bath broom called
vihta/vasta, braided from birch twigs Because of the hardness of birch, it is easier to shape it with power tools; it is quite difficult to work it with hand tools. • Birch wood is fine-grained and pale in colour, often with an attractive
satin-like sheen. Ripple figuring may occur, increasing the value of the timber for
veneer and furniture-making. The highly decorative Masur (or
Karelian) birch, from
Betula verrucosa var.
carelica, has ripple textures combined with attractive dark streaks and lines. • Birch
plywood is made from laminations of birch veneer. It is light but strong, and has many other good properties. It is among the strongest and dimensionally most stable plywoods, although it is unsuitable for exterior use. Birch plywood is used to make
longboards (
skateboard), giving it a strong yet flexible ride. It is also used (often in very thin grades with many laminations) for making
model aircraft. • Birch wood is often used in the manufacture of
popsicle sticks due to its durability, smoothness and neutral flavour. • Extracts of birch are used for
flavoring and
leather oil, and in cosmetics such as
soap and
shampoo. In the past, commercial oil of wintergreen (
methyl salicylate) was made from the
sweet birch (
Betula lenta). •
Birch-tar or Russian oil extracted from birch bark is
thermoplastic and waterproof; it was used as a
glue on, for example,
arrows, and also for medicinal purposes. • Fragrant twigs of wintergreen group birches are used in
saunas. • Birch is also associated with the feast of
Pentecost in Central and Eastern Europe and Siberia, where its branches are used as decoration for churches and homes on this day. • Ground birch bark,
fermented in
sea water, is used for seasoning the woolen, hemp or linen sails and hemp rope of
traditional Norwegian boats. • Birch twigs bound in a bundle, also called birch, were used for
birching, a form of
corporal punishment. • Many
Native Americans in the United States and
Indigenous peoples in Canada prize the birch for its bark, which because of its light weight, flexibility, and the ease with which it can be stripped from fallen trees, is often used for the construction of strong, waterproof but lightweight
canoes, bowls, and
wigwams. • The
Hughes H-4 Hercules was made mostly of birch wood, despite its better-known moniker, "The Spruce Goose". • Birch plywood was specified by the BBC as the only wood that can be used in making the cabinets of the long-lived
LS3/5A loudspeaker. • Birch is used as
firewood because of its high
calorific value per unit weight and unit volume. It burns well, without popping, even when frozen, or freshly hewn. The bark will burn very well even when wet because of the oils it contains. With care, it can be split into very thin sheets that will ignite from even the smallest of sparks. Birch wood can be used to smoke foods. • Birch seeds are used as
leaf litter in miniature terrain models. • Birch oil is used in the manufacture of
Russia leather, a water-resistant leather.
As food The inner bark is considered edible as an emergency food, even when raw.
Medical Approved topical medicine In the European Union, a
prescription gel containing birch bark extract (commercial name
Episalvan, betulae cortex dry extract (5–10 : 1); extraction solvent:
n-heptane 95% (w/w)) was approved in 2016 for the
topical treatment of minor skin wounds in adults. Although its
mechanism of action in helping to heal injured skin is not fully understood, birch bark extract appears to stimulate the growth of
keratinocytes which then fill the wound.
Research and traditional medicine Preliminary research indicates that the
phytochemicals,
betulin and possibly other
triterpenes, are active in
Episalvan gel and wound healing properties of birch bark.
Paper , 1240–1260
Wood pulp made from birch gives relatively long and slender fibres for a
hardwood. The thin walls cause the fibre to collapse upon drying, giving a
paper with low bulk and low opacity. The birch fibres are, however, easily fibrillated and give about 75% of the tensile strength of softwood. The low opacity makes it suitable for making
glassine. In
India, the birch (
Sanskrit: भुर्ज,
bhurja) holds great historical significance in the culture of
North India, where the thin bark coming off in winter was extensively used as writing paper. Birch paper (Sanskrit: भुर्ज पत्र,
bhurja patra) is exceptionally durable and was the material used for many ancient Indian texts. The
Roman period
Vindolanda tablets also use birch as a material on which to write and birch bark was used widely in ancient
Russia as notepaper (
beresta) and for decorative purposes and even making
footwear (
lapti) and baskets.
Use in musical instruments Birch wood is sometimes used as a
tonewood for semiacoustic and
acoustic guitar bodies, and occasionally for solid-body guitar bodies. It is also a common material used in
mallets for
keyboard percussion. Drum manufacturers, such as
Gretsch and
Yamaha, have been known to use birch wood in the construction of drum shells, owing to its strength and colour which takes stain in an appealing way, and which can also amber over very well, while also giving the drums an appealing tone which changes depending on the type of birch used. ==References==