Originally Posted by
mark jer
What if the wood is wet
JAK Dead Spruce sticks vs Dead Pine sticks. Good question. I'm not sure the answer. I think both trees are self-pruning in the sense that they let the lower branches die when they are not getting enough light, but for some reason the spruce sticks, call them branchlets, snap right off and are a nice combination of dry and sappy, whereas the pine seem to be too bendy and seem to retain a higher moisture content when dead. Maybe the pine strategy is for them to rot away once they are choked off from the tree, whereas the spruce strategy is to let them dry up so they will more easily get snapped off by passing deer or moose or bears, or hikers. Maybe it has to do with wet areas of the forest vs dry areas. I know in some areas that don't get much light and are by a stream everything is very wet and has moss and old mans beard growing on it even while it is still living. Very hard to get good kindling in those areas without a large fixed blade knife or hatchet or saw. Even spruce sticks don't work because they get covered in wet moss so they may as well be on the ground in such environments. Most places like that aren't great camp spots anyway, but there is one on the Fundy Footpath that is very nice, at Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum Falls, because it has a very nice swimming hole. There is a firepit, but not much use without a hatchet or saw even with deadfall. Anyhow, just theories. I think every ecosystem has its own patterns, and what holds in one place doesn't neccessarily hold in the next. Some trees are better than others, but it may have as much to do with where the tree likes to grow as what species the tree happens to be. Of course the two are related. Our Eastern White Cedar is an interesting one because it is the very best kindling once dry, but likes to grow in wet conditions. It can still work but you have to find it recently fallen, and get the stuff off the ground. If it snaps, it should be good, but it has to be thicker than spruce to still be snappy, and if too thick it can be too hard to snap. Other times you can get sheets of it near where it has broken at it delaminates very easily and the thin veneers tend to be dry and rot resistant and make even better kindling than spruce, but this is rare. Spruce is more reliable, and you can see the dead branchlets all around. I am sure different rules apply further south and further North and at different altitudes and sides of mountains but this is what works well along the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine in what we call Acadian Forest.
02-03-2013, 14:29
JAK
Another interesting thing about conifers is the way the ground underneath them tends to be dry, and often snow free in winter.
02-03-2013, 14:45
jeffmeh
When learning (and later teaching) wet weather fire skills in the New Hampshire forest, we referred to those spruce branches as "squaw wood." It was indeed a key ingredient to improve one's success in building the wet weather fire. And for those unfamiliar with the bark from white birch, it is amazing fire starter material, once peeled off into thin strips.
We used birch bark strips, a "bunch" of squaw wood for tiny kindling, then the larger diameter pieces of spruce, then larger diameter in white pine, with enough fuel to build up sufficient coals to dry out the surface moisture and ignite larger pieces of hard wood.
Incidentally, I never really thought about it, but later learned that the label "squaw wood" was likely derived because the women could gather it without cutting tools required.
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