Survival- Emergency Tree Resin Torch 

Your skill says "prepared", your haircut says "apocalypse".

In an emergency, the last thing I would use is a pair of socks. I would use one of the other options. A dry pair of socks is important to have. Great video though! Thumbs up

When using torch, keep it at your side rather than front of you. In darkness the torch will blind you and your visibility will be greatly reduced. But when kept at side it provides light without blinding you (well at least that much). Also drips are less likely to land on your foot and if you happen to trip, you are not faceplanting into the torch.

Use catcins but allow them to sit in the really hot resin, submerged. Once saturated let them cool and harden. Once hardened wrap/ bind them with green bark like a tight woven basket and then dip just the top half inch in resin and leave it to cool and harden again. Make as many as you can and when you need them they are at hand. Only light them at the very top so that they burn down slower, also use as emergency fire lighters. 😀

grind the cat tail up, mix it with the resin, in the can, & mount the can in the torch. Refillable!

"Keep away from anything that might easily catch fire." ***walks into dense pine forest***

I like that you took the extra time to do this with a voiceover instead of live narration. The audio level is uniform and everything is clear. Additionally, you have a great voice. You speak clearly, with a strong resonance.

I remember doing this with a small pine we had in the back yard. You can make a really small cut in a tree and it will OOZE resin within an hour, I find fresh resin is easier to work with.

you get my respect sir (if that means anything to you) for not just cutting the base of the tree

Useful resin fact: it is oil soluble, if you got it on your hands/tools and soap doesnt work oil will

Put the can in the end of the torch, stuff in socks let it soak and set, light it inside the can. It doesn't drip and will burn longer and you can just add more chunks of dry resin as you go.

Save lid of can. Cut slit in lid. Cut cloth into strips and pull through slit. Put resin in can and the tail of the cloth. Secure lid on can. Just like a kerosene lamp.

You should always fall out of the tree, it's faster than climbing down .

Reading comments is an education beyond words. Fire is #1 survival rule of first order. The learning never ends. Thanks for opening mind up to endless possibilities.

Nice video as always.

I've used hobo stoves mounted on a stick as a torch. Burned for a good hour+ and whenever the wind put it out it just re lit itself like a trick candle. A very good makeshift torch idea I'd say

Wowww, what a interesting video. Very exciting comparison between socks , cattails and pine cones . Thank you for this great video !! Greets from Switzerland Felix

I did not expect a mohawk

Great video! I honestly have not once considered making a torch and I really enjoyed the video! Only suggestion would be regarding splitting the wood for the torch containing the wick. Just wanted to say instead of trying to pull down on the axe, just get a decent sized log about the width of your arm and use that to hammer the axe. Minimize your chances of injury. Great video dude!

I'd like to see this experiment again, but with soaking instead of coating. I hypothesize that the cattail burned shortest because it simply had a coating of resin with no reservoir. The cone had the spaces under the tabs of it. the socks worked best due to the fact that the weaving process produces so many small holes and natural wicking action pulled more of the resin into the fabric creating a larger reservoir.

I’ve done this too as a demo for my kids. But there is one very important step that you left out. Avoid trees with poison ivy. No matter how much primo resin is up there, a bad case of poison ivy will make things much worse from a survival standpoint.

i liked your turch and no anoing music you got a suscriber. nice.

Other ideas? Historically, torches were made by soaking natural fibre ropes/cordage in kerosene (or any other mixture you can think of/find) and wrapped on a stick. The idea was that the fuel would be consumed but not the "wick", which could be cooled and resoaked and reused. So if you had any time to prep these "just in case" torch heads, try cutting lengths pf thick manila rope, whip the ends to prevent fraying and pre-treat them in your choice fuel, then you can bag them or better yet, dip them in wax of any kind to seal and preserve them, also adding to the burn time. That way all you have to do is source a good stick.

Yes, wrapping birch bark tightly and inserting resin in between layers.

