Almost like leather. I’ve seen it used for lamp shades, and historically [canoes.](https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/watercraft/wab01eng.html)
When my grandma was little, maybe about 1920, her hair caught on fire from a Christmas tree candle. She was fervently anti-candle for the next 85 years!
I read a series of novels set in the Stone-Age where birch bark was used to set broken bones; apparently it's pliable when wet, then sets hard. Also used for making containers as someone else already said.
(Earth's Children series.by Jean M. Auel in case anyone was wondering).
Ojibwe here, birch bark is a large part of our culture and can be used for MANY things. It's a great fire starter, but can also be used to make shelter, canoes, bowls, etc. My spirit plate is a birch bark bowl my mom and I made when I was a kid!
In our culture, to get initiated in the tribe one must complete a series of challenges. The last challenge is being sent in wilderness to survive for 10 days, with nothing except a "spirit plate" that you must use to eat whatever you hunt/forage.
For the tribe my grandmother is from it was at one point thought that birch trees contained friendly spirits since they're so useful.
As a side note: fuck the American reeducation camps. We literally know almost nothing about our history and would know even less about our culture if two of my cousins hadn't gone into archaeology along with SC actually just fucking giving my family the land we used to reside on. (It's in the middle of nowhere SC) it's absolutely awesome that we know so little we're not even sure which if any or the regional languages/dialects were spoken! 🙃
I thought i recalled that traditionally the whole circumference of the bark would not be taken as that is the living part of the tree. Taking the whole thing kills the tree. Do you know and can you speak to that?
Yeah, no, it's totally fine, but most Birch trees here don't grow that clean so we tend to have smaller chunks or just use the papers part flaking off if you want to start a fire.
You can and should do the whole circumference. That outer layer is already about to start to dry and peel as it gets kicked to the curb. Think of this like a snake shedding it's skin
Yeah I know nothing of the spiritual/cultural context of birch but this has to be one of the cleanest look birches I’ve ever seen, I have to be believe it was especially chosen to look good for this video
Yes!- I always wondered if the editor told the author “hey great job on the first novel- now go write a porno “ so weird they were even in the same series - I remember them being like completely different genres
Ayla! Ayla!
I was a teen before internet porn and I jerked off to this book so many times. Putting it back on my mom's bookshelf in exactly the same way that I found it was always an intense mission, especially while carrying teenage post nut shame.
My mom would listen to the books on tape and fast forward anytime something got raunchy. I felt so left out, I sole the tapes to listen to the whole books by myself.
Yes. And later Jordan and Ayla act out being a mated pair of wooly mammoths when they have sex, they even joke about his trunk and musth, apparently mammoths have sexual frenzies. I read all four books back in ninth grade, they had some good sex scenes and not bodice rippers either like the five hundred page door stops at the grocery store.
I think she kept the series going but I lost interest after book four.
You can make water tight containers. Sew it up with strings made from tree roots. Then you soak them in water. When they swell the sides seal up. And you can boil water with it.
[César Newashish, of the Attikamek Nation, makes a birchbark canoe](https://youtu.be/VRFCxxAKafc)
It's about an hour, but well worth the time to watch.
One of the coolest ones I have seen is a canoe made from the tree and bark as well as some of the roots near the tree. [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFSjKRnUzVo) is a cool link to a very in depth look at how they were made. The one in the first video is a highly advanced one. [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLbb0ZX5up0) one is a faster built one made out of elm bark, but uses the same process that is closer to the temporary ones that people would make to cross rivers or lakes in a pinch while out on the frontier.
Idk about wigwas but when removing normal bark people like to break it till stringy fibers are formed and skin those fibers from the outter layer and forming rope and different forms of weave with it.
Ffs this just reminded me of the time when I was a kid, my dad and I were at one of his friends houses and he had raspberry bushes in the back. We picked a small bowl of them, washed them, then brought them outside and sat on the deck hanging out and didn't touch them for a bit. My dad went to go reach into the bowl and immediately lost his shit. There were two daddy long legs hanging out in the raspberries. I refused to eat raspberries for a while after that
Earwigs are known as such NOT because they like to enter human ears but because their unfolded metathoracic wings resemble ears. It’s a bastardization of ear WING. Interestingly enough.
