BIRCH BARK?!!??!!

[JakeR]

I spent the weekend in the around forest of dean with two others, lighting fires, testing equiptment and bushcrafting! (And then down the pub for a pint!)

But one problem, the birch bark, as advertised in Ray Mears essential bushcraft, is (for me) IMPOSSIBLE to work with!!

I used cotton wool to get fires up, they were no problem, and the lapp puukko is a great knife.
But i couldnt get to grips with creating fire, or anything with the bark of a birch tree!

Help?!

Jake

 

[Adi007]

I tend to peel off thin strips of the stuff. Then I either just throw a shower of sparks at it with a firesteel or shave it into dust with the edge of a blade (held perpendicular and drawn across the back of the piece of bark) and hit the resulting dust with the sparks instead. Or if I'm lazy I'll pick some and keep it in a pocket for a few hours to dry. :-D

It's been a bit wet recently and if it was your first time trying then don't be too hard on yourself!

 

[Justin Time]

I've only had success with the thinnest, paperiest, outer layers of bark that are already fraying off the tree, needs to be dry too. I've noticed that not all birch trees are in this fraying mode, especially as they get older with thicker trunks. If you look for areas which have been abraded already then it's a good place to start.

 

[Raz]

Thin papery birch, chopped up, works great with sparks.
I however use a lighter. So, I make mini firelighters from thicker bark.
I strip it from logs, I strip the full depth, and around a good 1"x3". Then dry it (in front of fire, or bottom oven of aga in summer) It curls up tightly.
Fill a little pouch with them, and voila, equipped for anything.

 

[bushwacker bob]

was the birch bark red or white? I found the white stuff is brilliant when peeled for tinder.The Red/brown stuff is a bit of a b*gger to start,especially when damp.

 

[Stew]

Yeah some doesn't peel into nice curly strips, even if you scrape it with your knife.

You just get birch bark dust. (Which I suppose could be lightable - never tried it though)

 

[al]

have you tried buffing it? 9 times out of 10 birch bark and a fire steel is as reliable as a lighter

 

[JakeR]

I thought that if i got some off a live tree, then it would be harder to light, so i found a dead one, got all the papery stuff off it. But after scrape after scrape from my firesteel it still wasnt lighting (so i used tissue/cotton instead).

have you tried buffing it? 9 times out of 10 birch bark and a fire steel is as reliable as a lighter

How do you buff it?

cheers,

Jake

 

[al]

scrunch it up in your hands and keep rolling your hands so it breaks it down into small fibres, although i find you dont really need to to that if you take the naturally shredding bark,just crunch it up a bit ,keep trying cos it will take a spark very well, you can aloso rub it on your trousers , etc

 

[al]

also a live tree is good as its only the naturally shredding bark that you use, you`re doing the tree a favour as it has to shed bark to breathe and let light in ,but i`m sure there is someone else here who can explain that better, jack about ? :-D i think that would be shedding bark not shredding :-D

 

[JakeR]

Brilliant, i'll try it.

How do you create things with birch bark, has anyone has any success woth making match boxes etc?

Cheers,

Jake

 

[Andy]

my local woods are all birch so thats what i use most. i just use a bit of char cloth to get it going as i've failed with the bark from scratch. its great once you get it going though it burns for ages. i think part of the helping the tree art is that less bugs get under the bark to halm the tree. when making things from the bark dont ring the tree as that wil kill it though, best to use dead trees for that

 

[Adi007]

If you have enough birch bark you could try making a canoe ...
http://www.northcountrymarketing.com/home_decorating/Birch+Bark+Canoe_6/

Or somethiong smaller ... http://www.turtletrack.org/Issues00/Co08262000/CO_08262000_Canoe.htm

 

[JakeR]

Cheers guys, do i have to find a dead trewe for it to work, and would it work on all birch?

Cheers,

Jake

 

[Adi007]

Living trees.

I find that the bark of the silver birch is the best for firelighting ... just peel off the papery peeling bark.

Cheers guys, do i have to find a dead trewe for it to work, and would it work on all birch?

Cheers,

Jake

 

[TheViking]

Hi...

Is there something about that birch bark has the same burning quality as jetfuel?? I have heard someone mention this before. :?:

 

[Gary]

First I've heard of it, but I guess if you knew how to, and could afford to refine it anything is possible!

 

[ScottC]

I've had great success when scraping the outside of birch bark into a fine dust and lighting that with a firesteel, then just add some off the naturally shedding peelings and then your kindling and away you go!