View Full Version : Favourite Tree?
TheViking
26-10-2004, 20:28
What's your favourite tree?? :-) Mention one, and only one. (well try to, I know it's hard). :wink:
Mine has to be birch, (even thought I don't get acces to those very often). Simply because it's soft and therefore good for carving. It also make beautiful wood objects and the bark can be used as tinder and a tar oil. It's also good for knife handles and kuksa's. :wink:
-?? :pack:
Birch too - excellent source of bark as a material to make things from, tinder and sap!
i would say that mine would be the pine as they are such good fun to work in and the wood make's good logs the resin is good for making a candle if you get loads of it and can be used for glue never tried it though i most have a go even the shavings from the chainsaw burn well :wave:
mine would have to be scots pine, just because i love the caledonian forests in scotland, stunning.
Mine is beech. The size, beechnuts, leaves and unusual grain. Thats my favourite not my most useful.
RovingArcher
26-10-2004, 21:35
The Redwood. No other living being on this continent, except for maybe the Sequoia and the grizzly, can inspire such awe and humility in me.
anything broard leaf for me! :biggthump
spiritofold
26-10-2004, 22:14
Hazel, excellent for carving,pot holders,fire making and its been used as such for thousands of years.
Andy :)
Justin Time
26-10-2004, 22:20
For the moment I would say Ash because it was the first that I felt I could ID from it's smallest sapling to full grown, at any time of year and without any great concentration...s'funny but years as a birdwatcher mean I had probably got to the stage where I could ID a couple of hundred birds by some combination of a glimpse and a bit of call... Tress on the other hand stay exactly where they are but are so much harder to ID!
Oak's my favorite, but we don't have many of them round here. :-(
Yew for me. You may not want to risk eating any of it for obvious reasons. The fact that something survived that could poison your stock just goes to show how much we have to owe to it.
The same as Rob, I'm afraid. Yew is my tree.
This tree has been present for so long in our culture and has pervaded so many areas that it cannot be ignored. I could list it's uses, but I'd run out of memory before I had even covered half of it's uses :shock:
you just have to stand in a yew grove and you would realise how usefull it is !!
Cheers,
Martin
arctic hobo
27-10-2004, 09:03
Norwegian spruce, although not for any practical reasons (except christmas trees!). Just memories... (damn that sounds soppy!)
But how many trees look like this half the year?
http://www.chiba3.com/photo/nishiazuma08-big.jpg - too big to post here
Paganwolf
27-10-2004, 09:14
Mine's the Oak there are many of them around my neck of the woods :wink: the area i live in is called Thurrock whish is a name play of Thors Oak as legend tells that Thor took the oak for his mighty hammer from the Essex woodlands (Does that make thor an Essex boy :shock: ), Its lovely to carve,the wood is simply the best for building IMO, acorns are lovely for pancakes, and its a Mighty fine looking tree :biggthump
I was going to say birch for all the reasons that everyone else has already said, but I think instead I'll say Elder.
I just went through the list of uses to which I've put this tree, and its huge! Its wood is very light - and the stems are straight and hollow, and filled with pith. This pith makes great tinder, the stems can make good bow drill spindles, and when hollowed out, the stems can be used for making pipes, blowpipes, straws etc. The pith can also sometimes be extratced as a solid piece, which makes a very good natural fishing float.
The leaves contain a strong-smelling chemical that repels most insects when rubbed onto skin. They are also good (in small doses) as they act as a diuretic and help relieve constipation. They also make a very nice green-brown dye.
The bark is a strong purgative - so this might be of use, although I've never tried it! ;) It does however also make a good brown dye, and a decoction of the bark and leaves is very very astringent, and closes up cuts and wounds quickly.
The flowers are very tasty! They can be used in drinks, desserts etc, as well as in perfumes and scents, but they also have an anti-inflammatory effect and are good for sore eyes, rashes, blisters and burns/scalds when used as an infusion/ointment.
