Best way to use and prepare birch bark for tinder?
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The quick answer is peel the outer(paper) layer of bark and use it as you would paper.
If you are trying to get it to take a spark from (ferrichomium) firesteel, you need to shave a layer off. This will break up a little and will look like tiny curls of very thin paper. Make a little pile of these shavings then scrape some metal of your firesteel into the pile, without letting it spark! Then fire a shower of sparks at it and after about 27 attempts, 23 of which have sent the whole pile flying across the forest, you should get a tiny flame, nurture this flame with more thin pieces of birch bark until you get the flame to a size for a feather stick to take.
If you are trying to get it to take a spark from (ferrichomium) firesteel, you need to shave a layer off. This will break up a little and will look like tiny curls of very thin paper. Make a little pile of these shavings then scrape some metal of your firesteel into the pile, without letting it spark! Then fire a shower of sparks at it and after about 27 attempts, 23 of which have sent the whole pile flying across the forest, you should get a tiny flame, nurture this flame with more thin pieces of birch bark until you get the flame to a size for a feather stick to take.
Most birch trees have a few curls of the papery bark already peeling off the trunk. These can be gathered and kept for tinder as they tend to be quite thin and easily lit.
I prefer to find a dead tree, dead but not rotten, and strip some of the bark from that. I get a piece about the size of half a postcard and keep it as it is until I need to use it. Then when I need to light it I scrape the outer surface with my knife to produce two heaps of fine shavings, one at each end of the scraped area. (I use mt knife as a scraper NOT as a knife. The edge of the blade is at right angles to the bark and I scrape to-and-fro ) I then move the two heaps into one and throw sparks onto it with my ferro rod.
I can normally light these super fine shavings first or second try. Once the heap of shavings is lit I add small strips of un-shaved bark to the flame to build the base of my fire with. I keep the first handful of these strips very thin as I have known birch bark put itself out by curling up onto the lit section. This is far less likely to happen with thin strips than with larger, flat pieces.
Once the bark is burning well it will give off thick black smoke for a minute or so due to the amount of natural resin it contains. It's this resin that makes it so good for firelighting in the first place.
I prefer to find a dead tree, dead but not rotten, and strip some of the bark from that. I get a piece about the size of half a postcard and keep it as it is until I need to use it. Then when I need to light it I scrape the outer surface with my knife to produce two heaps of fine shavings, one at each end of the scraped area. (I use mt knife as a scraper NOT as a knife. The edge of the blade is at right angles to the bark and I scrape to-and-fro ) I then move the two heaps into one and throw sparks onto it with my ferro rod.
I can normally light these super fine shavings first or second try. Once the heap of shavings is lit I add small strips of un-shaved bark to the flame to build the base of my fire with. I keep the first handful of these strips very thin as I have known birch bark put itself out by curling up onto the lit section. This is far less likely to happen with thin strips than with larger, flat pieces.
Once the bark is burning well it will give off thick black smoke for a minute or so due to the amount of natural resin it contains. It's this resin that makes it so good for firelighting in the first place.
As always mate Longstriders spot on.
There some Birch bark pictures here that illustrate how I prepare it (together with some firecraft theory that might help some)
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=18056&highlight=Birch+Bark
Red
There some Birch bark pictures here that illustrate how I prepare it (together with some firecraft theory that might help some)
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=18056&highlight=Birch+Bark
Red
If I'm gathering it to use immediately, I prepare it as Longstrider and Red describe. However, if I'm preparing it in advance, I like to shred it and mix it with a downy tinder like thistledown or bog cotton. The fluff flashes very easily and quickly from a spark, which then ignites the birch bark.
dean2,
I've copied some text from a post I made a while ago that might help you.. its aimed at use of a firesteel and the technique I use, and find successful more often than not.
Arrange everything to suit the task, have your left palm facing forward with thumb to the left - it feels unnatural to begin with but I've found it works most times.
Hold the firesteel in your left hand, top of the steel grasped in little finger. The back of your index finger lightly holds the tinder in place and braces the tip of the firesteel. Then your thumb is the digit that pushes the striker down the steel, with the right hand controling the force that the two are being pushed together. With a slow, controlled action you get big fat sparks that fizzle and crackle for several seconds as oposed to one bright flash and its all over.
The situation that you want to avoid is;-
1, scattering your tinder as you strike the spark, and,
2, worse - smothering the sparks that you've just made by covering them with a large cold piece of iron!
If you want a read through the entire thread, http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=13749&highlight=maple
Hope this helps
Ogri the trog
I've copied some text from a post I made a while ago that might help you.. its aimed at use of a firesteel and the technique I use, and find successful more often than not.
Arrange everything to suit the task, have your left palm facing forward with thumb to the left - it feels unnatural to begin with but I've found it works most times.
Hold the firesteel in your left hand, top of the steel grasped in little finger. The back of your index finger lightly holds the tinder in place and braces the tip of the firesteel. Then your thumb is the digit that pushes the striker down the steel, with the right hand controling the force that the two are being pushed together. With a slow, controlled action you get big fat sparks that fizzle and crackle for several seconds as oposed to one bright flash and its all over.
The situation that you want to avoid is;-
1, scattering your tinder as you strike the spark, and,
2, worse - smothering the sparks that you've just made by covering them with a large cold piece of iron!
If you want a read through the entire thread, http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=13749&highlight=maple
Hope this helps
Ogri the trog
bambodoggy
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
dean2 said:thanks alot for the help guys, i shall see what happens on my next outing, though the biggest asset, i think is patients!
awesome tutorial british red!
practice, practice,practice
Where abouts in Surrey are you Dean? I'd be happy to have you tag along on a dog walk in my local woods when you're next free and I'll go through it with you then....it's always easier to be shown than told
Let me know if you're interested?
Cheers,
Bam.
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