Birch Pitch

[Quixoticgeek]

Am pondering having a go at making some Birch Pitch for a couple of projects. I found this guide on how to make it. Does this work with all birch species? Will silver birch work?

Thanks

J

 

[Mesquite]

Yup, that'll work with silver birch

 

[Clouston98]

Yes, it's works fine! That's exactly the method I used and it came out great, I was dead chuffed!

Good luck! Hope this helps!

 

[ozzy1977]

Yup used that method myself, works a treat

 

[Quixoticgeek]

Excellent news. Time to hunt out a suitable set of tins... What sort of yield did you get in terms of size of tin full of birch bark to amount of pitch you got.

J

 

[ozzy1977]

I got pretty much the same as in your link, about a tea cup full for a 2.5l paint can

 

[shack]

I was just wondering if you go for a more ornamental birch with a more flaky/ natural peeling bark, I have found the naturally thin outer bark readily takes a spark and can essentially be harvested with no damage to the tree itself, the link showed pictures of both inner and outer bark in the tins and can't see the benefit of using the inner bark.
I'm happy to take other peoples views and experience on this.

 

[Baelfore]

I did this twice last year with two of those small resealable tins black treacle comes in with a combination of silver and paper bark. filled about a third of the tin.

4 lessons I learned:

1. if it came from a dead tree, make sure to scrape off bottom much of the iner bark as possible as this caught fire in my firt attempt. (don't know why)

2. poking extra holes in the bottom means that the one hole is less likely ot get cloged up.

3 whats left inside the tin looks mental!

4. don't forget to poke your holes in the bottom or it will explode!! (yes i learned this the hard way.)

regards
Stephen

 

[ozzy1977]

If you had it catch fire you had a air leak, at the end of the day this process is the same as making charcoal but we are after what would normally be considered waste.

 

[Baelfore]

Ah that was most likely why then. i had a feeling the lid was tighter the second time round.