Tap a birch tree

[Viking]

I have tried to tap a birtch tree but with no success. So I need all the tips I can get from the proffesionals here :-D

I know of two ways of doing it the cut a V and make a hole in the bottom of the V. This I have tried but did´nt get a good way to collect the spa when it came out of yhe tree.

Cut a branch and out a bottle in. This I have not tried since this would only give a very small amount of sap.

 

[Gary]

Hi Viking,

Tapping a birch is simple enough.

First you need to ensure the sap is rising - it generally around this time of year however in shadowed valley ect in Sweden it might start later.

Secondly prepare a small stick about 1 - 2 inches long, flat on one side (not necessary) pointed at one end and with a flattened point at the other.

Now your ready.

Select a likely tree, near water or damp ground is good. Generally I select a young/mature tree - i.e not a sapling and not to old. If the tree has a slight bend in the tree tap on the lower side (let gravity help you).

Now take you knife and drive the tip into the tree to a depth of about a cm or so. I usually do this approx 30cm - 40 cm above ground level.

Wiggle the tip and you should see sap strat to trickle down the blade.

Take your small stick and incert this into the hole you've made - pointed end out and lower than the hole.

Soon sap will start to drip off the end of the stick and you can collect it in a billy or cup.

If your tree is fairly robust you can generally put in 3 or 4 taps with no ill effect to the tree. I usually do this and have them all drip into the same cup.

Once finished pull out the stickes and gently press the bark back down - this will seal the wound and enable the tree to heal itself.

I would place a picture on here of the tree I tapped sunday but I dont know how - will e-mail it to you so you can see what i mean.

Cutting the V in the bark is usually reserved for Maples and used by syrup makers. A friend of mines father runs a suger bush in Ontario and he actually incerts a tap into the tree

For our perpuses cutting V's and drilling holes would be too damaging and unneccessary.

Hope that helped.

 

[martin]

Take a small twig (5-10 mm in diameter 12-15cm in length) trim it flat down one side then carve a V shaped channel in the flat side the full length of the twig and put a point on the end.

About 80cm up the trunk of a mature Birch knock the point of your knife 2cm in at a slight upwards angle. Lever the blade upwards slightly then push the twig into the hole, V channel on the underside.

The sap should start to flow immediately you just have to get it to travel along the twig just wipe some along the bottom of it. Put a container on the floor under the of the twig to catch the sap.

If you put two taps into a tree 5cm apart you get twice the flow.

Leave a couple of hours or over night.

 

[Viking]

Thansk for the tips, I´ll have to make new try.

The lake is soon free of ice, the birds have started to return, the air is getting warmer, the ants are starting to work and the sap is running. So of course I have to get some of it =)
This is also the time to collect birch bark.

Here is a picture of how it can be done in alrger scale.

 

[Gary]

Thats it - top picture is similar to how the Maple is tapped by the syrup makers.

 

[Nod]

Once you have the sap, what do you use it for?

 

[JFW]

Nod,

you can drink it straight from the billy - not too much or you may get a sore stomach, you can brew tea with it adding some finely chopped pine needles. If you collect enough you can make wine with it. There are loads of recipies on the web

I have only tried the first two and it tastes great. You can also dilute it with water - its slightly sweet.

Cheers

JFW

 

[Viking]

You can boil it so it becomes a sweet surup. This will also make the sap last longer. You can also add new fresh birch leaves and boil it for 20 20 minutes to make a drink.
When the birch sap started to rise it was called "poor mans cow"


No chance of trying to sap a birch today, we got snow instead :shock:

 

[Nod]

Tried it at the weekend.

Got the tap in, got a flow, but not very much. I left it for a couple of hours and got about 100ml or so. It was a bit on the yellow side, not clear like that in the photo, is that normal? Or did someone spot my bottle and replace the contents?

Oooh, doesn't bear thinking about!!! :shock:

I presume I left it a bit late in the season to get very much.

 

[Stew]

Once you have the sap, what do you use it for?

Just flicking through Kochanski's Bushcraft and noticed that he mentions that birch sap can be used as shampoo.

I hadn't seen that before!

 

[Viking]

Once you have the sap, what do you use it for?

Just flicking through Kochanski's Bushcraft and noticed that he mentions that birch sap can be used as shampoo.

I hadn't seen that before!

You can use the birches leaves to wash your clothes too =)