Making a Backpack from Birch Bark - Finnish Folk
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Published 2021-07-01
A homemade traditional take on the factory produced options on the market, or perhaps for some, a survival backpack .
Weaving is a primitive technology often forgotten but is a good project for bushcraft development or simply because it's a very alluring skill to learn.
Birch bark is a great material, it can also be used for axe sheath, knife sheath, canoe, roofing for shelters, belts, foraging baskets, shoes and more.
Weaved backpacks in birch bark are great for trips in the wild; some weaves can be pulled out (and replaced later) to be used for fire making.
The best time to harvest birch bark is between May and beginning July; depending on your location and year. The bark will grow back and the tree will continue to grow if the cambium was not damaged during the harvesting. The cambium is the layer between the bark and the wood pulp.
The new bark will be dark in color, so choosing discrete trees spread through a wide area is a good aesthetic thing to do, or simply take from trees that will be destined for firewood due woods management.
In this video, I take the bark of a standing tree that is dying; I did it for demonstration, but the bark of dead trees in my location is not good and I do it uncareful as tree has no future. I recommend to search for better examples, on living trees.
If the birch bark is not good in your location or you do not own permission to harvest; birch bark can be purchased from sustainable sources.
UPdate:
-There is another way to reenforce the opening of the backpack, I will be doing a video to supplement this one showing how to strengthen the opening without twine. If you would like to know it and the video happens to not be online yet, feel free to contact me on fb for an explanation.
Notes:
-To have an idea of the final size of this backpack, I used weaves of 2,8 cm (a bit more than an inch) and weaved 12 weaves on 12. The backpack is around 53x43x13 CM or around 20x17x5 IN. I am 160 cm; A bigger person can weave a bigger backpack.
-the smallest backpack shown in the video, is made with the same weaves of 2,8 cm but it has for base 10 on 10 weaves. A great size for a day pack or foraging.
-Bedrolls or tools can be easily attached outside of the backpack in between the weaves.
thank you for stepping by!
All Comments (21)
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This was so calming to watch 😌 I enjoyed every little, slow moment of it ♥️♥️♥️
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Pleasant surprise seeing the traditional art of Finnish birchbark work.
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Someone get this woman a bucket. That stream water keeps getting away no matter how hard she tries.
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Awesome skill! Beautiful work! Thank you for not letting this craft disappear.
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Absolutely stunning work! Keep doing what you're doing!
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Great video 👌
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That's a pretty looking basket. Thanks for showing us mam! This is a hidden gem. Very nice.
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Also beautiful video editing work.
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This video is so stunning! I love how in between shots of making the backpack you included the beautiful landscape. Thank you for uploading this gem ❤
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I agree with every word Tijana said....it was very well made, I loved the whole atmosphere and so much the craft itself, just beautiful ...thank you for sharing
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Love this. The sounds, the craft, the knowledge. Best TV ever =)
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This is such an amazing video! I really hope you make more! It'd be great to see you make a birch bark basket
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THANKS
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Your video was very interesting, what a beautiful backpack.
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Magic!! 🥰
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that was such a cool experience!! i imagine making the basketpack is a good time, soothing in its way, listening to the sounds of nature was soothing for me. i wanna learn how to do this!! i feel like i have a general idea how to start but the details elude me, maybe i'll have better luck weaving stuff in hand than in my mind!! thanks for the share!
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This was so beautiful. Look forward to more videos.
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what a truly wonderful project. so many skills on display here, thank you for sharing!
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What no song for us on this one😂. Beautiful backpack and fantastic video.
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This is really cool!