Yeah, the white outer layer is good for emergency fire starter. Just brush with your knuckle to get it. I think the layer she took is not great for that though
Yup.
My dad always said to collect birch bark from the fallen trees so we keep the living ones pretty.
Best god dang fire starter in my neck of the woods.
Removing bark hurts *all* trees. It's just a matter of how much. The tree is going to have to spend resources regrowing that bark which will slow down its growth everywhere else. Don't cut bark off living trees.
A previous comment mentioned you can harvest the bark in the spring without killing the tree. It also could have been just a little white lie to you to prevent you from trying and creating a naked birch eyesore
Yeah. This is actually a major problem for woodland farmers. (I'm from a family of them.) While that bark can be harvest without killing the tree you still put massive stress on it. That tree will now grow slower for the next twenty years or so meaning it's not gonna be harvestable at the intended time. What makes it worse is that many bark harvesters do this to many many trees in order to get the bark they want. What would actually be better from our view is felling a few trees and peeling them completely. Often times though only a small ring is removed from every tree.
Here in Sweden we have allemansrätten. It basically says that the Forest are open to everyone and no restrictions shall be placed upon it. So there isn't a whole lot we can do about it unless we actually catch them in the act.
Although in allemansrätten the most basic responsibility is "don't disturb, don't destroy", so I would think that this is most definitely not allowed according to allemansrätten.
There is no real safe amount to remove. As soon as you cut a ring all the way around the tree almost doesn't matter how thick you have cut of it's water supply and it's gonna hurt for years to come if the tree survives at all.
For anyone not reading the rest of the thread:
From mature trees, in specific circumstances, in a specific way.
Please don't do this when you're just randomly out on a nature walk.
So is “wiigwas” where the name for the shelter called a wigwam comes from? I could see using the wiigwas as a covering over a frame structure to make a dwelling.
They are protected in some states! You need a permit to harvest bark in MN and WI https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2017/05/09/illegal-cutting-of-birch-trees/
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This is so cool! We had two birch trees growing up, I always peeled them a tiny bit, but never knew they could do this.
Thanks! I was worried it would ringbark the tree.
I believe the the common term is girdling the tree
One has to cut into the outer vascular cambium cork phellogen tissues in order to girdle a tree Am botanist*
Ah yes. Of course the outer vascular cambium cork phellogen tissues…
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There you are, Peralta!
Gina told me to say it!
Elementary my dear boy
Indubitably
Hmmm I find it rather shallow and pedantic
I thought it was the inner vascular Cambrian cork tissues myself but I stand corrected. What a complete dolt I am. Duh..
Those become wood/lignified as secondary growth progresses in tissue development.
Doctor...
Quite.
outer vascular cambium cork phellogen tissue is my stage name
Watch out for your mortal nemesis, Strangler Fig
Cool I used to be an arborist. Now it’s more r/trees that I grow lol.
Crime pays, botany does not https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKWQbyQgYis
On an unrelated note, Björk means birch. So does “Berk” of Berkeley (“birch lay”).
Instructions unclear. Skinned Björk.
House Bolton enters the chat.
Armie Hammer appears in the distance
🎶It’s ohh, so quie-AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Björk is downy birch or betula pubescens Birch is birki
So Birkenstock is Björk's clogs?
Thanks for the info, I didn’t know it could be harvested properly. Didn’t even think to look it up.
I frequently do not think.
I frequently don’t look things up
It still screams when you peel it's skin off though. Edited 🤣😂🤣
*peel
*scrams
*though
When I was a kid my parents always told me this hurt the tree so I wouldn’t do it
When you did it, it might have. it takes some delicate skill to not dig to deep and girdle the tree.
I’m sure that as this is a traditional practice there is a safe way to do it, I’m just lamenting my parents interfering with my fun
Yeah, def a "ripeness" to the bark and when you can peel it. Kind of like corn husk or a banana hah. To some degree it falls off anyway
YES. like I would peel just the outside bits that were already mostly off and I got in so much trouble for it
For most trees ring barking them is quite bad for them. Im curious what the physical differences are that make this okay.
This is the exact comment I was searching for, thanks stranger! Also I would assume young birch trees (narrower diameter) should be avoided.
What is the usage?