Thank you for the memories, these old skills will be the what will matter if the world ever tried to do that “green new deal” or extremely bad electric grid destruction no matter if natural, terrorists or war attack, these skills will be the difference between living or dying. Life of the pioneers, mtn men and the first peoples, including my father’s blood father and my mas grandma’s ancestors skills of survival. How many Idahoans remember back in the 60’s the schools would try to teach some desert survival skills in the class rooms before and while out in the desert to learn about the pioneer history by partnering up, two by two, to make a shelter, fire using one of a few different techniques, find water and or make a ‘watergen’ water collection system using rocks, dirt, fine cloth or plastic garbage bag with homemade water catcher. Make up own hunting traps and other hunting/self protection tools using natural materials as well as any other tools to help survival chances such as fire signaling setups and great SOS signs with contrasting materials. I remember the only things that they supplied to us was a plastic bag, roll of string and rock of obsidian if I remember they also let those who brought a lunch could keep it for the end of the trip.

As x-army officer in greece...we use the same technique with socks...but if u find a dry open pinecone.not so closed.it will keep the flames longer due to some openings of the petals than a sock...at your test you use a pair of socks...thus they can hold more resin than a cone but if you do the test with the same volume , socks will burn almost the same time...all the best

I used a John Wick DVD.

Getting ready to live in the woods for the Corona virus lol

great video as always. I swear you need to call audible and start reading books for them. your voice is incredibly soothing. LOL. Thanks for the informative video. that could come in very handy.

6:36 damn.. Where do you live to have a forest that dark in the daytime.

R.I.P socks

Great idea! Looks like the resin would gunk up your knives. What if you carved a couple of wooden scrapers/tools to harvest and handle the resin which would then be disposable?

great video. I like the torch material comparison, very useful. if I know that a pine cone burns at 15 mins and I know the distance to be traveled, I can prep enough cones to walk all night

I remember my brother and I making those up when I was a boy. We thought that we made that up ourselves. No one ever showed us how to make them but we used pine cones in between a split four way stick and just used a little pine pitch and stone and steel to ignite them. When we got a little older 3-4 grade, we found out that this was just one way that was known for as long as known. Funny how it all just seemed to be naturally known something that we knew how without being taught or shown one before. Miss those days in the deserts and wooded mtns of the West by northwestern down to the west by southwestern lower 48

>In college, the middle of a blizzard. >Walking to class. >Suddenly, blizzard becomes really intense. >Whiteout.jpeg >See an orange light in the distance. >My best bet for survival. >Walk towards it. >See a man in a hoodie with a fucking torch made from a pine branch and resin.. >We have to walk to class together. >Get to the class. >Torch is extinguished is the snow. >Fin

Historically torches made for outdoors and traveling in the dark where very long, they look like 3 or four feet of wick material wrapped up below the burning flame. Short torches like yours where more for heading to the outhouse ect. I do not know the exact construction but I have seen them in art, they used the long torches for centuries so its something useful to look into, and hopefully I have been useful in my comment

I think Jute Twine would make a great wick for a pine resin torch. You could even use it with an open (seedless) pine cone by wrapping/weaving it through the cone and the natural scoops may even hold the resin better.

Good vid. No one has 500 pair of socks. Burn them. Make sandals. Make cordage soaked in same resin. Keep adding wrapped layers for additional 10 min st a time. Your stick will burn and peg structure will be gone. Best bring a duplicate backup. 1 is none 2 is 1

It would be interesting to see how well a tightly balled up piece of old man's beard does. Maybe it would act as the sock being porous enough to absorb the sap well. Although it would have to be harvested somewhat alive so combustion would be prolonged.

First time watching your video, thank you so much for teaching me about the tree and also taking the time to make sure you left enough resin for it. It's something so small, but so thoughtful and kind, which is a rare commodity these days.

The first thought that came to my mind for another wick test was Spanish moss, but regular moss might work also. If you lashed reeds tightly together, they might act as tubes to hold the resin.