The berries (when cooked) are also very tasty - very good in jams, pies etc, but also when boiled up with cloves they make one of the best cough syrups I know. they are also very rich in vitamin C - second only to rosehips in wild plants.
No wonder elder was often referred to in ancient herbal texts s the mother-tree, or 'nature's pharmacy'!
(A small bit of advice/superstition though - never take living wood from the elder tree without asking its permission - preferably never at all - only take fallen dead branches/winter prunings etc. there are many superstitions in Northern Europe that because of the tree's 'magical' properties, it is host to the fairy people/dead souls/evil spirits, and cutting the wood will release these and bring misfortune upon the cutter. Just a note of warning :shock: :rolmao: )
does it have to be in this country?? if it does its the birch for me
if not the coconut tree :o): what a fantastic tree!!
it provides amongst other things:
food
water
sugar
oil
fuel
shelter
cordage
I must 100% agree with stuart on the coconut palm. Having spent months on end with these trees in the tropics they become like a friend. They are so useful in so many ways its unbelievable.
:-)
Ed
C_Claycomb
27-10-2004, 12:44
I don't know if it is a tree....but the ultimate useful plant HAS to be Wompom!! :lol:
Yes - sounds like just the kind of plant a bushcrafter would want to know about:
The Wompom (http://www.nyanko.pwp.blueyonder.co.u k/fas/bestiary_wompom.html)
:rolmao:
Dave Farrant
27-10-2004, 14:44
More info on the Wompom please C_Claycomb?
Maidenhair-tree (Ginkgo biloba) just because it reminds me that world holds lots more secrets than we know about.
Birch here too......exactly what Andy said!
Tantalus
02-11-2004, 19:37
rowans for me i guess
always had a soft spot for them for no real reason
old lore says plant one in your garden to keep witches away from the house
pretty colours in autumn, berries for the birds
and in the winter something very beautiful about the shape against a winter sky
nice walking sticks, my present one is from a tree that telecom wanted to cut down for the phone lines, so i raided it before they got there :nana:
sometimes called mountain ash which is a name i like for them too
Tant
The larch (http://www.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/PEOPLE/bolder/montypython/larch1.html)
The larch (http://www.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/PEOPLE/bolder/montypython/larch1.html)
The larch is a nice tree. good choice.
Keith_Beef
03-11-2004, 09:30
Birch - Tree of life
Surely you mean Yggdrasil?
Keith.
Keith_Beef
03-11-2004, 09:40
This is a tough one.... Until recently, I would have said Elder, Rowan or Ash.
Elder gives berries, and a dead stem can give pith for making fishing floats, and if you remove the pith from a stem without breaking it, you get a nice blowpipe for blowing into the embers of a fire to get it going stronger (but some people might be allergic, and could get a rash round the mouth).
But now, my favourite is the Chestnut Tree. Last week, I got a good harvest of chestnuts with my wife and two kids. They loved scrabbling through the leaves, breaking open the spiky caseswith there shoes and picking up the big nuts.
Down in the south west of France, where we spend a lot of time, the chestnut was apparently nicknamed the bread tree ('abre à pain') due to the huge part it played in the diet of the locals. I've read that the Romans would plant large numbers of chestnut trees wherever the army was garrissoned, to provide food.
The wood is used for roof trusses and floorboards. Thinner wood for bentwood furniture and making shelters. grows fast and is a great wood for making charcoal. It will quickly throw up several long, straight poles if you cut down a tree.
If anybody knows a good, easy way of blanching chestnuts, please post!
Keith.
If anybody knows a good, easy way of blanching chestnuts, please post!
Keith.
There isn't really an easy way of shelling/blanching chestnuts - however, these two alternatives have both worked for me in the past - but it was a good while ago...
1) Cut an X in the skin on the flat side of each chestnut. Put the chestnuts in a pan with some oil (about a tbsp of oil per cup nuts) and fry lightly for 5-10 minutes. Place the chestnuts in a roasting tray and put in the oven for 5-15 minutes on quite hot (200 degC) until the shell curls at the X mark. Remove, and shell - with any luck the nuts should shell easily and should be nicely blanched when shelled. rub in a kitchen towel to remove skins.
