Can you tell me more about your birch bark experience?
How thick was the birch bark-- Birch is one of those trees w/ layered bark. How wide of a piece can you put on before you have cupping issues, etc. Would a wide thin bark layer work glued down, or are narrow thick layers and nails a better way to go?

Don, I have no direct experience but do know that birch has a winter bark and a summer bark. I would imagine the winter bark would be the one to use, canoe builders used it. I have seen a Yurt roof covered with birch bark, it curled up and was replaced with cedar shingles with in a year. And I wonder what the insurance companies would think? Historically it has been used as a weather layer under trim and splices on clap boarding, et cetera.

Tim

I've seen birch bark used to wrap (outside in) timber ends going into masonry walls in the national cathedral reconstruction project in Stockholm. The restoration carpenter I talked to said that that's how the old guys did it, and that the beam ends and masonry were the only things to survive the fire. He further asserted that there was little to no deterioration of the beam ends at the walls - dating from sometime before 1780.

Thanks for the reply.
The winter bark is the inner, reddish stuff right? So I'd want to apply it reddish face to the weather, not the white side correct?

I really like yurts.

The curling that happened on that roof is why I was thinking about gluing it down to something...like veneer. Maybe use construction adhesive and a trowel.

I'm thinking about using it as siding on the top two feet of a wall. Maybe make "veneered panels" that I'd attach w/ copper nails or something.

That's fascinating. Makes perfect sense...

actually i used it both ways- some white out some darkside out, mostly for the accent effect. the applications above doors and windows saw little weather under the eaves so no real issues that way. very interesting to hear about the use of the bark to protect timbers. if you find a birch tree on the forest floor all the bark is still solid long after the wood inside is rotted.

in retrospect i think the custom in canoe building of putting the winter bark out makes sense, if only because it is smoother and doesn't peel off. the white side bark is above a door behind a light fixture (i thought it would reflect the light, and it does...) but the spiders like it too and have little bits to start their webs from and so it needs to be swept regularly. but it does look pretty.

the sheets start to roll straightaway, regardless of size when they're peeled from the tree (cut straight down and around the circumference and peel back with a dull axe). the sheets i harvested were about 1/4 inch thick, 3 feet long, and about 2 feet wide. if they're pushed down flat to dry they behave a bit better, but still like to roll as they were. i found it easiest to deal with the bark straight off the tree while its most pliable, nailed down in a fairly tight pattern (3inches -pretty effect too). it's pleasant to work with and smells good- minty. the sap is drinkable (the finns tap it and freeze it to drink straight- if you cut the top off a sapling in the spring when it's flowing you can suck it straight from the tree). this is the spiritual, lightening smell of the birch switch (koivu vihta) on the sauna stones.

i'm going to start experimenting with other barks now. wainscoting... door panels... ice house as mentioned... ???

Yes, the winter bark is darker and that is the reason for using winter bark, the contrast, the natives carved upon it. Attaining good quality bark is harder these days. I would contact someone cutting birch and strip it prier to the harvest, spring makes the most sense. Sounds like an interesting medium, and some installments, historic.

Tim

The original Bituthene...natural materials always make sense. Finding bark is a bit of a challenge for some of us. It would be easier to get some once a tree is freshly felled, I suppose (I'm only so tall, ladders are a pain, etc.)

I've put the word out to friends/family. We had a couple bad ice storms this winter that claimed many birches. I know some firewood dealers too..


toivo, got some pictures you could post of your handiwork?

i'll do this! nice of you to ask.

just harvested some more birch bark. actually this was from the top of the same tree that i harvested from last summer and had girdled. still full of sap though, even with no apparent life in the top.

this was the first birch to hew and it worked really nice. was able to chop up some braces out of the limbs without scoring even- cut like buttah

Interesting...

I've found some bark finally and will be stripping it this weekend. Downed tree on someone's lawn...

looking forward to your pics