Learning about trees?

[Highbinder]

I'd like to know a bit more about treelife, especially in a bushcraft context - such as how different woods burn, or what each species can be used for in each season.

Can anyone recommend me a good pocket guide I can keep on me?

 

[bushwacker bob]

Confucious said "if you want to learn about the Pine, you must go to the Pine"
Roger Phillips guide is also good.

 

[Highbinder]

As in this, which happens to be out of print? :/

I was thinking http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Tree-Guide-Owen-Johnson/dp/0007207719/ref=pd_cp_b_1

Any other good uns?

 

[Retired Member southey]

thats pretty much the way chap try the collins gem seris to for a pocket guide whilst out in you local wood. really good for tree id from bark,leaves, general shape and areas where there likely to be found.

 

[BarryG]

I have a few field guides and so far i havent found any single one that does it all.
The best way is to get out there as often as you can, take photos and try to match them on the internet and in the guides and experiment with the woods if possible. whittle and burn etc.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Also good to get out in variouse seasons, to get used to being able to identify when theres nowt but the bark and shape.

 

[demographic]

The best thing I read about how they burn was on an American chainsaw site and it said that, when dried out to the same moisture content, pretty much every type of tree gives out an equal amount of BTU's per pound of weight.

Lighter weight when dried trees give off less and heavy when dry trees give off more.
One thing I have noticed about the Yanks is that they do take better care than us Brits when it comes to drying timber before burning.

 

[BarryG]

Logs to burn; logs to burn;
Logs to save the coal a turn.

Here's a word to make you wise
when you hear the woodman's cries;
Never heed his usual tale
That he's splendid logs for sale
But read these lines & really learn
The proper kind of logs to burn.

Oak logs will warm you well,
If they're old and dry.
Larch logs of pinewoods smell
But the sparks will fly.
Beech logs for Christmas time;
Yew logs heat well;
'Scotch' logs it is a crime
For anyone to sell.
Birch logs will burn too fast;
Chestnut scarce at all;
Hawthorn logs are good to last
If cut in the fall.
Holly logs will burn like wax,
You should burn them green;
Elm logs like smouldering flax,
No flame to be seen.
Pear logs and apple logs,
They will scent your room;
Cherry logs across the dogs
Smell like flowers in bloom,
But ash logs all smooth and grey
Burn them green or old,
Buy up all that come your way
They're worth their weight in gold

 

[robin wood]

The best thing I read about how they burn was on an American chainsaw site and it said that, when dried out to the same moisture content, pretty much every type of tree gives out an equal amount of BTU's per pound of weight.

Lighter weight when dried trees give off less and heavy when dry trees give off more.
One thing I have noticed about the Yanks is that they do take better care than us Brits when it comes to drying timber before burning.

This is so true, we spend all our time reading twaddle like the poem above and then burn wet ash when dry elm burns better. Think of all those gorgeous woodpiles you see in Switzerland, Germany, France split stacked and drying when did you last see that in the UK. Forget species when looking for firewood in the woods think only about how dry it is. Ash is most praised primarily because it has less moisture in it when living so takes less time to dry or more to the point is dryer when most folk come to burn it.

All the books listed so far are identification guides, there is not a pocket guide to wood uses. I would recommend Edlins woodland crafts of Britain, long out of print and around £20 second hand as a good starting point.

 

[ged]

Logs to burn; logs to burn;
Logs to save the coal a turn.

I do like that one.

My contribution isn't as good for information about trees, but there's a story to it.

Music has always been an important part of my life and even though I say so myself, at that age I had an outstanding soprano voice. From a very young age my parents sent me to church (they didn't go themselves) and at church they made me sing a lot. I didn't like the church and I didn't like all the attention, so I started to hide in the woods on Sundays instead. I've been doing that ever since.

When I was eleven I started grammar school. It was a lot harder to hide at my new school than it was on Sundays. I only managed it successfully a couple of times. Every year there was a music festival, attendance was not optional and the preparations seemed, at least to me, to dominate school life for half the year. The other half was dominated by the opera that we performed but that's another story.

The school had 'houses' and I was put in Troy House. The school's music teacher happened to be in Troy House too, and she was very competitive. The first time she heard me sing in her class she was was quick to spot her chance to score a few points off the competition, so she took me under her wing and made me practice every spare minute. It was hell. Anyway with her, er, help I won my first music festival, and the next two. Fame at last. I began to cope with all the attention and, when things were going well, sometimes even enjoy being the centre of it.

The following year my voice broke, and the teacher dropped me like a hot brick. So I dropped music at the school despite everything my friends, family and other teachers could do to try to persuade me and I still regret it now. That was one of the most important lessons that the school taught me.

