Trying is better than viewing
Have you ever caught yourself spouting as fact bushcraft knowledge with which you had no first-hand experience? This happened to me two summers ago.
I was hiking in the high Sierras with a buddy. We passed a grove of Lodgepole pine that had been damaged by bark beetles. To defend themselves, the trees emit pine resin in the holes the beetles drill. I was told that the newer resin has a reddish/brown tint and becomes dull yellow as it ages.
I start explaining to my buddy that the resin can be made into a torch. And as I listen to the sound of my own voice, it dawns on me that I have never actually seen it done! I had only seen it on TV!!! Is seeing a bushcraft skill demonstrated on television sufficient to tell someone that the technique works? It sure made me uncomfortable.
Where did I see it? In Ray Mears’ excellent DVD, Extreme Survival. There is an episode in the Rocky Mountains where Ray makes a torch. He splits a stick longitudinally, cross-like, into four prongs. He then wedges the prongs apart and fills the space between with pine resin and bark.
It was very cool! But as much as I respect Mr. Mears, I felt foolish telling my buddy about it as if it were fact. I had never done it, nor had I actually seen someone do it in person. Is this being too picky?
There was only one thing to do! I collected pine resin from some of the long dead trees. I also grabbed several sticks (dead), choosing not to limb living trees. I used my trusty Fallkniven F1 to make the two cuts needed.
Nothing is ever as easy as it seems on TV. 🙂 As I made the second cut, the split went farther than I wanted and chopped off one of the prongs. This occurred even when I made a constrictor knot from some grass to try and stop the fracture from going too deep.
After three frustrating attempts I settled on a technique that worked. I selected a much larger radius stick. Instead of fighting, I allowed the prong be cut off. Then I reattached the prong with cordage reverse-wrapped from some nearby grass. I kept the prongs separated by inserting twigs to hold them apart. The cordage allowed flex as I inserted the resin into the candle and held tighter the more that I inserted. While not aesthetically pleasing, the result worked! I experimented with lighting different parts of the torch (top, one side-split, multiple side-splits) to see how it affected burn time and the amount of light it produced. It was handy to light that night’s campfire.
I wish I had taken photos of the process. But I just have pictures of the torch the morning after it burned.
Torch next to campfire the morning after use
A twig and some bark protrude from a side I did not light
Close-up of torch
Molten resin escaped from side I lit after the torch was already burning
I felt much better after trying it for myself. And it was fun to replicate something I had only seen done on TV. I learned much more from actually doing it than I had from watching the video.
Have you ever tried a technique you saw on TV? Did it work like you expected? Did you learn something unexpected? I am curious to know what you have done.
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