Silver Birch (part 1)

The silver birch tree is one of the first trees many of us learn to identify, with its distinct bark and raft of uses to the bushcrafter. For me, years of using birch’s resources has developed into a deep reverence and sense of connection with the tree. For this blog, I aimed to dig a little deeper, and what I have found blew my mind. In fact, the uses of birch are too many to cover in one blog entry!

Firstly, a little natural history. There are dozens of birch species circling the Northern hemisphere, especially in the boreal regions, but some species reach as far south as Thailand and Florida. Our three native British species (Silver (Betula pendula); Downy (Betula pubescens) and the rare dwarf birch (Betula nana) hybridise readily. I have summarised the main identification features of downy and silver birch for you below. For our purposes, the uses of birch discussed in this blog are applicable to both species.

Many of us are familiar with birch’s marvellous bark. It is naturally oil-rich and so makes brilliant tinder and can even be used as a torch – these were used by sixteenth century Northumbrian folks to lure fish at night. But it’s not just birch’s fantastic flammability which bushcrafters love, the bark can be famously made into vessels from storage containers to large, open canoes. The water-repelling characteristic of the bark was also utilised in its use as a roofing and cladding material for dwellings.

A less known well-known use for birch bark is as paper, from the earliest known Buddhist texts to desperate letters written by people imprisoned in Stalin’s Gulags. Birch bark was also historically used to make a range of musical instruments including pipes and horns. The bark was even used as clothing!

Finally, bark is the source of another item which appears to have enhanced our lives and those of our non-human cousins – birch tar. This is extracted from the bark by pyrolysis (baking in airless conditions) and was achieved by Neanderthal people at least 250,000 years ago. Our Mesolithic ancestors are known to have chewed birch tar, a practice still seen amongst the Inari Sami for dental hygiene and problems. The tar was also utilised by north-east European and Russian people for human and animal medical purposes, including coughs, rheumatism and skin problems.

Of course, an extremely pertinent use of birch tar, is as the key ingredient in a commonly used glue and sealant. The glue forms part of systems for hafting tool and weapon blades. We can look once more to Ötzi for examples – his flint arrowheads and copper axe-head were hafted using birch tar glue, as were his arrow’s feather fletching. Without tools for hunting and crafting, humans and other hominids would have led much more difficult and impoverished lives.

Birch tar has also had an important role sealing bark items such as containers and canoes. In addition, it was rubbed into leather to create ‘Russian leather’ which was uniquely water resistant and durable, yet supple.

By now I hope you have been inspired to look at birch with a little more interest. In follow up blogs, we will uncover further ways people have thrived with the uses of birch and gain an understanding as to how and why birches have been an important focus of folklore around the globe.