Here's the first song I sang at the festivals. The words are a poem by Walter De la Mare. I can't remember who did the music but nearly fifty years later I can still sing all the songs that I sang then (if not quite so sweetly).

Of all the trees in England,
Her sweet three corners in,
Only the Ash, the bonnie Ash
Burns fierce while it is green.

Of all the trees in England,
From sea to sea again,
The Willow loveliest stoops her boughs
Beneath the driving rain.

Of all the trees in England,
Past frankincense and myrrh,
There's none for smell, of bloom and smoke,
Like Lime and Juniper.

Of all the trees in England,
Oak, Elder, Elm and Thorn,
The Yew alone burns lamps of peace
For them that lie forlorn.

 

[BarryG]

This is so true, we spend all our time reading twaddle like the poem above and then burn wet ash when dry elm burns better. Think of all those gorgeous woodpiles you see in Switzerland, Germany, France split stacked and drying when did you last see that in the UK. Forget species when looking for firewood in the woods think only about how dry it is. Ash is most praised primarily because it has less moisture in it when living so takes less time to dry or more to the point is dryer when most folk come to burn it.

All the books listed so far are identification guides, there is not a pocket guide to wood uses. I would recommend Edlins woodland crafts of Britain, long out of print and around £20 second hand as a good starting point.

I agree and dont think they can be taken as gospel, but maybe as a rule of thumb.

I think its enough to know general information such as the diffences between hard and soft woods - what gives good coals, light etc; and suitability of any wood for any given task or use.

If you get my drift

 

[Bushwhacker]

This is so true, we spend all our time reading twaddle like the poem above and then burn wet ash when dry elm burns better. Think of all those gorgeous woodpiles you see in Switzerland, Germany, France split stacked and drying when did you last see that in the UK.

It's a good point well made. I have a woodshed that abutts onto the main shed. It has good aeration to allow for drying - the walls have vertical slats with a gap between each one as opposed to horizontal overlapped ones on the main shed.

So far as IDing goes, now's a good a time to start whilst the trees still have leaves.

 

[Highbinder]

Thanks for the replies guys

Anyone got any bushcrafty knowhow they fancy sharing when it comes to trees. I know about Birch bark being a good fire lighter, and now thanks to Ray Mears I know that pine knots burn slow and bright due to the resin. Any other cool tidbits that'd come in handy you can share?

 

[falling rain]

It's too vast a subject for one post but folks could offer a post for tree by tree.
I will offer hazel as it's the first that came into my head. Nuts of course ripening just now and should be ready by mid - late september. The nuts in woodland are usually stripped by squirrels and birds fairly quickly, so look in urban situations where squirrels are far less abundant. Hazel splits easily and can be used for a host of camp-craft applications and various stick rigs for cooking, frames for benders etc. The thinner shoots can be used for constructing eel traps, and withies for binding tripods and shelters etc. It grows fairly straight so can be used for spear and arrow shafts. A very useful tree/shrub

 

[treelore]

any advise i can give to do with trees Highbinder just PM me,

Arborist and Woodman

 

[BarryG]

Treelore you may just be the person to ask.
& i appologise for highjacking your thread highbinder, but this one's been bugging me for a while.
Im trying to tell the difference between western hemlock and Yew - Obviously when the berries appear it becomes obvoius...likewise when the Yew grows like a shrub its reletively easy however...the rest of the time...

 

[Highbinder]

BarryG, not at all I find it all very interesting!

 

[bushwacker bob]

Treelore you may just be the person to ask.
& i appologise for highjacking your thread highbinder, but this one's been bugging me for a while.
Im trying to tell the difference between western hemlock and Yew - Obviously when the berries appear it becomes obvoius...likewise when the Yew grows like a shrub its reletively easy however...the rest of the time...

Western hemlock has glaucous blue needles, grows tall, with a single round section trunk and looks like a Christmas tree.
Yew is dark shiney green, with distinctive red 'scaley' bark. rarely grows much higher than 10-15M and has either multiple trunks of looks like several trunks have grown in together and wouldn't be circular in cross section.

 

[Nonsuch]

IIRC Western Hemlock has flat needles of varying length on the same twig, whereas yew needles are of more uniform length. Hemlock's top growth shoot flops over.
"Spruces needles are in singles (Sitka's spikey, Norway's not)
Pine needles are in pairs
Fir needles are flat
Helmlock needles are short, medium and long
Yew will kill you".

NS

 

[BarryG]

Thanks Bob,

Where I walk the dog, have found a few yews that grow with a single trunk, hence the uncertainty. The needle colour and bark description above should prove useful. Appreciated mate.