Properties and Uses of Trees

[Lukas]

greeting bushcrafters,

I had an idea which I think is good. Let me explain. There is much knowledge and experience everywhere on this forum but it is not presented in an easily accessible way. Every time someone wants to know something they have to ask the same old questions or look around for the answers through tons of old posts. So would it not be useful if we could all pitch in to create a sort of database of information? Let us take the topic of uses of trees. Everyone can contribute what they know about whatever trees and include references as to where the knowledge comes from and their own personal experiences. For example:

Ash –Young seeds are edible. Tea of bark is used to reduce fever and expel worms and is astringent. Tea of leaves is used as laxative. Inner bark can be used for cordage. Very good strong, light, and flexible wood.

References: Botany in a day (Elpel)
www.pfaf.org
Bushcraft by Kochanski
Personal Experience with working ash wood to make a bow and spoons. Never used it for anything else, except I once tried the seed and they were so full of strong aroma they tasted disgusting, although they were ripe when I tried them. I heard that inner bark can be used for cordage from James of Native Awareness.

Once we get the required information we can then stick a new and edited version somewhere where it is easy to access and we have ourselves a reference list better than any single book.

Lukas

 

[bushcraftbob]

Good idea, i think this sort of thing has been attempted before but it all seems a little rushed over and then the thread gets lost and forgotten about.

How about we nominate a species (may aswell start with Ash now!), and everyone has a few days to put their knowledge on here about said species, and then once its exhausted move on to another tree type.....??

My (limited) knowledge of ash is as follows:
- excellent for tool handles
- great bow wood
- one of the best firewoods and can be burnt green

 

[ateallthepies]

The one I would like to know about is the Beech. Depending on what book I read of the several I own it seems the humble Beech nut or Mast is either poisonous or edible to humans????

We had a glut of mast this year but I did not collect as I was unsure?

Steve.

 

[lannyman8]

beech nuts i have eaten before with no ill affect that i know of, maybe my liver will die in 6 months....

 

[wildranger]

I've never eaten beech mast in large quantities but I've experienced no ill effects from eating several nuts in one sitting. I've read in a book of mine that there's an alkaloid in the outer skin of the nut so it's best not to eat the nuts in huge amounts.

 

[Chasing Rainbows]

This thread is an excellent idea! Well done Lukas!

Also worth noting about the ash: If you need to light a fire ash trees are a great place to look for cramp-balls. (I'm sure that's common knowledge here but worth mentioning)

About the Beech: I've never eaten the nuts as this far North they don't fruit properly and are just empty husks. Food for Free says that beech nuts can be pressed to make a good quality cooking oil. RM also says that the young beech leaves in spring are edible and make "an excellent sandwich filler"

References: Food for Free and Ray Mears Outdoor Survival Handbook

Apple and crab apple trees: The fruits of domestic apple trees are something I'm sure we're all familiar with. Crab apples are extremely sour and not good to eat raw, but contain lots of pectin so they are an excellent additive when making jams or jellies (or fruit leathers) from other wild fruits.

Apple wood is very hard, and is packed with natural oils (making it relatively heavy). It's the best wood I've ever used for making tableware since the oils act like teflon and it doesn't scratch or chip easily. The wood is beautiful and could be used to make many ornamental and practical items. Apple wood is also known to be one of the finest woods for smoking food. It has a wonderful, almost perfumed odour, which imparts delicious flavour to foods.

Different parts of the apple tree also have many uses as traditional medicines. There's more information on the subject than I care to type so I shall just link a herbalists take on it: http://www.herbcraft.org/apple.html

References: Jim McDonald for the herbalism bit (linked above).

Hawthorn: The berries of autumn and the young leaves of spring are edible. TreadLightly (of BCUK) said that the leaves have a pleasantly peppery flavour. The best time to gather the fruits is early october, but they are available from september to november (and possibly earlier and later). The flavour of haws varies enormously from tree to tree, all the way from bitter disgustingness to delicious refreshingness. They are best used as an ingredient rather than a raw foodstuff (although I do love haw jerky). Haws are an extremely reliable source of food, they stay very fresh for the whole season and I'm yet to find one with any kind of insect larvae inside.

The thorns can be made into fishing hooks and sewing needles with very little effort.

I've never worked with hawthorn wood but I'm told the qualities vary enormously depending on the species/subspecies/cultivar. Some american species are highly prized for tool handles as they display excellent toughness. The good people of BCUK informed me that hawthorn wood burns with great heat and is also good for smoking food.

Medicinally, I'm told that hawthorn contains chemicals that lower blood pressure and also help in getting to sleep. I'd be very catious with giving this information though as I lack knowledge in this area. (any extra contributions on this subject would be welcome).

References: The good people of BCUK.

FYI much of the information above comes from personal experience alone. Please don't consider this as any less valid, since I'm responsible enough that I wouldn't say it if I wasn't sure of it's truth. Nevertheless, I'd be wary of taking my word as gospel truth

 

[Toddy]

Beech nuts do produce kernals, but they're very much a 'mast' year and they wither incredibly quickly.
Basically eat them when they fall.

There are trees around here we've munched from all our lives. Can't say I've ever had an entire meal of them, but I've certainly eaten plenty to no ill effect. I'm inclined to look on them as a munchy on the walk. HWMBLT agrees and he's been eating them longer than I have

cheers,
M

 

[sandbender]

I suppose these should be on this thread...

