Me an Matt decided to have a crack at producing some Birch Tar this mornin........
This is how we did it.
We got an old cirular metal roadsign and beat it into a dish shape, put a hole in the centre about 5 mm wide.
An old empty can of sweetcorn with a nail sized hole in the top was used to hold the Bark, and an old pan from the rangers office used to recieve the tar.
The circular sign was placed over the pan, and the can of Birch bark (We only used the outer), placed opening down, and a little sand placed around the can to make a seal.
A fire was lit around the can, we had a little fire going anyway, so we stacked the embers on and around the can, then placed some dry wood around to make the fire go.
We then toddled of for a brew......................
Niether of us had done this before, and we where working to a half remembered model i had in my head.....................................
Here are some pics...................
The road sign and can covered with embers.
After about 20 mins to half an hour we went back and took a peek............................to both our amazement we had Birch Tar......................
As this was only an experiment we didn't expect much, and out of 1 average 400ml can of Birch bark, we got about 30mls of Tar.
The Bark left inside the tin had gone almost like charcoal, very carbonised.
This was the tar painted onto a piece of pine.
Not a bad experiment really, an all in all it took about an hour or so from start to finish.
Mark
This is how we did it.
We got an old cirular metal roadsign and beat it into a dish shape, put a hole in the centre about 5 mm wide.
An old empty can of sweetcorn with a nail sized hole in the top was used to hold the Bark, and an old pan from the rangers office used to recieve the tar.
The circular sign was placed over the pan, and the can of Birch bark (We only used the outer), placed opening down, and a little sand placed around the can to make a seal.
A fire was lit around the can, we had a little fire going anyway, so we stacked the embers on and around the can, then placed some dry wood around to make the fire go.
We then toddled of for a brew......................
Niether of us had done this before, and we where working to a half remembered model i had in my head.....................................
Here are some pics...................
The road sign and can covered with embers.
After about 20 mins to half an hour we went back and took a peek............................to both our amazement we had Birch Tar......................
As this was only an experiment we didn't expect much, and out of 1 average 400ml can of Birch bark, we got about 30mls of Tar.
The Bark left inside the tin had gone almost like charcoal, very carbonised.
This was the tar painted onto a piece of pine.
Not a bad experiment really, an all in all it took about an hour or so from start to finish.
Mark
we should sort it out for the next middlewood , you will be an expert by then Matt 
