Silver Birch

[Iknow Nowt]

Can somebody please help me out, When we say about birch bark for lighting fires does Silver birch work?
Is there another type of Birch, if so what does it look like?
I have tried to light silver birch bark with a firesteel (unsuccessfully) if it can be lit how should it be prepared?

Sorry to sound thick!

 

[match]

It is silvber birch that is usually referred to. As a tinder, the very fine papery curls that are usually found peeling of a tree, no ticker than a sheet of newspaper are ideal - just peel off these strips (you need a good walnut sized bundle ideally) and try to catch a spark in this. However, birch is one of those tinders that doesn't always just take from a spark - but it is very good to wrap around a coal from a fire drill to get it to take - its a combination extender and igniter.

 

[BushcraftPro]

What part the bark from? Where did you try to light it? What were the conditions?

 

[Iknow Nowt]

What part the bark from? Where did you try to light it? What were the conditions?

It was some loose thin paper type stuff that was loosly hanging about waist height on the tree.I tried to light it in my back garden it was a bit windy and had rained the night before but was dry at the time

 

[BushcraftPro]

Please describe what you did exactly in order to try and light it.

 

[Iknow Nowt]

Please describe what you did exactly in order to try and light it.

Got a few little bits of the bark(Not very much) struck the firesteel so the sparks landed on it several times no flames. Any suggestions where I'm going wrong?

 

[andyn]

I find that if i cant find any really papery peeling sections then if you find a dead standing birch and remove both the inner and outer bark then by rubbing the surface which a knife you can get a nice pile of outer bark shavings that take a spark very easy.

 

[mark a.]

I too kept on failing to light birch bark with a firesteel until Bambodoggy showed me the way recently. Get a nice bundle of the papery bark to give you a good chance, and put the tip of the firesteel on this bundle. Then really get loads of sparks going. This was where I was going wrong - I was getting sparks, enough to light cotton wool no problem, but not enough for the birch. Press hard and give it a really good scrape (speed isn't important) to get a big load of sparks showering down onto the birch, which should then light.

Once you get it once you'll see what you did right, so it'll be easier to do it again.

 

[BushcraftPro]

Hmm I'm not sure, take some pictures of the bark and show us the method you used.

 

[bambodoggy]

Hmm I'm not sure, take some pictures of the bark and show us the method you used.

Seeing that the act of lighting the birch bark is in fact a movement I fail to see how taking a photo would help?

As Mark says, you need a nice little heap of the thinnest papery bark you can get (Andy's tip is good too if you can't find the really thin stuff) and then put the tip of your firesteel through the middle of the pile and onto the floor....then push fairly hard to create plenty of strong heavy sparks....then just keep making them until it lights. Don't worry about wearing out your firesteel...after all it's useless unless you can use it so just keep going until it lights. Sometimes it'll go first time and other times it might take a few blasts but it will work I assure you. It may take 20 to 30 continuous hard strokes to get it going the first few times but once you've done it you'll get better and be alight in a couple of strokes or so in no time

Let us know hwo you get on Mate.

Bam.

 

[scanker]

Another method to try is to "sandwich" some papery bark between the striker and the steel and run the scraper down the steel so the bark moves with it, catching sparks all the way. It might take a go or two for the striker to get contact with the steel, but when it does your tinder is just where it needs to be.

I can't remember who posted with this method, but it was on here somewhere. I've found that method to work very well with birch bark.

Another tinder to practice with is shavings from a bamboo cane. I know it's not exactly a bushcraft material in this part of the world, but most people have a bamboo cane knocking about somewhere and it takes a spark well.

To practice with your firesteel before you go out and about, nothing seems as good a tinder as cotton wool rubbed with vaseline or you could try the fluff from a tumble drier.

 

[fergus77]

I too had problems at first lighting fires using birch bark.

As mentioned, find a dead tree and cut out a few large squares or rectangle shapes of the bark.
(your best chance for success is to have plenty of shavings and make sure it's dry!)
If even slightly damp place the bark into your pocket to dry while you get on with something else. Once dry, hold firmly to the ground and scrape the inside of the bark following the natural grain of the bark. You should get a nice pile of shavings.

Hold your firesteel in one hand and place the tip down to the shavings. Using the back of your knife close to the tip of the blade, scrape shavings from your firesteel into the bark peelings. It helps here if you use the thumb of your hand holding the steel to apply slight pressure on the blade and push at the same time. This ensures a nice pile of shavings come off. They should spark and ignite by themselves and you should see the bark peelings burst into flames.

The bark must be dry though or all you will achieve is a slight smoulder. It took me quite a while to work all this out, but it does work, even on dry cramp ball fungus!

Hope this helps

 

[tyrcian]

on the ray mears bushcraft series two, on the extras bit. Ray shows you how to light a fire using birch bark. He gets some rotten birch bark to make the main tinder, then he gets some more and shreds it up with his knife a bit to catch from a spark.
Pics here:
http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bushcraftdvd205js.jpg
This is the rotten, dead birch bark.

http://img140.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bushcraftdvd217xs.jpg
This is the spark bark( ) that Ray uses. To me this looks like it has been taken from a live silver birch. I cannot seem to find dead birch bark like this anywhere but on live trees, I was hoping somebody would post something about this so I would know whether or not to get the bark from a live tree. I know about the little feathery bits also. Can anyone help me on this one.

http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bushcraftdvd225cp.jpg

 

[bambodoggy]

Yep, just peel it off live trees, a tiny bit from a few different trees won't do them any harm.

Bam.

 

[Jeff Wagner]

Photos 2 + 3 look very much like white birch. White birch bark has such a high resin content the smoke comes off black and very sooty. This is a very useful bark in North America and was used from containers, canoes, packaging for maple sugar and its been said that it retards mold development when used to line earthen food pits.

 

[tyrcian]

does white birch exist in britain? if not whhy would he bring it all the way over here?

 

[bambodoggy]

Differnet countries...different names. I believe we have a mixture of paper birches and silver birthes over here (with a few others dotted about...red etc) and I think I'm right in thinking that out US friends called the silver birch the white birch.

I might be wrong but that's how I seem to remember it.

Cheers,

Bam.

 

[-Switch-]

While you're walking through the woods, before setting up camp, collect your tinder on the way. Put it in a dry pocket that will stay dry. This will keep you bark warm (the difference between air temperature and body heat at this time of year can make a surprising difference to your success) and also you won't rush around trying to find tinder when you need it. If you're in a rush to get the fire going then you may end up not getting enough tinder or sacrificing quality in your haste.

A tip for using the ferrocerium rod (fire-steel ) is to slowly scrape off some shavings onto your tinder so they don't light. Do this 4 or 5 times then strike sparks into the shavings causing them all to ignite at once. If you do it right you'll get the equivalent of 4 or 5 strikes worth of sparks all at once.