How to Find Fatwood and Make Pine Tar

[@abcstardust]

High quality video with easy to follow steps! Couldn’t ask for better. Thank you!

[@PalmettoPrepared]

Thank you so much!

[@user-ji8ls9dr9f]

Good stuff! Love learning new backwoods stuff

[@jimbox114]

My wife and I started making homemade soap and we have been looking to try to make some with pine tar. We live on 40 acres of land with alot of woods so it shouldn't be too hard to find some dead pine trees. Very helpful video.

[@PalmettoPrepared]

Excellent. Just know the hole in the top was my ultimate mistake. I lost alot of pine tar as vapor because of that hole up top. The next time I only used the hole in the bottom, covered up the top hole with clay and I got 3x as much pine tar that time

[@mcsmama]

@jimbox114 - My understanding is that for soap making, you only want pine tar that does NOT have creosote... I have zero idea how you figure out whether yours will have creosote, or what you would have to do to make sure you don't. I'm new to the whole process & fairly clueless, but thought it might be good for you to at least be aware that that could be an issue!! Good luck & God bless!😇 [7.5.2024]

[@OldSchoolPrepper]

this is one of the first bushcraft projects I did....many years ago. I also made birch tar which is a surprisingly good bug repellent in addition to an ok glue...pine tar is much superior in glue game.

[@PalmettoPrepared]

I've made charcoal plenty of times but never used softwoods as I didn't want the resin to mess up the process. My brain went into explosion mode when I realized its almost the same process with how you make tar. Gonna use this batch in some soap

[@southbostongear629]

Great Video, awesome example and a great demonstration. Appreciate your work.

[@PalmettoPrepared]

I appreciate you

[@CorsairTrainers]

Really good video!! Thank you for taking the time to do it.

[@Fordgroup00]

Definitely learned a few things that’ll be fun to try sometime myself

[@PalmettoPrepared]

Thank you! Hoping to inject alittle bit of knowledge and skill building back into the YT world that's seemingly overrun with fear these days

[@CorsairTrainers]

@@PalmettoPrepared that’s kind of scary…. 🤣🤣

[@PreppingWithSarge]

@@PalmettoPrepared thank you! Love seeing the skill based videos. And it’s something you deliver on.

[@PalmettoPrepared]

@@PreppingWithSarge people take for granted actually trying something out via just reading about it. At the very least, doing it one time can fill in so many gaps that you'll never get out of a book

[@ModernRefugee]

Cool video, Happy Holidays to you and yours.

[@PalmettoPrepared]

Iikewise my friend. Hope yall are staying warm and you got a deer this year

[@cguidry1481]

That is awesome. Never heard of this. But still pretty cool.

[@PalmettoPrepared]

It was once a great way to make a living down here in the southeast. Turpentine and pine tar was a big business

[@Fordgroup00]

👍👍 That’s SO COOL!!! Great info!!

[@PalmettoPrepared]

It was a fun little project for sure. Been wanting to do it for a while but i didn't want to go so far into the woods during hunting season for the Fatwood.

[@Fordgroup00]

It was very cool, thanks for the video! 👍 I definitely learned some stuff and will be fun to try myself sometime

[@PalmettoPrepared]

@@Fordgroup00 it was a great way to spend about 4 hours outdoors. Sure you smell like a campfire but that's all in the fun

[@SurviveN2]

A lot of good information and well laid out Anthony, thanks for sharing 👍

[@PalmettoPrepared]

I appreciate you

[@D-B-Cooper]

