how do you harvest birch bark?

[moved on agiles10]

Can anyone explain (or have pictures explaining) how to harvest bark from birch trees, have tried in the past, but it either comes off in thin strips or not at all. Can you help please.

I wish to try making some bark containers so any help on that would help to.

Cheers

Adam

 

[rigger_john]

You need to find a dead standing tree, the bark will come away from that easily, remember dont take to much as you should leave some habitat for our creepy friends.

Please don't harvest bark from live trees

regards

 

[moved on agiles10]

I have tried collecting bark from recent fallen trees, (probably a couple of weeks old) and i just dont have the technique (any advice?). I wouldn't harvest from live trees justto put yours mind at rest. lol.

Cheers

Adam

 

[Mesquite]

I have tried collecting bark from recent fallen trees, (probably a couple of weeks old) and i just dont have the technique (any advice?).

If the trees are only recently fallen then they're still going to be pretty green and the bark hard to harvest.

What you want is a tree that's been dead for a while and the wood inside has started to rot. The oils in the bark protect it from the rot and it's easy to harvest and you have ready made tubes for your containers.

Alternatively, if it's a large tree that's again been dead for a while then score a strip on the trunk and slowly work your knife under one edge and slowly peel it off. Soemtimes if you make a wooden chisel this can help in removing it.

 

[Tadpole]

Alternatively, if it's a large tree that's again been dead for a while then score a strip on the trunk and slowly work your knife under one edge and slowly peel it off. Soemtimes if you make a wooden chisel this can help in removing it.

I agree, make a 'spud'
in this thread you can see a spud in action. they are using it on ash, but from my little experence it works as well with dead birch
spud

 

[Toadflax]

Remember that you are probably not going to get very thick bark in Southern England, and it is very likely to have little strip-like holes, so it is not likely to be watertight unless you proof it. I believe that the bark grows thicker further North, as it develops in order to insulate the tree in the colder winters.


Geoff

 

[moved on agiles10]

Thanks guys for all your help, hopefully I will be able to try it out soon.

Cheers

Adam

 

[spiritofold]

Im putting together a tutorial for birch bark removal at the moment Getting thick bark is just a case of finding the right tree to start with. Where i live you can get two trees the same size, next to each other, one has thin crappy bark and the other has really thick stuff. Its a case of searching around. I only use my knife when gathering bark, i've never had the need to use a spud, though it can help when teaching to harvest.

Find a clean looking piece of bark on the tree, with no knots or anything. Score a vertical line with your knife, as bit as the piece of bark you want. Push the edge of the knife blade sideways into the cut you just made, so you start to lever the bark up, do this along the whole length of the cut, Wiggling the blade helps seperate the layers. Keep doing that until you have half an inch or so of the top bark peeled back, then with both hands and fingers support the bark as you peel it away from the trunk. You might need you knife edge again to free anystubborn sticky bits as you peel the bark away.

When you get the knack for doing this its sooooo easy. My kids love showing me how they can get bigger bits of bark than me.... Little sods

The tutorial im doing is taking a while but will be put on here soon. Just work, kids and life take up my time

Take pix and let us know how you get on!

Andy >>>>>---------------------------------------<>

 

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

long dead birch is the way to go I find ones that are good and rotten and all you have to do is shake out the inner rotted wood and you get a nice birch bark tube...

I only use it for firelighting so a few feet last me a long time but its amazing stuff for firelighting...

 

[susi]

Find a clean looking piece of bark on the tree, with no knots or anything. Score a vertical line with your knife,

Do you do this to live standing trees?

 

[spiritofold]

Do you do this to live standing trees?

No, not live ones.

Theres always plenty of fallen or standing dead birch to play with.
I've taken birch bark from trees that have been blown down in the gales, but to be honest its no better than the dead standing stuff. Of course, the older and more rotten the birch is the less good the bark will be.

 

[susi]

Phew, thanks! I just had to check as you said "vertical cut". I hope I didn't offend you by asking.




We sometimes see this here in Finland, often near popular "tourist" BBQ places, people have stripped the bark from trees and they are scared forever

 

[spiritofold]

No problem

Its easier taking the bark from a standing dead tree. Where i live there are woodlands filled with birch, so the odds are there will be plenty of fallen or dead standing ones.

Yes, taking bark from a living tree is daft, theres so much of the other stuff out there..