Hickory makes the hottest coals in stoves when winter's bleak,
Apple wood like incense burning through the hall both fragrance seek,
Elm wood fires have little smoke and warm both serf and lord,
Oak logs split and dried this year make good next winters hoard,
Beech burns bright and fill a the room with warmth and dancing light,
Maple sweet, not white or red will burn throughout the night,
Birch logs cut, need ne'er be stored they blaze, then heat the pot,
Ash, straight grain and easy split the kettle sings, and stove is hot,
Poplar logs must need be dried lest smoke both then ensue,
Pine and fir midst showers of sparks burn fast and line the blackened flue

WOOD HEAT
Beech wood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year.
Chestnut's only good, they say
If for long it's laid away.
But ash wood new or ash wood old
Is fit for a queen with a crown of gold.

Birch and fir logs burn too fast,
Blaze up bright and do not last.
Is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould -
Even the very flames are cold;
But ash wood green and ash wood brown
Is fit for a queen with a golden crown.

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke.
Apple wood will scent your room
With an incense like perfume.
Oaken logs if dry and old
Keep away the winter cold.
But ash wood wet and ash wood dry
A king shall warm his slippers by.



Oak logs will warm you well,
If they're warm and dry.
Larch logs of pine wood smell
But sparks will fly.
Beech logs for Christmas time;
Yew logs heat well.
Scotch logs it's a crime
For anyone to sell.
Birch logs will burn too fast,
Chestnut scarce at all.
Hawthorn logs are good to last,
If cut in the fall.
Holly logs will burn like wax,
You should burn them green.
Elm logs like smouldering flax;
No flames to be seen.
Pear logs and apple logs,
They will scent your room.
Cherry logs across the dogs
Smell like flowers in bloom.
But ash logs all smooth and gray,
Burn them green or old,
Buy up all that come you way,
They're worth their weight in gold

 

[Ivan...]

With ref to the burning poems, down our way they refer to larch and some other softwood as Disco wood , as you spend half the night dancing on the carpet , putting the sparks out !

 

[Chasing Rainbows]

That poem is great. Thanks for posting!

With ref to the burning poems, down our way they refer to larch and some other softwood as Disco wood , as you spend half the night dancing on the carpet , putting the sparks out !

Haha disco wood gave me a good laugh.

Did scotch logs refer to scots pine? I find scots pine easy to light and fierce burning with large red flames. The only problem is the stupendous amount of tar it kicks out, which makes a mess of pots and ruins the taste of food.

 

[Treemonk]

beech mast apparently contain trimethylamine, alkaloids, soponines and oxalic acid.

Unless you are sensitive, small-scale munching is unlikely to hurt you. Sensitivity will lead to nausia-type symptoms.

heating will degrade all but the oxalic acid, which therefore becomes the limiting factor for large-volume consumption.

pressing provides a good yield of oil however which is free of the oxalic acid

EDIT

I've just looked up oxalic acid content - about 3% which is over double that of rhubarb

minimum lethal dose is somewhere around 600 mg/kg, so for a 10 stone 60 kg person you would need to ingest 60 * 600 mg = 36 grams

that is 1.2 kg of beech mast!

 

[Wayne]

Trees should be burnt to make way for new transport links.

Damn things hide loads of creepy crawlies.

 

[Martti]

As there are only three historically important tree species growing in Finland, their uses are easy to go through in detail:
Scots Pine: buildings, furnitures, boats, skis (compression wood), sledges, tar and ropes (roots).
White and Silver Birch: tool handles (curly), containers (wood and bark), ropes (bark), spears and other hunting weapons.

 

[robin wood]

beech mast apparently contain trimethylamine, alkaloids, soponines and oxalic acid.

Post 3 suggests the alkaloid is in the skin of the mast. I used to eat pretty significant amounts when I lived in Kent 25 years ago and was big into gathering. I always found the inner skin astringent and so peeled them down to the creamy flesh, only easy when fresh. Would this avoid the alkaloid? would it be the alkaloid that gives the astringent taste?

 

[Thenihilist]

As there are only three historically important tree species growing in Finland, their uses are easy to go through in detail:
Scots Pine: buildings, furnitures, boats, skis (compression wood), sledges, tar and ropes (roots).
White and Silver Birch: tool handles (curly), containers (wood and bark), ropes (bark), spears and other hunting weapons.

Never heard of Birchbark rope apart from Lofty wiseman mentioning it in his book though he didn't elaborate.

http://willielahti.blogspot.com/2009/08/tuohikoysi-birchbark-rope.html

Could you point me in the direction of where to find more regarding manufacture?

 

[youngbushcrafter]

ah, just a thought, has anyone evertryed using dry birch tree leaves as a tinder, i heard that this works and it would be good if there is no peeling bark.

 

[bearbait]

Rather than repeat it all again here this thread entitled Wood Lore not "woodlore" has some great stuff on trees and their uses.

Enjoy!

 

[Martti]

Could you point me in the direction of where to find more regarding manufacture?

If you do not know Finnish but can read German, the best reference is Niilo Valonen's Geflechte und andere Arbeiten aus Birkenrindestreifen unter besonderer
Berücksichtigung finnischer Tradition printed on series Kansatieteellinen Arkisto. This is the only non-Finnish source I can recommend. However here is an attempt to explain it briefly: two strips of bark are moisten in water and the other ends are connected to a reel. These are then twined together and third strip is added on top of them. Birch bark rope was used in fishing as it was water-resistant and lasted up to ten years of use (only in summer use, less during winter).

 

[Thenihilist]

@Martti Kujansuu

Thankyou for that.

The birch has to be alongside willow in terms of it's usefulness.

The twigs are used in Finland i believe for a lot of applications.

I find the make a great broom and are very handy for lashings. Not to mention that you can often fing a good pile of matchstick thin dead twigs at the base of a birch which is great for firelighting.

 

[Martti]

@Martti Kujansuu
The twigs are used in Finland i believe for a lot of applications.

On top of my head I can think of following special applications to birch twigs: making a vihta, broom, whisk, bird nest (for egging) and container.