That brown stuff in the jar is not pine tar, when making Stockholm tar it is called pine piss and is discarded. That little bit of dark stuff at the bottom is pine tar. The hole in the top lets all the volatiles out, you want to keep those. If you want to make a usable amount to use to seal wood, here is how to do it. Have a can with a tight lid, even if you have to seal it with clay. Put a pipe on the bottom with a pipe flange and seal it. Have the pipe stick out a couple feet on slight angle. Get slightly larger pipe cut on angle and attach to first pipe so tar can drip from there. Second pipe is another couple of feet long. When you start the burn first you will get steam and then that brown liquid, when it starts dripping black put can under it. That is your best grade for glue etc. at end of the second pipe it will drip like paint. I put a long pipe on the second one like a chimney. You notice that the second drip is condensation so the chimney is to condense the volatiles and they will drip out at a good rate. I use a couple down spouts to condense the tar. Just put a hole a couple inches from end and stick pipe in. If you use the can on can method then most of the pine tar comes out as gas and burns up in the fire. It is not like melting pitch.

[@PalmettoPrepared]

Interesting. I followed the how to in the description and that's how I came up with my results. I did notice after about 72 hours. The color changed from a brownish black to all black. Figured it was a byproduct of the heating. As it was more liquid than I anticipated, I assumed I had to cook it down to reach the thicker consistency. As I'm always down to try new things and get it right, I'll try the way you described and see the product I get from it. Until then, what I got from this batch went right into soap. Won't know how well it worked yet as the bars are still curing

[@D-B-Cooper]

@@PalmettoPrepared I believe you need birch ash to make soap, we don’t have any birch around here. Have been doing pine fat wood, don’t have any long needle or pitch pine here but still makes good fat wood. Lately I have been concentrating on cedar, finally found a good source and it has a very nice color. My use is as a wood coating against all the rain we have. My burning setup is a washer tub with a dryer tub on top of it. The washer tub has a lot of holes in it plus one I cut to put wood in. Have a barbecue grill in between and then my can, about 3 gal, in it. I put wood around it and start a fire under it, acts as a rocket stove and works well. Might be mistaken which is the dryer and which is the wash, can’t remember.

[@waver1731]

Would you happen to know if traditional Scandinavian 'valley kilns' also lose volatiles through the top? With all of the smoke that drifts upwards from the tops of these things, and the fact that only peat moss stands between the interior of the kiln and outside air, that alot of volatiles must escape from the interior of the kiln. My current understanding of the traditional method is that temperatures are kept low, and just high enough to 'melt' out the fatwood resin (and maybe pyrolisize it a little bit), while all of the light weight volatiles make their escape into the atmosphere, leaving a really pristine tar to drain out, uncontaminated by any nasty hydrocarbons. But I could be totally wrong about this. Thanks for any insights.

[@D-B-Cooper]

@@waver1731 it depends on the material you use, Stockholm tar is made from the roots of their pitch pine so basically fatwood. I have tried using just fatwood because the yield is so much better. If you use a closed container the gases can be piped under it to burn and add to the heat thus saving some wood. The gases can also be collected and bubbled through water to clean it and then used in a stove or run a motor, like propane. All these methods will produce black tar, the only way I know of making clear resin is to collect weeping pitch and melting it and straining it.

[@MichaelR58]

Anthony , good informational video , thanks for sharing , God bless !

[@PalmettoPrepared]

Thank you Michael

[@PreppingWithSarge]

Nicely done. Lots of applications, especially in grid down or long term supply chain disruptions

[@PalmettoPrepared]

One could even make an argument it's great way to treat skin issues especially in our humid environment

[@glen1arthur]

I enjoyed watching this one. I don't know if ever watch The Curse of Oak Island but the have found pine tar kilns on the island that are hundreds of years old. If you ever wanted to do this on a large scale kiln is the way to go. If you need to make a quick patch you can take pine sap heat it add some fine charcoal and apply to area. My cousin and a friend were fishing up north a got a hole in their boat did that for a temporary patch - it was still good 7 years later. I think you forgot to add your links.