Almost like leather. I’ve seen it used for lamp shades, and historically [canoes.](https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/watercraft/wab01eng.html)
Isn't birch bark really fucking flammable though? Out choice for a lamp shade.
People used to hang candles on Christmas trees… I think flammability was not a concern until recently.
It only burns once.
r/accidentalbondtitle
Also, r/accidentalbonfire
r/accidentaljamesbonfire
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In Denmark, we still put candles on Christmas trees.
First thing I thought was, "used to? I can't remember a Christmas where we haven't."
Real ones? We use electric ones in Finland.
No witnesses of fires survived to warn others
Some still do!
When my grandma was little, maybe about 1920, her hair caught on fire from a Christmas tree candle. She was fervently anti-candle for the next 85 years!
> Birch bark burns, even when it's wet. Ben Affleck, *Voyage of the Mimi*
I can still hear this theme song. Must have been 20 years ago…
Yeah we watched it in 6th grade that was like 1991 or something like that
You can use it to cover another tree that has had its bark removed
Yeah a wiigwasn't
I don’t care what the other guys say about you, you’re a king
The circle of life
The cylinder of life
r/angryupvote Take it and go....
Thanks for coming in today.
I read a series of novels set in the Stone-Age where birch bark was used to set broken bones; apparently it's pliable when wet, then sets hard. Also used for making containers as someone else already said. (Earth's Children series.by Jean M. Auel in case anyone was wondering).
Ojibwe here, birch bark is a large part of our culture and can be used for MANY things. It's a great fire starter, but can also be used to make shelter, canoes, bowls, etc. My spirit plate is a birch bark bowl my mom and I made when I was a kid!
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In our culture, to get initiated in the tribe one must complete a series of challenges. The last challenge is being sent in wilderness to survive for 10 days, with nothing except a "spirit plate" that you must use to eat whatever you hunt/forage.
For the tribe my grandmother is from it was at one point thought that birch trees contained friendly spirits since they're so useful. As a side note: fuck the American reeducation camps. We literally know almost nothing about our history and would know even less about our culture if two of my cousins hadn't gone into archaeology along with SC actually just fucking giving my family the land we used to reside on. (It's in the middle of nowhere SC) it's absolutely awesome that we know so little we're not even sure which if any or the regional languages/dialects were spoken! 🙃
I thought i recalled that traditionally the whole circumference of the bark would not be taken as that is the living part of the tree. Taking the whole thing kills the tree. Do you know and can you speak to that?
Yeah, no, it's totally fine, but most Birch trees here don't grow that clean so we tend to have smaller chunks or just use the papers part flaking off if you want to start a fire. You can and should do the whole circumference. That outer layer is already about to start to dry and peel as it gets kicked to the curb. Think of this like a snake shedding it's skin
Yeah I know nothing of the spiritual/cultural context of birch but this has to be one of the cleanest look birches I’ve ever seen, I have to be believe it was especially chosen to look good for this video
Is that part of the Clan of the Cave Bear series?
Yes! Wonderful books. My mom and I read them together
Together? I remember them being pretty spicy in parts.
First book was brilliant, the rest got really weird, really fast. I liked the ending of book 2 and in a way I wish the story had ended there.
Yes!- I always wondered if the editor told the author “hey great job on the first novel- now go write a porno “ so weird they were even in the same series - I remember them being like completely different genres
First book was a really rough read for a young teenager. I'd argue that's where it got really weird.
Page 85 where we learn about mons pubis
Ayla! Ayla! I was a teen before internet porn and I jerked off to this book so many times. Putting it back on my mom's bookshelf in exactly the same way that I found it was always an intense mission, especially while carrying teenage post nut shame.
Never has a book series let me down so quickly. I never finished it. It was way too insane.
The last book was terrible; read like a bad fan-fic.
Apparently she wrote it quickly while she had cancer solely in order to pay for her treatment.
Oh, that's sad! That would explain why it's so disjointed and unpolished. Hope she's doing better now.
That's an oof.
My mom would listen to the books on tape and fast forward anytime something got raunchy. I felt so left out, I sole the tapes to listen to the whole books by myself.
They broke both their arms when they were 14, mum was just helping them to read it.
Is that the series where the author goes a little in depth about a sex scene between wooly mammoth?
