Layering the Birch bark vertically in the container would allow the oil to drain downward more easily and enable any excess water vapor to rise freely and escape the container via the hole on top , as opposed to, layering the birch bark horizontally, which would not aid or induce drainage, Also layering the birch bark horizontally would inhibit water vapor from rising and escaping.
It contain betulin acid known for its anti cancer efficiency, apparently able to treat serious superbugs. Oil migth be great for skin problems, immunity boosting ..other way is to inhale wet birch bark smoke 7 days in raw to get rid of staffyloccocus it helped many people. Thanks for sharing
Not too good for the skin though, I think. But too many mosquitos is detrimental to your mental health, so I guess sometimes one just have to prioritize 🤣
When using pine pitch for glues a few things help to make it non brittle. 1:use the gooey semi fresh stuff, not the white crusty powdery stuff (the turps have evaporated off and makes more birrtle. 2: add about 1/4 or less char/ash (not sure if it matters but I swear hardwood ash works better), and 1/4 of less of finely chopped shredded dryer fiber (could be grasses, jute, ect whatever is finest n dry, hint crushed dry deer,moose, of other grazer droppings work amazing and what some natives used). Low low heat, melt resin, mix rest ingredients. Allow to temper (cool) to handling temp and go to town. U can glob around a sharpened stick with a groove so when u warm it up u can almost use it like a pencil gluestick. Depending on ur ratios u can keep it almost rubber like but I prefer alittle stiffer than silicone.
Great video. Thanks for posting. I'm gonna try this come spring or early summer. You know the birch remains (charcoal) can be used like char cloth. It will take a spark from fire steel and flint and put a piece of it in your twisted wood and blow it into a flame. Save and keep a container for the charcoal.
take 50% pine resin and 50% charcoal dust and combine it over a tiny flame until it melts and slowly turn in into balls as it cools and hardens and you can make a great addition to a basic tinder kit that'll help the fire burn longer and hotter, its not very practical to make but knowing that there is an option to get a fire going in poor conditions is always good to know
Great vid! We don't get a lot of birch on the west coast here, but have always wanted to try this. Thanks for sharing, just subbed and look forward to seeing more of your vids. Cheers friend!
Thank you, in most of the vids I’ve seen, people are just using the outer paper layer, but I remember my grandfather using the under layer of the bark, as you have. Watching these other videos, it seems they’re missing out on a lot of oil.
The dog is like "omg you're digging? But you never let me dig! Boss, boss, boss, i swear, there's no bones down there, I'd smell them if there were!" ^^,
I bought a huge box of birch bark a year ago for a project that I never ended up up doing. So I have been trying to figure out something to use it for. Now I know what I can do with it. Thx u. It is taking up so much room so I can turn it into a medicine of sorts now and something to help with my woodworking and leatherworking etc so thx u thx u thx u. :)
Might want to set aside a few minutes to screw some lid latches onto your tin, you're probably losing half your yield through the vent. Be sure to reinforce where you attach them so the pressure doesn't blow them out though.
I love the bush craft videos with a sidekick dog . It is a bit lonely it the wilderness alone . Great companions , early warning , protection and entertainment. Truly mans best friend they will literally lick your wounds and wipe your tears away with their tongue . That video .
My dad once told me People will look away at our common ways of life and nature They will advance themselfs with computers and travel and polute every source we had given to us for free Only to find one way or another How to come back to common ways of life and nature..
Best to learn this stuff now, because you may need it next year... No one knows what tomorrow will bring. Best be prepared. It'll make life more pleasant during hard times.
You can make a shampoo from birch tar that is great if you have an itchy scalp, even for psoriaris it's a godsend. Downside of course is that you'll smell like tar for half a week. If I recall correctly you use about 5-10% birch tar in your shampoo.
I never knew about birch trees I'm in California we have redwood trees ...pine trees not sure about birch well at least in my part of Cali ... I am so excited about all this info on this wonderful tree
14:47 a recent vid I watched said if you add "lard" to your Pine Pitch it'll make it more pliable... just be careful how much you use because you could end up with silly puddy lol
Just wondering if the residue bark would be good flint and steel tinder? As for other uses for the oil, how about as lamp oil? PS. I have subscribed. Great channel thank you.
Can this be done in an oven at high temperatures? Does the time of year make a difference? The reason I ask is it’s mid June and a storm blew a couple young trees down and I want to at least repurpose what I can from them if at all possible. Thank you! 🙏🏼
A source of making a new source of biogasoline because you can get birch alcohol and mix them together and it kinda smells like a kerosene base but with a smell of alcohol on top of it
Hi Keep Focus, I just decanted it into another container,the two liquids do not mix together so it is easy to pour of the oil that is flouting on top of the water. You can heat the oil up to evaporate any moisture that is left over after you have decanted it. I hope this helps, thanks for the great question.👍
I live in maine, we have plenty of birch around. I going to do this for sure! is there anydifference in the quality of white birch oil vs. yellow birch?
Nice! If you're using bark from a downed birch tree, how old can the tree be before the bark dries out on its own? Or is the oil still in the bark even if the tree itself is decayed? I'm living for now in a part of Poland where there's tons of birch around, a lot of downed trees in the forest but many of them have been down for some time, it looks like. The bark looks still pretty viable but wondering if it's still good to extract oil from?
Hi @almishti, the Birch bark can still be used even if the tree has been down for a number of years,as the oils will preserve the bark. I hope this helps.
What's the difference in regards to the finished product between this oil, and steam distilled essential oil? Do you use it internally for. Pain relief?
This is burnt and distilled is clean. I would not recommend using this on skin compared with steam distilled. I’m trying to figure out how to do that method instead.
@Charles Clements, Good question, there is no reason it could be done in the stove,, essentially you are baking the bark to release the oil,the only draw back is that it may smoke your stove out once the bark has started to char, I don't know what the temperature would be in side the pot to be able to achieve the best efficiency for the process with a stove. I hope this helps.
You should have mentioned how very hard it is to get this stuff off your hands! I filtered mine in a coffee filter. Worked well. Trying to find a way to make it without burning it out. Boiling or something.
Hi @Snowrunner101 All I did was pour the majority of the water out very carefully and then warmed the Birch oil to evaporate any excess water left. I hoped this helped,thanks for the question.👍
why would you use shredded wood when pine resin lights instantly? YOU ARE getting birch oil correct? Wouldn't it be better to get some of that pine resin while you are out in the field? That way, it will light for you even in rain.
@@AlphaPrepping birch beer is more of a small beer. I'm just trying to figure out how to make the oil extract. If you read the ingredients on store bought birch beer(non alcoholic) it says birch extract
Only thing I can think of is too much oxygen is getting into the container and instead of sweating the wood or bark it's combusting all the violatiles.
@@henrymorgan3420 I just came up with an idea for a simple "pressure relief valve". Put a slightly larger can upside down on top of the can containing the bark. It will be like a lid, but let pressure out if it buids up.
Hi Nietzsches Muse,you can put it in the oven to bake but I wouldn't recommend it.the birch bark will produce lots of smoke and it will make your kitchen smell and it take time to get ride of that smell. I hope this helps,thanks for the great question.👍
It was a logical question. The oil seems to do well in high heat which is great for frying. The smokey production process makes it gather lots of of unsavoury flavours, though.
Hi,it can be used from living trees but I try to use the resources from dead tree,it's good practice not to damage living trees. Great question👍 #alphamarc