Fire Starter

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earlmck
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Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2010 12:10 am
Location: pert-neer middle of Oregon

Fire Starter

Post by earlmck »

Friend Butch has a back pasture which used to be solid with pine trees -- both ponderosa and lodgepole. The pine beetle works these hard and over the years has killed many of his trees. I went over yesterday to help cut a few of the dead ones out of his pasture -- three lodgepole pines made barely a quarter of a cord of firewood but the nice thing about lodgepoles is that although the volume per tree is low they don't take long to cut and you get a bunch of rounds which fit in the stove without need of splitting.
LPineRounds0043.jpg
Another nice thing about these bug-killed trees is the pine pitch the tree produces as it tries to eject the beetle -- my favorite fire starter. A little piece of pitch the size of a fingernail burns hot and long and will get a fire going without a lot of attention to laying down kindling wood. I may not have got a lot of wood but I got at least two years worth of fire-starting pitch. And with my wood stove I make lots of fire starts in a year, especially in the milder part of the fall and spring when you only want a fire for a little while in the morning.
PinePitch0045.jpg
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The greatest patriot...
is he who heals the most gullies.
Patrick Henry
Bill in Oregon
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Posts: 8849
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2008 10:05 am
Location: Sweetwater, TX

Re: Fire Starter

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Making me homesick for Oregon, Earl. Nothing like the smell of a stack of fresh-cut lodgepole firewood -- and that pitch has a perfume all its own.
3leggedturtle
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Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:34 am
Location: north of Palacios about 1400 miles

Re: Fire Starter

Post by 3leggedturtle »

Earl, Pine Pitch, Fatwood and Birch Bark are my main ways if starting fire. Need to try the Siberian Log fire one of these days. I miss having a good old wood stove. Todd/3leg
30/30 Winchester: Not accurate enough fer varmints, barely adequate for small deer; BUT In a 10" to 14" barrelled pistol; is good for moose/elk to 200 yards; ground squirrels to 300 metres

250 Savage... its what the 223 wishes it could be...!
.45colt
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Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:00 am
Location: North Coast of America-Ohio

Re: Fire Starter

Post by .45colt »

Boy Earl that pitch would be better than gold when You need a fire. Thanks for the pictures. :D .
octagon
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Posts: 1902
Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2007 4:56 pm
Location: TEXAS

Re: Fire Starter

Post by octagon »

As a young man I toured the USA via motorcycle a few times, and always carried a 35mm film canister full of fresh pitch. It would start good campfires with fairly wet wood. Also had half a dozen fatwood sticks as well, sure nice when a cold fellow wants a fire right now.
BenT
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Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:21 pm
Location: Northern Wisconsin

Re: Fire Starter

Post by BenT »

My fire starter is pine cones. I have 6 gunny sacks full in the barn to get me through the winter. I keep an old coal bucket full of them by the wood stove.
piller
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Re: Fire Starter

Post by piller »

I have some paper egg cartons with dryer lint and wax from a wax melt room air freshener. Those take up a little more room, but they work.
D. Brian Casady
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
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