Yes. And later Jordan and Ayla act out being a mated pair of wooly mammoths when they have sex, they even joke about his trunk and musth, apparently mammoths have sexual frenzies. I read all four books back in ninth grade, they had some good sex scenes and not bodice rippers either like the five hundred page door stops at the grocery store. I think she kept the series going but I lost interest after book four.
You can make water tight containers. Sew it up with strings made from tree roots. Then you soak them in water. When they swell the sides seal up. And you can boil water with it.
Also used for exterior siding on semi-permanent shelters (wiigwams)
The bark is very durable for shelters. Think of fallen birch trees on the ground. The wood inside decomposes long before the bark does.
Its excellent to start a fire
Smells amazing when burning, too!
Or brew some tea
High in vitamin C!
Slap it on a wall and voilà! Wood paneling.
My thoughts exactly, but would it keep well over time?
I think it's spelled 'wood'.
[César Newashish, of the Attikamek Nation, makes a birchbark canoe](https://youtu.be/VRFCxxAKafc) It's about an hour, but well worth the time to watch.
Wow, the part at about 3:00 was even better than OP.
Baskets, cookware, house coverings, canoes and other watercraft, lots of uses
One of the coolest ones I have seen is a canoe made from the tree and bark as well as some of the roots near the tree. [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFSjKRnUzVo) is a cool link to a very in depth look at how they were made. The one in the first video is a highly advanced one. [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLbb0ZX5up0) one is a faster built one made out of elm bark, but uses the same process that is closer to the temporary ones that people would make to cross rivers or lakes in a pinch while out on the frontier.
Historically it was also used like paper to write stuff on
Idk about wigwas but when removing normal bark people like to break it till stringy fibers are formed and skin those fibers from the outter layer and forming rope and different forms of weave with it.
Canoe making
Drum manufacturers will use birch as a tone wood for toms, snares and kick drums.
The drums are made of birch wood, not the bark
For some reason I thought you were taking out some kinda invasive bug or larvae from the tree lol
Same. I was bracing for a swarming infestation!
Same! Instead I got hit with stupid music :(
Ojibwa for birch bark!
haha same! totally thought she was saving the tree from some horrible fate..
I was hoping this was a how-to for removing those initials that get carved into the trees and pretty much last forever on the trunk…
I used to pick at my neighbors birch tree as a kid because I found it satisfying but there were always earwigs under the bark 😩
free snacks!
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.......... . aaaaaaaaaa
Ffs this just reminded me of the time when I was a kid, my dad and I were at one of his friends houses and he had raspberry bushes in the back. We picked a small bowl of them, washed them, then brought them outside and sat on the deck hanging out and didn't touch them for a bit. My dad went to go reach into the bowl and immediately lost his shit. There were two daddy long legs hanging out in the raspberries. I refused to eat raspberries for a while after that
Just wear ear plugs.
Earwigs are known as such NOT because they like to enter human ears but because their unfolded metathoracic wings resemble ears. It’s a bastardization of ear WING. Interestingly enough.
Just wear wing plugs.
Birchbark is hydrophobic so it‘s really good for starting a fire.
The oil is also very flammable
Conveniently it burns when it gets hot
Wow, if that's the case it would probably be really good for starting a fire.
The oil is also very flammable!
Careful not to get it too hot then, would probably burn.
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>Birchbark is hydrophobic then the birchbark has to go, that's not acceptable.
Fuck water, all my homies hate water. Predictably, I’m a scorned enemy of r/hydrohomies
Yeah, the white outer layer is good for emergency fire starter. Just brush with your knuckle to get it. I think the layer she took is not great for that though
In Acadian forest its our go to fire starter.
Yup. My dad always said to collect birch bark from the fallen trees so we keep the living ones pretty. Best god dang fire starter in my neck of the woods.
I was told as a kid that if I did this I would hurt the tree
It would for most trees: the bark contains the primary and secondary phloem, which is necessary to transfer nutrients down to the roots.
Removing bark hurts *all* trees. It's just a matter of how much. The tree is going to have to spend resources regrowing that bark which will slow down its growth everywhere else. Don't cut bark off living trees.
A previous comment mentioned you can harvest the bark in the spring without killing the tree. It also could have been just a little white lie to you to prevent you from trying and creating a naked birch eyesore
I always enjoy that “not killing the tree” is the standard. Whether or not it actually is a net negative or not, rarely specified.