The tree was like: *AAAYYYAYYYAAYY WTF BRO*

A safe way to melt anything from wax to resin would be to have put the can in a pot of boiling water so the temp never goes above 100 degrees C

These are great videos. After watching the Alone tv series and with me not knowing ny of this stuff, it's great to be able to gain some knowledge from your videos. You never know when you'd be in a real survival situation

He will never be able to get that knife (or that sock) clean again.

I like how you did that maybe you could make one using fatwood I know it’s in the pine cone but there’s always plenty of fat wood around

i remember as a kid my dad wanted to chop a tree down in the garden i hacked at it with my toy hammers and plastic saw the next day we went to chop it down. my mum said the tree had been crying snd that was the sap at that point i told my dad i didnt want to chop it down. the tree still stands!

Watching you split the green wood, I suggest using a piece of the green wood as a baton to drive your axe. Safer.

When I was in Boy Scouts, about fifty years ago, we would sometimes put the pine sap into a can, heat it up, and then light it directly.

Now I see why a pine forest goes up in flames so fast.

Great video man. It's cool to learn these things you can do with natural materials.

Don't waste good socks. Use old socks that don't have a mate anymore and are full of holes. Never waste good stuff. Repurpose and use old stuff. My father in law hasn't showered or done Laundry in years. I bet one of his foul, crusty, socks would burn forever. It would probably stink ungodly though. I need some hacks for alluminum cans. There's 50,000 of them in my father in laws room.

You shoulda edited that tree climb bro

Cut the socks into long strips about 4 inches wide (if possible). Smear the fabric along the length of the strip with warmed (not melted) resin. Roll each strip up, strip over strip and place into the receptacle you fashioned from the green wood. Great channel!!! Thanks!

Awesome video! it's nice how you tried three different materials to see which would burn longer! Thanks for sharing!

you should have used the same amount of resin and the wick material. Then measure time

hello, i am a evergreen tree... i love being burned down.... not only am i made out of wood... but i also PUMP MYSELF FULL OF FUCKING NAPALM

I usually get some birch bark curls, some eastern red cedar bark, and some resin to make a torch. The cedar traps the pine resin in as it burns, and the birch bark also burns, but it prevents you from losing any resin. I once had burning tree resin burn me. It wasn’t fun.

Nice tip, thanks for sharing

KERSHAW Camp 10 would be a lighter and easier tool to work with than an axe, for me.

There are mushrooms that grow on trees called conks. There's on called a tinder conk and it will last for a super long time. It's very hard and dense, and it's very common. You don't need sap, it doesn't hold a flame, but it will keep an ember for a long ass time. It's safer to travel with IMO. It also has some medicinal uses but you need to alcohol extract the compounds.

If you have the time to look for fatwood, it's like a pre-made version of this type of torch. I've used fatwood for light and kindling that I could light just as easily as these torches, even with a single match, and have hade it burn considerably longer. It can be almost volatile in its flammability, and smell like turpentine or even kerosene, all from sap that pooled in the base of a dead branch. One year, I got a log of the stuff with a load of firewood, and while it was VERY hard and knotty, almost impossible to split into large chunks, as splintery kindling, getting fires started in my over-sized wood stove felt almost like cheating. I don't think I used more than 1 match at a time that whole winter. I could even use cut bits like (dangerous) little candles that smelled like incense! My point is, keep an eye out for possible fatwood, if super-easy-to-start, wonderfully fragrant fire & torches appeal to you!

Be awere of flaming pieces falling of the tourch and starting an accidental forestfire it can decimate whole forest ares of Wood.

I was a pyrotechnics technician in the entertainment industry we found that tampons made great wicks

Excellent work. I would be interested to see some fibrous material stuffed into the sock and the resin poured into it. That may make it hold more resin and burn longer. Maybe stuffing the pine cone into the sock first??

LOVE your channel

I want to know how to hold the torch so I can see! If you hold it in front of you, you can't see a thing!

Socks are far too important to burn, so many other uses, but most importantly to simply use as socks. I’d much rather prepare two or more cones and get 20mins+ from them and keep my socks 🧦 lol

cotton or wool socks ok...synthetic socks = toxic smoke 😫 😌👍

I soaked the sock with the pine inside burned for 35 min came in handy I hiked up the mountain went off trail and got lost got dark the torch helped to find the trail again. Thanks a million I saw ur video 2 days before this. 2 miles off .very great full.

