I do find birch bark, yellow or white, to be a challenge when it is wet. Many quote it as a great fire starter even when wet, I have had numerous occasions when it was a bugger. Now, dry it is great as you have shown, and even when things are wet I save some to add to the flame once the fire is up and starting to go.
You just have to scrape past the top layer to get it ignited. The oils in the bark protect it in the center. Expose more of the meat of the bark and once it catches, you're good to go. Also, have another piece of bark ready to hold over the new flame so that even if your new flame goes out at the base, what you are holding above it (where the BTUs will be at their highest level) will extend that flame and catch.
Birch bark would not be my choice for wet weather. I am blessed with an endless supply of Fatwood in my area. Birch bark is hard to beat in dry weather though, for speed of ignition.
Same here. Spruce branches at the trunk or scars on spruce or white pine work much better in wet conditions will little effort. We don't get the volume of fat wood as you get in the south but is can still be had.
I grew up 30 miles from Canada in the New York woods. I remember the spruce bubbles and pine sap well. We had a lot of White Pine, Spruces and Firs. Ours hands were constantly covered in sap.I found a Blue spruce up on this mountain in the Carolinas, and it reminded me of home.
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I do find birch bark, yellow or white, to be a challenge when it is wet. Many quote it as a great fire starter even when wet, I have had numerous occasions when it was a bugger. Now, dry it is great as you have shown, and even when things are wet I save some to add to the flame once the fire is up and starting to go.
You just have to scrape past the top layer to get it ignited. The oils in the bark protect it in the center. Expose more of the meat of the bark and once it catches, you're good to go. Also, have another piece of bark ready to hold over the new flame so that even if your new flame goes out at the base, what you are holding above it (where the BTUs will be at their highest level) will extend that flame and catch.
Good to go. Easier said than done when you dripping wet. Fatwood. I will leave it at that.
Birch bark would not be my choice for wet weather. I am blessed with an endless supply of Fatwood in my area. Birch bark is hard to beat in dry weather though, for speed of ignition.
Same here. Spruce branches at the trunk or scars on spruce or white pine work much better in wet conditions will little effort. We don't get the volume of fat wood as you get in the south but is can still be had.
I grew up 30 miles from Canada in the New York woods. I remember the spruce bubbles and pine sap well. We had a lot of White Pine, Spruces and Firs. Ours hands were constantly covered in sap.I found a Blue spruce up on this mountain in the Carolinas, and it reminded me of home.