How to Harvest, Process and Use Rich Pine
- 1
This pine was storm felled in a period of high wind.
Locate you quarry. Find a Pine stump making certain that it is indeed pine. Pine stumps rot very quickly except for the center portion which is pitch filled and is very dense and hard. Knock and pull away the soft rotted outer portion of the stump leaving only the center part. Don't let the small size of some pine stump center parts fool you, there may be a one hundred pound or larger mass of rich pine stump hiding below the surface of the ground. - 2
Inside of fat pine is pitch filled with a pleasant odor.
Take a pocket knife and whittle off several shavings from the hard stump core. These will have the unmistakable heavy scent of turpentine similar to the "Pine Sol" cleaning product. - 3
Pines have straight down tap roots that make removal easier than many other tree species.
If you are going to dig the stump out manually with post hole diggers the work will be far easier than with many other trees. The stump goes straight down without any (or many) side roots. Most stumps that have been decaying for awhile can even be moved back and forth by hand with some effort. If there is a tree of any kind close by you may be able to use a "come-along" hand winch to pull up your prize. - 4
A few simple tools are necessary to reduce a fat pine stump into usable sized pieces.
If you have a tractor of any size with a front end loader then your work will be much easier. After removing the rotted portion of the stump place a chain around the solid core and hook it onto the bucket of the tractor. With a straight up lift even the larger stumps of fat pine will come out of their socket. - 5
Fat Pine splinters ready to start your fire.
Using steel wedges and a splitting maul or sledge hammer break your stump into smaller chunks, and then use an ax to reduce these into splinters and pieces that are suitable for use in your fire starting. Some chunks as large as a fist are OK and very small pieces are not required but those can also be used. The pitch filled wood is very brittle and many small slivers will be produced in splitting up the larger chunks. - 6
Fat Pine will start instanty with little coaxing. It will not get wet or damp since it is almost solid Pine pitch.
Store your fat pine near your stove or fireplace in a wood box or other container. I have a compartment built into my kindling box just for fat pine. - 7). To use fat pine ( or rich pine ) in fire starting place some splinters and perhaps a larger chunk on the very bottom. On top of this add small dry kindling pieces sixteen inches or so in length that have one end propped on an andiron. Above the kindling place your split hardwood. Light the fat pine in more than one place, that is light the ends of several of the splinters. In a few minutes the burning pitch filled pine will have your fire off to a roaring start.
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