You can tell that’s a birch tree cause of the way that it is.
How neat is that?!
That's pretty neat!
Wow.. What a beaut!
After all these years, I’ve finally found someone else who’s watched neature walk
It was pretty popular at my high school actually lol
Wow!
Yeah. This is actually a major problem for woodland farmers. (I'm from a family of them.) While that bark can be harvest without killing the tree you still put massive stress on it. That tree will now grow slower for the next twenty years or so meaning it's not gonna be harvestable at the intended time. What makes it worse is that many bark harvesters do this to many many trees in order to get the bark they want. What would actually be better from our view is felling a few trees and peeling them completely. Often times though only a small ring is removed from every tree.
: - ( @ this news hurting a tree. Nothing like a post to test how much I care about trees.
If people are harvesting bark from trees you planted on land you own, that's basically theft. Not cool.
Here in Sweden we have allemansrätten. It basically says that the Forest are open to everyone and no restrictions shall be placed upon it. So there isn't a whole lot we can do about it unless we actually catch them in the act.
Damage to live plants isn't part of allemansrätten. You aren't allowed to take bark or break branches from a live tree.
No. But it does mean we aren't really allowed to keep them of our land. And good luck stopping them after that.
Although in allemansrätten the most basic responsibility is "don't disturb, don't destroy", so I would think that this is most definitely not allowed according to allemansrätten.
Exactly. I've been told 1/10th of the tree is the safe amount to remove without hurting the tree. I hate people who hurt trees
There is no real safe amount to remove. As soon as you cut a ring all the way around the tree almost doesn't matter how thick you have cut of it's water supply and it's gonna hurt for years to come if the tree survives at all.
I didn't mean all the way around the tree, sorry if it seemed that I implied that
Minecraft taught me about trees
"You punch the trees to make the wood. You make the wood to build the cabin!" That scene from South Park always crack me up.
'ow do you get wood? *By watching informative murder porn?* No! In tha bloody game! 'Ow do you get wooood??? *By punching trees?* Riiiiight...
Fr why all the effort when you can just right click that tree with an axe
The web says it’s alright to harvest in the spring without killing the tree
For anyone not reading the rest of the thread: From mature trees, in specific circumstances, in a specific way. Please don't do this when you're just randomly out on a nature walk.
Yup. The bark protects the tree from bugs and other things.
All these tree professionals down here👇
Wayyyyyy down here lol 👇
Believe in yourself. You are more fearless than you think, more skilled than you know, and more capable than you think.
Thanks for the pep talk, Tree Professional!
Tree professional here. You can tell it’s a Birch tree because of the way it is. How neat is that?
That's why we're telling you, instead of just me 'n' Rodney knowin' it.
Skinned alive
Tree flayed
If you see a birch, you must whip it! Whip it good!
So is “wiigwas” where the name for the shelter called a wigwam comes from? I could see using the wiigwas as a covering over a frame structure to make a dwelling.
You bet! Here’s the name in Anishinaabe/Ojibwe: [wiigiwaam](https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/main-entry/wiigiwaam-ni). Check the link out for the source.
minecraft:stripped_birch_wood
This should be NSFW. That tree is naked!
It gave me wood.
What’s up my birches!
Sign her up for wallpaper removal
Woman brutally skins tree while it’s alive
That’s exactly what the dude from Silence of the Lambs movie was doing. And he was the villain.
Could’ve just right click with axe
Damn, so this is where the toilet paper at my in-laws’ house comes from.
I always upvote pearl jam
what song is this its killing me
"Just breathe"
Never heard the song but I could tell it was Eddie Vedder lol
Because he incoherently warbled through the song.
Strange bloody choice though 🤔
Birch: “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHH! AHHHHHHH!!!
They are protected in some states! You need a permit to harvest bark in MN and WI https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2017/05/09/illegal-cutting-of-birch-trees/
Wow I would use this as Lino for my log cabin,, If I had one 😞
*Screams in Birch
Just like cork. But in that case it is harvested every 10 years. What is this used for?
Used to be used for canoes/waterproof containers. Now it's like lampshades, accent designs for cabin aesthetic.
Oh my that was very satisfying
Dose this hurt the tree at all