Birchbark and Birch Bark

Birch, or White Birch, is a tree found in Northern US, Canada, Europe and Northern Asia. Mature trees can assume a height of up to 65 feet. Birch trees feature white bark which can be peeled off in horizontal strips. Its leaves are bright green, serrated and roughly heart shaped.

Collection and storage:

Birch bark can be removed fairly easily from the trunk or branches, living or recently dead, by cutting a slit lengthwise through the bark and pulling or prying it away from the wood. The best time for collection is spring or early summer, as the bark is of better quality and most easily removed.

Removing the outer (light) layer of bark from the trunk of a living tree may not kill it, but probably weakens it and makes it more prone to infections. Removal of the inner (dark) layer, the phloem, kills the tree by preventing the flow of sap to the roots.

To prevent it from rolling up during storage, the bark should be spread open and kept pressed flat.

Working:

Birch bark can be cut with a sharp knife, and worked like cardboard. For sharp bending, the fold should be scored (scratched) first with a blunt stylus.

Fresh bark can be worked as is; bark that has dried up (before or after collection) should be softened by steaming, by soaking in warm water, or over a fire.

Birch bark uses:

Birch bark was a valuable construction material in any part of the world where birch trees were available. Containers like wrappings, bags, baskets, boxes, or quivers were made by most societies well before pottery was invented[citation needed]. Other uses include:

* In North America, the native population used birch bark for canoes, wigwams, scrolls, ritual art (birch bark biting), maps (including the oldest maps of North America[citation needed]), torches, fans, musical instruments, clothing, and more.
* In Scandinavia and Finland, it was used as the substratum of sod roofs, for making boxes, casks and buckets, fishing implements, and shoes (as used by the Egtved Girl), etc..
* In Russia, many birch bark documents have survived from the Middle Ages.
* In the Indian civilisation birch-bark, along with dried palm leaves, replaced parchment as the primary writing medium. The oldest known Buddhist manuscripts (some of the Gandharan Buddhist Texts), from Afghanistan, were written on birch bark[citation needed].

Birch bark also makes an outstanding tinder, as the inner layers will stay dry even through heavy rainstorms. To render birch bark useless as tinder, it must be soaked for an extended period.