Pine Resin?

[ProjectDexter]

I see lots of Bushcrafters use Pine sap or resin, sometimes dried and crystalized, and they just get it right off of a pine or evergreen tree. Do we have an average amount of trees here in Tennessee that bleed resin like that?

All the evergreens I seem to find on the farm are dry as ever, see lots of people start fires with the resin and even make "fatwood" from it.

[Lumber_Jack]

[quote name='ProjectDexter' timestamp='1354341205' post='853278']I see lots of Bushcrafters use Pine sap or resin, sometimes dried and crystalized, and they just get it right off of a pine or evergreen tree. Do we have an average amount of trees here in Tennessee that bleed resin like that?

All the evergreens I seem to find on the farm are dry as ever, see lots of people start fires with the resin and even make "fatwood" from it.[/quote]

Well it depends on where you live, Tennessee is a wide state that covers 4 different geological areas that will determine what trees you may find.

First off all pine trees have pine sap. It's simply the blood of the tree. It's meant to be on the inside. We a pine tree is wounded by a bug or scrape the tree will bleed and the sap will form a scab. That's what you see on the outside. You can artificially bleed the tree by drilling small holes, just don't drill too many too big or you could kill the tree, but 4-5 small holes about 3-4 inches deep shouldn't hurt. Assuming the tree is 10" +. Small trees just don't drill so deep.


East Tennesseeans look for White Pine, large pines that grow in coves and creek bottoms. Most short leaf in the valley and towards the Plateau were killed by the Southern Pine Beetle. You may find a few but they will be scarce. There is also Virgina Pine, grows on poor dry sites, is often crooked and had lots of small golf ball like cones

On the plateau there are large quantities of planted Loblolly Pine. Also white pine and Virginia Pine. These are common in middle and west Tn as well. However middle and west Tn will have much more natural pine mixed in with hardwood trees.

The likelihood of finding natural pine in hardwood areas is much greater in middle and west Tn, but should be prevalent in the right areas statewide.

[UncleJak]

What he said ^^^^^^^^

[ProjectDexter]

THanks! I guess I need to look harder lol.

[Jonnin]

green cones are just full of the stuff from some types of trees.

[subsonic]

Feel like taking a hike on the weekend? Drive over to the Garrison Creek recreation area on the Natchez Trace Parkway, about a mile south of the Leiper's Fork exit on Hwy 46. The trail starts next to the restroom building and is about 4 miles long. The southwest corner of the Garrison Creek trail, where it cuts back toward the starting point, is a pine glade, lots of trees and cones, and a beautiful place with hardly anyone else around.

[ProjectDexter]

[quote name='subsonic' timestamp='1354720007' post='855226']
Feel like taking a hike on the weekend? Drive over to the Garrison Creek recreation area on the Natchez Trace Parkway, about a mile south of the Leiper's Fork exit on Hwy 46. The trail starts next to the restroom building and is about 4 miles long. The southwest corner of the Garrison Creek trail, where it cuts back toward the starting point, is a pine glade, lots of trees and cones, and a beautiful place with hardly anyone else around.
[/quote]

I'll have to check that out!

[Guest ochretoe]

At the Norris Dam museum there is a pich rock.  It's a roundish rock with groves cut in it in a V pattern and a line thru the center of the V to the edge.  The plan is you set the stone flat over a fire.  Pile pine knots and roots on it.  It cooks the sap and tar out and it flows down the groves into a waiting bucket. Looks simple but like a lot of old skills, it needs to be relearned.