2) Cut an X in the skin on the flat side of each chestnut. Cover the nuts with warm water and soak for 15 minutes, then drain well. Put in a roasting tray and roast for 5-15 minutes, until shell curls away at X mark, about 15 minutes. Shell the nuts, then blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes and drain. Rub in a kitchen towel to remove skins.
Hope this helps!
Carcajou Garou
04-11-2004, 02:40
Willow or cedar for me, medicine from the branches, other than that maple (sugar).
just a though
Juniper ! :)
The bark is great tinder (the powdered inner bark will catch a spark and smoulder forever). The dry trunk is good enough to make fire by friction... IOW, if you find a standing dead, dry juniper you can start fire...
The bays are edible (well... mostly a condiment) and they also are good medicine to clean-up the liver and help digestion.
Juniper smoke, too, smells so perfectly good... I love that smell. Nothing beats juniper-smoked bannock IMO ;)
Cheers,
David
Well,
I'll think I'll cheat a bit and say which ever one I happen to be sitting under / in at the time!
Cheers
David
Apple.
Because there is nothing quite like sitting at the top of a tree watching the birds, sunset, feeling the wind, everything, whilst eating apples all evening. You even have ammo to scare next-door's cat away from the rabbit/ducklings/chicks. ;)
bambodoggy
06-12-2004, 14:10
For me it's got to be birch....for all the reasons others have already said and also because it saves me using char-cloth...we have so many of them round here that tinder is always only a few peelings away :chill: and there's none of that annoying blow blow blow (damn it's gone out) blow blow blow etc as it lights to a flame straight off....
They also have a habit of dying and falling over nice and close to the edge of our woods so when I go logging for my woodburning stove there's always loads of trunks about for me to saw up without having to drag them miles.
I've made little bowls and a ladel out of the bark but if anyone can show me how to get it off the trunk in sheets larger than about a foot square I'd be grateful....? ? ?
Mr Cissey
06-12-2004, 14:23
Surely you mean Yggdrasil?
Keith.
Thought 'Yggdrasil - the tree of life' was an ash
TheViking
06-12-2004, 15:05
Thought 'Yggdrasil - the tree of life' was an ash
You're right, it wasn't birch. It was ash. :wink:
I've made little bowls and a ladel out of the bark but if anyone can show me how to get it off the trunk in sheets larger than about a foot square I'd be grateful....? ? ?
I have never had the opportunity to try it but I read somewhere that if you hit the bark all over it loosens it and makes it easier to remove.
I have been pondering this one for ages. It's always been a choice between apple and rowan.
Rowan for all the reasons Tant wrote. It's just a beautiful little tree.
But it's got to be apple, fruit obviously but it's also a lovely wood for carving and knife handles (makes a good bow if you can get hold of a bit straight enough) the blossom is lovely too.
arctic hobo
06-12-2004, 22:07
And it smells lovely in the smoke :-)
Tekeeler
08-12-2004, 20:20
Has to be the ash Fraxinus excelsior. Will burn when damp dry or saturated. Good carving wood.
(If I have a little lattitutde and can choose a grass) I'll take bamboo. It does everything that you could want from a tree.
You can eat it (pith and shoots)
You can carry huge stems (very light)
It makes great structural material (bridges, scaffolding)
You can quickly make shelters from it
You can steam bend it
It floats, maintains integrity and doesn't waterlog
Buckets, cups and bowls are easy
Pipes are easy
You can use the fibres for string
You can burn it
You can bend it
You can chop it easily
It grows back quickly
It's plentiful
The only drawback is that once, in every few decases, it flowers. But that doesn't really affect anyone badly but the pandas.
If you're a stickler, and force me to name a real tree, I'll go with the Banyan. It's not good for the above reasons, but it's magnificent and some of the big old trees have seen more history than many human lifetimes.