Containers Made From Beech Bark, Make Your Own

Jon Ridgeon brings us this simple but beautiful Beech bark container made from materials that are easy to aquire and use with minimal tools.

I have never worked with Beech bark until now, and I’m sure most of you haven’t either. Have I made a new discovery!? I was walking through the woods a few days ago and saw a fallen branch from a Beech Tree. It had been there some time and had dried out. The bark had come away from the wood in curved sheets:

The bark is strong like board

You can cut across it easily with a saw

But to cut down it length ways I recommend scoring it all the way through because it is a relatively fragile material

You may wish to cut a test piece of bark to test techniques on like i did. I also found that it was really easy to drill neat holes just with the tip of your knife.

Ok, to start off, select a piece of bark with a good curve in it (like a gutter) Then cut this into a length from which you can make the sides of the container. You can shave off the outer dark bark with your knife to reveal an orangey blown bark beneath.

Here are the pieces of bark I used as material for the sides:

Cut two side pieces from this of an equal length. Then glue them together with strong wood glue like so:
I used masking tape to hold the sides tightly together.

Once the glue is fully dry you can make the base and lid.
Start by carving a plank of wood (I used Ash wood)

Draw round the Base of the container onto the plank of wood and then carve the base out and sand the edges to the perfect size.

Now do the same for the top part of the lid.

To make the part of the lid which inserts into the container you will need to do the same again but draw around the inside of the container. This part needs to be a snug fit (not too loose and not so big that it will split the container)

Glue the two parts of the lid together

Stick the base on now and leave the whole thing to dry.

And there you have it!

Hope you like it…  JonR – Source@ Bushcraftuk.com

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We love this sort of thing on Outdoor Revival and we’ll be bringing you a lot more of it over the coming months, if you enjoy making or repairing your outdoor kit or if you have a good story to tell or blog let us know about it on our FB page, we’re also happy for article or review submissions , we’d love to hear from you.