Andy >>>>>---------------------------------<>

 

[C_Claycomb]

When I was in Norway, bark was removed from living trees. The bark was much thicker than anything I have seen in the UK, almost like thin leather. While the trees were scarred, they were not killed and the local farmer who's land we were on was not in the least bothered what we did with the birch trees. Had I not been in company with a local, I wouldn't have cut the living trees, but the area we were in was very little used by people and the "rules" that we learn on over used National Trust land didn't apply in the same way.

In that same area, the dead birch was no use for gathering this kind of bark, it was too weak and split. The oils in the bark prevent the wood from drying out, so it rots really fast, but in doing so it took the usefulness of the bark (for containers) with it.

 

[susi]

Interesting Chris.

But I have to ask the question:

If YOU were out and about enjoying the countryside/wilderness, would you rather see scarred living trees or living trees still with the bark intact.

At least for me here in Finland, if I'm out enjoying the countryside and I come across a de-barked birch, it feels akin to seeing Skegness beach, swimming in empty chip wrappers and dog turds, i.e. something that is naturally nice to look at, but spoiled by man.

Just an opinion


But "leave it as you found it" has got to be a sacred rule, no matter what the landowner may think, no?

 

[spamel]

I believe that birch bark was gathered in this way by native americans to build their canoes. If you ring the tree, it will die, I believe if you leave a strip it can regrow the bark, but I wait to be corrected on that one, we have plenty of folk on the forums who work with trees so will know much better than I.

I personally take from fallen/chopped down trees. I gather tinder from living trees by peeling the fine papery bark peelings, no more. When I see debarked birch trees, I am reminded of the scab coming off a cut too early. The wood underneath looks red and sore. It makes me quite angry to see it, but it is a small piece of knowledge that has been used incorrectly. I have tried to show kids the right way when I've come across them harvesting birch peelings. I hope at least one of them will take it on board.

 

[rigger_john]

If you ring the tree, it will die, I believe if you leave a strip it can regrow the bark, but I wait to be corrected on that one,

I work for an enviromental conservation charity, in that role I have been involved in traditional rural skills such as hedge laying where a hawthorn is almost but not quite completly severed to lay the hedge, a small strip of bark will as you suggest insuer the survival of a tree, but that said is that what we want to see, naked trees wearing bikini bark?

 

[Tor helge]

Interesting Chris.

But I have to ask the question:

If YOU were out and about enjoying the countryside/wilderness, would you rather see scarred living trees or living trees still with the bark intact.

At least for me here in Finland, if I'm out enjoying the countryside and I come across a de-barked birch, it feels akin to seeing Skegness beach, swimming in empty chip wrappers and dog turds, i.e. something that is naturally nice to look at, but spoiled by man.

Just an opinion


But "leave it as you found it" has got to be a sacred rule, no matter what the landowner may think, no?

We live in an livving environtment, not a national park. The problem in Norway isn`t deforestation but quite the oposite.
Taking bark from a living tree is OK. The tree is still alive and can be cut down for fuel next.
Man is part also of nature, not a syntetic bystander.
Would you rather see a wild grass field or a cultivated wheat field? Sometimes nature conservation sounds like an academic excersice.


Hope nobody feel that I`ve trampled on them, but I believe in using the nature and it`s resources not just watching it. Could as well be a Monet on a wall then.

Tor

 

[spiritofold]

We live in an livving environtment, not a national park. The problem in Norway isn`t deforestation but quite the oposite.
Taking bark from a living tree is OK. The tree is still alive and can be cut down for fuel next.
Man is part also of nature, not a syntetic bystander.
Would you rather see a wild grass field or a cultivated wheat field? Sometimes nature conservation sounds like an academic excersice.


Hope nobody feel that I`ve trampled on them, but I believe in using the nature and it`s resources not just watching it. Could as well be a Monet on a wall then.

Tor

I agree.

I do think it depends where the tree is situated to start with though. If its deep in the woods, no problem, if its in view of somewhere visited by the public lots then i spose
it can look ugly. The only way it will kill the tree is if you take the lower layer of bark as well.

 

[rigger_john]

Tor Helge, make a good point here, I don't think taking down a tree in the wilds of Finland in any way would be harmful to the enviroment, I often fell perfectly healthy trees to thin out woodlands and promote growth in the trees we leave standing. Of coures there is the issue of ownership to be considerd I suppose and also location, stipping a standing tree in a city park would be a no no.

Maybe it boils down to uncommon sense, I think in the uk you would be hard pushed to find a wooded area where you could ring bark a birch tree without sombody getting upset about it. Whereas in Finland it seems that it's no problem.

"Man is part also of nature, not a syntetic bystander." Fantasitc quote, guess what my new signature is