birchbark - woven kindling tutorial

[woodwalker]

came across this idea when i was messing about with some birchbark. They make excellent firelighters for their size/burn time ratio and could with a bit of ingenuity be primed to take a spark.
Start with some bark and rip it into 1cm ish wide pieces.

then rip them carefully into 0.5 cm strips. You need four of them.

fold the pieces exactly in half and with the loop made in one of them, insert the tails of the other

do this with another...

and finally the fourth and you will have a square. in theory!

Pull it in tight.

now this part is the middle and on either side you must tie four strand crown knots. Sounds complex but really all you must do is loop and trap each of the four strands under the adjacent one. Perhaps researching the knot may help at this point if you are stuck.
Three strands folded over...

top half complete.

and the other side.

here is a size comparison to a bahco folding saw blade.

and a whole load of them whic took about 1/2 hour to make

and the most important part - it burning

some of the tightly woven ones have lasted a long time with aconsistent flame and are excellent as firestarter after igniting something with afire steel. You probably could weave it a dfferent way, but this is quite simple.
Have fun,
woodwalker

 

[BorderReiver]

Nice idea,cheers.

 

[Ahjno]

:You_Rock_

That's briliant - natural Esbit tabs

I'm wondering if you could prolong the burning time if some wax / (pine) resin is added in / on the crown knots ...
Thank you for taking the time to make this excellent tutorial and for sharing your idea

 

[Trevody]

Nice one, now I know what to do with all those strips of birch bark that I've got in me pocket!

Trev

 

[SoloBoy]

Im sorry woodwalker but im getting a little stuck,im ok up to the four strand crown knots,even tried what you said and researched the knot here.

http://home.zonnet.nl/willeke_igkt/tables/used_knots_table.html

Tried mine with strips of A4 paper at my desk but get a bit stuck here

http://img162.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01673tz.jpg

 

[Stew]

Fold one of the strands back on itself, leaving a fair sized loop, then fold the one anticlockwise to it back on itself as well. This will trap the first folded over strand. Keep going until you come to the last one, where you thread the strand through the loop you made to start with.

Repaeat, but you'll be going the other direction do.

 

[SoloBoy]

Top bloke, cheers Stew :You_Rock_

http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01720ay.jpg

Thanks Mike

 

[Stew]

Nice one!

Fairly simple once you know how ain't it?

 

[woodwalker]

for anyone else who is getting stuck try herehere - it is designed for those plastic scoubi things girls play with in primary school - but the knot remains the same.

hope that helps,
woodwalker

 

[Joeri]

nice!
gonna try this one...
I like the idea of adding resin. Must make it burn even better...

 

[bushtuckerman]

I have to admit when i read the thread name i envisioned the burning or clothes! but it looks like a pretty reliable way to light a fire in the rain, so i like it! after all i have in the past made cotton wax tablets to carry with me for lighting fires in the rain...when i run out they can be replaced with birch bark firelighters!