade box made from Lime and with an Oak lid with a slight natural curve. The front has Bog Oak (circa 5500 year old) and cold cast bronze inlays.

The box has two compartments, one small and one large and are lined with smooth black leather.

Size 445 x 275 x 95mm

Each box is lovingly handmade and finished with 5 coats of 100% pure Tung oil and then clear beeswax polish. I recommend only ‘dry dusting’ the box when required. Please do not to use any spray type or abrasive cleaners on the wood or interior linings. Please ask for advice if you are unsure.

Specific care instructions are sent out with each box.

Wood is a beautiful and natural product and as such will take time to settle in its new home. Please do not place the box near any sources of direct heat or moisture. Given the nature of today’s centrally heated houses, some movement in the timber may/will occur. This is perfectly normal and an indication that you own a 100% natural product.

Lime Tilia x europaea

Lime wood is soft and light, white-yellow and finely textured. It is easy to work and often used in turnery, carving and furniture making. Lime bark was traditionally used to make rope, and lime flowers were considered a valuable source of food for honey bees. The wood does not warp and is still used today to make sounding boards and piano keys. Limes can be coppiced and used for fuel, hop-poles, bean-sticks, cups, ladles, bowls and even Morris dancing sticks.

Limes have long been associated with fertility. In France and Switzerland, limes are a symbol of liberty, and the trees were planted to celebrate different battles.

Oak Quercus robur

Oak is a large deciduous tree up to 20-40m tall. In England, the English oak has assumed the status of a national emblem. As common oaks mature they form a broad and spreading crown with sturdy branches beneath. Their open canopy enables light to penetrate through to the woodland floor, allowing bluebells and primroses to grow below. Their smooth and silvery brown bark becomes rugged and deeply fissured with age. Oak tree growth is particularly rapid in youth but gradually slows at around 120 years. Oaks even shorten with age in order to extend their lifespan.

The oak is held in high regard across most cultures in Europe. The oak was sacred to many gods including Zeus (Greek), Jupiter (Roman) and Dagda (Celtic). Each of these gods ruled over thunder and lightning, and oak trees are prone to lightning strikes as they are often the tallest living feature in the landscape.

Druids frequently practised and worshipped their rituals in oak groves and cherished the mistletoe that frequents oak tree branches. Royalty has had a long association with oak trees too; ancient kings adorned themselves with crowns of oak leaves, King Charles II hid from his pursuers in an oak tree at Boscobel House and Roman Emperors were presented with crowns of oak leaves during victory parades.

In England the oak has for centuries been a national symbol of strength and survival. It has played an important part in our culture – couples were wed under ancient oaks in Oliver Cromwell’s time, the festive Yule Log was traditionally cut from oak, it features on the 1987 pound coin and is the inspiration for the emblem of many environmentally focused organisations, including the Woodland Trust.

Bog Oak

Bog Oak, much like Brown Oak, is not a specific species, but is rather a term that designates oak that has been buried in a peat bog for hundreds or sometimes thousands of years. The extremely low oxygen conditions of the bog protect the wood from normal decay, while the underlying peat provides acidic conditions where iron salts and other minerals react with the tannins in the wood, gradually giving it a distinct dark brown to almost black colour.