How do you prepare birch bark....

[JDO330]

...let me explain.

Ive got the hang of fire lighting with birch bark and a fire steel but just wondered how you guys prepare yours because when I collect mine from fallen tree's it always feels damp / wet on the back. I can still get a fire going but just wondered if I could pick up any tips.

Thanks in advance, Jon.

 

[Shewie]

Stick it in your trouser pocket for a while and it'll dry off from your body heat. I tend to carry a pouch with dry stuff in and then top it up as I'm moving about.

 

[JDO330]

Thanks Rich, what about the crud on tha back, do you scrape it off?

 

[Shewie]

Nah not really, it all goes up in flames when it comes to lighting it

 

[Wilderbeast]

well there's several options really!
1) collect your bark and then scrape it with your knife to create shaving, these dry in about ten minutes if they're in the sun. Then you can whack it on a dry piece or another piece of tinder and you're done
2) what shewie said! Keep drying stuff and using stuff SPECIAL TIP: ALWAYS remove bark before putting trousers in washing machine, the result can be catastrophic!
3) Odd one this one! while the bark is freshly peeled do the scraping and collect the shavings, get as many as you can.put the shavings in the middle of the bark and role into a cigar, held in place by wrapping some nettle cord/ fibers around. Top up the cigar with any tinder you have on you, more shavings or cotten wool or anything really! Light the middle of the cigar and the heat generated should dry out the outer bark by the time the middle bark is burnt!

cheers,
will

 

[JDO330]

Thanks Both.

So where do you collect your birch bark from (ie, fallen dead tree's)? If from a fallen tree thats on the deck which parts do you use? I tend to go for the sides as IMO its dryer than the top and bottom. I guess the ultimate is a dead standing or dead partly fallen tree (ie, hung up on something).

ATB, Jon.

 

[Wilderbeast]

personally I take a dead log and cut a ring off, birch is pretty generous at giving up its bark

 

[Norton]

Why not just pull the papery stuff off living trees, it doesn't do them any harm and it is already fine enough to take a spark straight away, also it is nearly always dry enough to take that spark right away?

 

[pango]

When in a birch-wood JDO330, you can collect a good amount of the paper like outer bark peeling from live trees as you go. Full thickness bark isn't a neccessity, which for our purposes shouldn't be cut from a living tree anyway.

As Shewie has said, damp birch-bark collected from dead trees will dry out in your pocket in a short time, and full thickness bark seems to me to be a more sustantial, longer burning firelighter anyway. But even after rain the papery stuff will dry off very quickly as it's so full of oil that water doesn't saturate it easily. It's best to bundle it up in some way, either in a tube or lightly bound, ready for lighting.

 

[Wilderbeast]

Why not just pull the papery stuff off living trees, it doesn't do them any harm and it is already fine enough to take a spark straight away, also it is nearly always dry enough to take that spark right away?

can do, just takes a while depending on the age of the tree and the species, the one in my garden peels off tiny pieces and it takes an age t get anything done!

 

[Norton]

Ah, I tend to find that a couple of trees minimum is the best way to do it, I have got over exuberant with the one Birch in my garden in the past and left some small scars that took a few months to heal.

 

[QDanT]

As Norton and pango said, when I see the bark starting to peel off I'll just give it a hand and keep rolling pieces until I've a "cigar". The trees are shedding it anyway. Quite often this is in supermarket car parks where white paper birch seem to be planted as a landscape tree (Booths Settle N.York's) or the local parks or woods. I'll usually make sure their dry by putting them on top of the stove at home then keep them in my Tinder tin. Even when wet they soon dry off and light with all the natural oils in them. In use I cut of a piece and fluff it up and the natural curl helps to bind it in with any other tinder I'm using.

Clicky to above photo
cheers Danny

 

[superc0ntra]

All I do is let it lay around for a while so the surface dries but that really isn't necessary as it will light anyways.

 

[badgeringtim]

I must be being daft here - cos i can light fires from sparks on a few things (especially if they have been collected and stored indoors for a while!) but birch bark i cans get going direct from a spark, I usually end up using somw type of down seeds etc (at the moment polar fluff is everywhere although i have not tried it yet).
I spend ages scraping the bark geta nice little pile on some birch, use the ferro rod - knock it and end up with shavings on the wet floor. Swear and get out the greater reed mace and use that in stead, to get the flame and then the bark to hold it once caught.
Im sure its something daft i do but its such a basic it would be nice to be able to do it....
Also off topic, but when using char cloth or wicks or fungus which smolder whats the best thing to turn glow to flame (sorry probabyl discussed at length elsewhere). By best i probably mean what type of things have the lowest ignition temperature - i understand birch is actually quite high.

 

[Tinker7788]

Silver birch bark will light in practically any condition. If it's wet, just rub the silver side against some cloth, scrap that side with a knife, or your sparker, until you get some shavings - don't need a great deal but more the merrier. Make sure you've got plenty of kindling of various grades - sorted into size from dry grass, twigs, sticks, tree - and then shove a few sparks into the shaved birch. As soon as you've got a hint of a flame add grass the other tinder pdq, in stages as fire/smoke progresses. No need to hand around too much before adding next set of fuel. Bob's your uncle and Fanny is his wife.

 

[Ogri the trog]

... I spend ages scraping the bark geta nice little pile on some birch, use the ferro rod - knock it and end up with shavings on the wet floor.
Also off topic, but when using char cloth or wicks or fungus which smolder whats the best thing to turn glow to flame (sorry probabyl discussed at length elsewhere). By best i probably mean what type of things have the lowest ignition temperature - i understand birch is actually quite high.

BT theres not much that you're doing wrong, but you might need to approach the delivery of sparks just a little differently. Try holding the pile of shavings in place with the tip of the fire-steel and using a controlled scrape with the striker - or -hold them in place with the tip of your knife and draw the fireteel over the spine of your knife. Either way the pile is held secure and big sparks resulting from lots of pressure and slow, contolled, movement of the fire-steel should bring success.

As to your ember to flame query - I carry pieces of charcoal from whatever fire I last made - so my small ember can be used with, or transfered to, a large piece of char which then gives plenty of heat to get your tinder nest burning. Tinder nests are often best made from buffed (finely processed) tinder - grasses work well but so do buffed cedar bark, teased out jute cord or things like plumbers hemp (which looks like hair), vine barks, clematis bark and so on.

ATB

Ogri the trog