Kilt Pin in Scottish Red Deer Stag Antler and Bog Oak, Scottish gift, antler gift

This beautiful Kilt Pin is part of my new range of Scottish Red Deer Stag Antler and hardwood pieces. The antler itself comes from a Highland Red Deer, a symbol of Scotland. I sand down the antler until it is smooth and tactile whilst still retaining a few small grooves so that it is easily identifiable as antler. I then attach the hardwood, in this case some Scottish Bog Oak. I have been very aware of this materials existence for some time now but have been waiting to secure the right piece. This particular piece came from Muir of Clunes, 12 miles South West of Inverness. This is quite a rural, verdant and quite thickly wooded part of Scotland. My contact for this wood excavated quite a few pieces and had a very small section scientifically aged, it came back at approximately 5000 years old! To put this into context, this is when, slightly further down the road, Stonehenge was starting to be assembled. Bog Oak is created when the tree is buried in a peat bog and the wood is preserved by the acidic conditions. The wood is stained dark brown to black by the tannins in the acidic water. There is a fair amount of wastage of the wood until you get deeper into the piece. In its raw state it smells like a mix of rubber and organic material, not in any way rotten or decomposed. Working the wood is somewhat challenging, quite splintery very much like Snakewood or Ebony and is number 80 in my list of worked Hardwoods. Finished, the wood is at least as hard as fresh Oak and finishes to a fine lustre. Colour is predominately black with dark brown that has a deep iridescence and looks almost identical to Indian Ebony. As far as the ultimate Scottish Sgian Dubh wood (black wood), this is pretty much it although it does have the monopoly on colour as no other Scottish wood is quite so dark.
I then sculpt the wood until in joins perfectly and seamlessly with the antler. I then round the top to make it perfect. I polish the piece with natural waxes to give it a deep, long lasting lustre. This method retains the original creamy white colour of the antler without any yellowing as other finishes such as varnish will give. I then attach the pin with three small pop rivets, this gives an ultra secure and professional finish, i could have used glue but i always prefer to over-engineer my products so they last.
I never cease to be impressed by the various, natural shapes that can be found in antler tines and always try to find and incorporate these in my work to make unusual and unique pieces. This one is certainly one of the more striking tines i have come across and would make a fantastic Scottish gift and complement any kilt.
It measures 100mm in length x 77mmwide x 38mm at top tapering to 3mm at bottom of the longer tine.