Gorse and fires

[hedgerowpete]

Its not in, any of my books and I have not seen it mentioned in and of the fire threads here and on others so I thought I would post it for everyone.

Gorse, the yellowed flowered spiky bush that is in flower all year long (kiss kiss)

Is highly flamable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The oils inside the mainly green parts are very flamable. Its one of the reasons why there are so many canal side fires and fires in the moorlands. On a very hot day it thats next to nothing to make a whole bush go up in flames and as such the bush next door to it and so on untill we have a full wild fire going.

I have never tried but does anyone know how to seperate some of this oil for tinder fire starting use. Has anyone tried to preserve the green leaf for tinder and did it work, and what other ideas can we do with gorse in the way of fire.

 

[Toddy]

It certainly does flare. Best used when their are no active seed pods though or you can end up with wee firey missiles :yikes:

I've tied it into faggots before, and they're very good indeed. If you don't have timber for fuel, lots of small stuff bound tightly works like a log. The best bit is that you can include all sorts of things that give a more pleasant, or an anti insect, smoke too.
I usually put bog myrtle in with mine, and I like apple twigs, herbs like the melissa or sage work well too.

I don't know of any way other than by steam distillation of obtaining the oil from the gorse. Crushed it makes good food for horses. Kind of odd when you think on the thorns

I get good dye from it and the flowers are edible and tasty, and they make good wine.

Interested to hear what comes out in this thread

cheers,
Toddy

 

[hedgerowpete]

I have made wine from it but its not worth the thornes for the ned resualt.

I have heard about steam distallation for essentcall oils, its some thing i like to look into later on, but it would have to be about the cost of making a still small enough for it.
do the oil levels change through the year i take it in the winter they are lower than in the summer and do the oild exist in the wood and branchs or just the green parts as i thought?

 

[NikolaTesla]

Whenever I take my dog for a walk, sometime I will take a bag and collect dead gorse to burn off, it is very bad, but also good kindling, it powerlights your fire...

 

[Ivan Owen]

Wild ponies eat it naturally; they stamp on it to deal with the thorns. Smells lovely when it burns.

 

[Ogri the trog]

I have a number of gorse patches in my fields and occasionally get a mind to burn it off.

I've learnt to be careful though as it takes less than two minutes for a 5 foot diameter bush to go from a single match to a roaring inferno and to a smoking pile of ash.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[hedgerowpete]

so how come we all know this and yet its never mentioned in any book or any tv programe that has a camp fire. at one stage i thought it was only i that knew gorse was a petrol bush.


so how do we use its flamability as a kindling starter and i would like to keep my eye brows thank you

 

[mikeybear]

We used to set fire to it occasionally on the disused railway line when we were kids , boy did flare

 

[wildranger]

Just because it ain't in a book doesn't mean it doesn't work Books are incredibly limited in information anyway - You'd need to have committed at least 50 books on the subject of bushcraft to memory to even be scratching the surface of the subject! Gorse burns like crazy and the timber is good fuel and produces a distinct aroma. It often grows in the midst of dense conifer plantations where I live and assumes a long "trunk" with a bushy top 3 metres up!

 

[greensurfingbear]

I have vague recollections of gorse gettings its name from its fire qualities or its colour............. anyway I use it all the time to get my kelly kettle up to speed. I love being near it when the seeds pop, if its quiet enough then you can actually hear them

 

[palmnut]

I definitely did see it mentioned in one programme once - I think it was said that it was traditionally used for firing bread ovens (or something similar).

Blowed if I know which programme it was, mind you.

Peter

 

[realearner]

Thanks for that, never knew about gorse. Will have to see about getting some to try

 

[hedgerowpete]

does anyone know who to tame/control the gorse when we are dealing with fires, small fires under control, is leaf better than timber?

 

[palmnut]

It's the thin spikey bits that do dog impressions when set on fire.

Woof!

Peter

 

[slowworm]

Yes, gorse has apparently been used to fire bread ovens. I've been cutting some dead stuff back and the 1-2" thick stems also make good firewood. As it's quite hardy I've been planting some on the edges of my woodland as a wind break and for its nitrogen fixing qualities.

I've found the flowers ok to nibble, and I might try pickling the flower buds one day.

 

[hedgerowpete]

it makes an ok wine as many flower wines do but a little thin,

i will have to nip down the cut and take some gorse samples to try

 

[Nonsuch]

+1 on the bread oven story. I heard that the bread ovens of London were fired by gorse and that a gorse fire started the fire of London. True?

 

[Harvestman]

The other night The Big Lebowski and I were burning dead gorse on our overnighter, and it went very well. I liked that it goes dry and brittle and can easily be broken into small pieces for using in my Bushbuddy stove. Given that it was very damp generally a highly flammable fuel was a good thing.

 

[Bushwhacker]

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59692&p=725479#post725479