Bring an old burlap feed sack with you. Cut it in to strips. Soak in in pine tar or kerosene if you got it. It'll burn longer than those socks.

A twinkly, a corndog and a Yorkshire Terriers

I wonder if a small bundle of cordage made from available plant fibres would preform similarly to the socks.

resin is mother nature wax. obsidian is mother nature glass.

My grandad made torches from evergreens by chopping into the trunk of the tree around a branch about 1.5 inches in diameter by using the burl wood in the trunk he had the resin needed for fuel. The branch needs to be alive and pliable for the torch to last. I tried it once and it worked pretty well.

4:31 a wild pidgeotto appears!

delighted that you left resin on that bark :)

i use to make torches like this... i used spider webs as the wick 1 time (an experiment). they work OK but burn too quickly,.

It`s very interesting video. My english-language ist not so good, but you shown all things to know very good.

I wish I could still climb like that...So, the socks burned longer & brighter, but they probably stank the most...

Quick! Emergency!! There's a bear in the camp!!! OK hang, on, just let me climb this tree... damn wheres my knife and tin? Ok, got them. Right, now pick off some sap. That's enough, back down the tree. Get a fire lit. Nice. Heat my resin. Yeah 15 minutes should do it. OK, now I need to cut down a sapling... etc etc. joke.

Combining the spruce cone with the cat tail in the resin save the socks to keep your feet warm

I think a rope material would make the best torch. If you still had the lid for the can you could poke a hole and feed the rope through - like a turpentine lamp

"keep it away from anything that might easily catch fire. basically just use your common sense." yea. like lighting a non secure fireplace in a dry clearing, adding fire-accelerants, and then running arround with that in spruce woods....

Wo sind die deutschen, österreichischen bzw. schweizerischen bushcrafter :D

In a survival situation I would burn all my clothes for some light.

Where did you get those bracelets? All of them. I like the cuff especially

He says use common sense which should be true but from what I’ve seen around from day to day it seems common sense isn’t so common anymore

Pine resin applied directly on an epidermal laceration or wound and cover it with a bandage will draw out the infection and heal the wound.

Doesn't he now have super sticky resin all on the inside of his knife sheath? How can you clean that?

Focusing on the Mohawk you end up missing the heavenly glory Very good video thank you Getting bush oil out of dead tree roots is a hoote as well.

Watching this on one tab of acid.

I live in Texas, very South at the Mexican border. All I could find here would be mesquite wood and mesquite sap/resin(?). I will need to try.

@The Outsider Good clip, thanks. I appreciate that you had to use what was available WHEN it was available, just as one has to do in a real survival situation: that said, if the cat tails can are picked long after they have seeded, they are often still on the plant many months later, and they are then really fluffy, like a Fat Freddy.s Cat tail, so much so that a good stand of them could provide not only a much better wick than the one you were obliged to use here, but as the down is easily plucked out, a good stand of them will provide very warm down (each one provides about as much insulating down as big as.a base ball). If you have any sort of bag, or can improvise one, you can easily make a pillow, sleeping bag, etc in about 30 minutes ,and/or stuff you clothing with them. I'm sure you know this, but it's worth pointing out that the stems of dead ones make a reasonable fire drill, and the roots can be roasted (they're not bad, and full of carbs. The young stems can also be eaten. When the heads are really fluffy, they should burn longer and drip less- packing dry grass into the resin should also help to "key" the resin and make it drip a little less.

Socks are more valuable in mountains than fire

Super video! Looks like a great way to 'light' the night plus carry fire from one campsite to another easily, especially if you use several of your torches to keep the fire going! Thanks for such a great tip! Save bushcrafting to you and yours always!

Take note youtubers no bullshit music

So this is why Luffy can set his attacks on fire? He is resin!!!

Real life minecraft torch

Put the Pine cone inside the socks burns even longer