[@PalmettoPrepared]

I appreciate that. I know people right now that use this to waterproof canoes they make. On a bigger scale, I've seen examples of legit terracotta floored kilns with the slope and drain to really get every last bit they can. Was an extremely lucrative business way back before petrochemicals hit the market

[@Diebulfrog79]

Interesting, Anthony

[@gregmosk]

That was really interesting Anthony. Thank you so much. 👍👍

[@PalmettoPrepared]

Great! I hope you were able to take something away. I appreciate it

[@shanelofton4329]

I’m going to have to try this.

[@PalmettoPrepared]

Go for it. It's a good little project that basically takes labor and turns it into a product

[@chadmcclain3462]

Cool beans 😎✌🏾

[@uncledenzil3836]

Your mannerisms remind me of Vince Vaughn. Nice video

[@PalmettoPrepared]

He's funny, I'll take it!

[@CamppattonFamilyCompound]

Thanks for the information.

[@PalmettoPrepared]

Thanks for watching. Hope it helps

[@matthewellisor5835]

Nice yield from what looked like 3-4lbs. A condenser from the lid of the retort will let you collect the lighter fractions too. As to the charcoal, have you ever tried activating before making a filter?

[@PalmettoPrepared]

I wasn't disappointed. Gave me just about what I expected honestly. Plenty to use for a batch of soap. As for the charcoal, I've never "activated" it before as the sources I've seen talking about it were always pushing soaking it in lemon juice. I've never had it explained to me how that makes carbon better but I'm always open to learn more. So far, just pulverizing it seems to work just as advertised for me

[@matthewellisor5835]

@@PalmettoPrepared Activated charcoal had several orders of magnitude more surface area. Around 500-1000 square meters per gram iirc. It's the tiny pores and huge area that make it so useful as a filter element. It's made by a few methods, those I've tried are oxidative activation by passing steam, under pressure through the charcoal when it reached maximum temperature and chemical activation by treating with an acid and reheating. Not anywhere as good as what I can buy but at least I know that I can do it.

[@madelinedelvalle3666]

Never knew this was a thing. Good 2 know.

[@johnnybstuddd4482]

Great video, I would like to make a batch to make pine tar soap.

[@PalmettoPrepared]

That's exactly why I made this batch

[@privateerwoodworksnmore]

Considering the amount of pine, not a bad return on investment

[@PalmettoPrepared]

That's right. Between turpentine and pine tar, I can see why people in the south made a bunch of cash just using the trees they had

[@TBOR101]

Good Job Lumberjack, I have a questions though, how long does it take for that amount to start to solidify? or did the process burn away the gumming agents in the original resin?

[@PalmettoPrepared]

Well thank you kindly. To answer your question, I don't know the Gumming agents are burnt off or just chemically changed with extreme heat but no, it doesn't solidify. Has the exact consistency of turpentine. Very pungent smell

[@Arieh-Lael]

Thank you for sharing this! God Bless You! So this method would be safe to use directly on your skin right? I need a pine tar that is skin safe for a family member. Im guessing it smells like pine as well?

[@PalmettoPrepared]

Yes but I would add it in a soap to get the benefits while cleaning at the same time

[@Arieh-Lael]

@@PalmettoPrepared Thank you brother! Appreciate ya!

[@reedin9954]

Very nice! I need to do some very similar projects. So how many times did it take to finally get it right? Good tip on making that hole from the inside! Come on! Let's get some saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur together! Now a serious question, you got any idea of what roofing tar consisted of and was made from in the say 1600s?

[@PalmettoPrepared]

Honestly, got it right the first time. Fortunately for me, I have made charcoal a dozen or so times so it was maybe two more steps and it was done. I've definitely wanted to figure out how to actually make black powder. The charcoal I've figured out. Potassium nitrate is gonna be tricky but doable however finding a good source of sulfer is gonna be difficult without buying it. I have no idea what roofing tar was made of in the 1600s but I do know heated pine or spruce tar was the main way they treated and waterproofed canoes and boats

[@reedin9954]

@@PalmettoPrepared for black powder you can use sugar instead of sulfur. Figure out how to make sugar and you got a way

[@PalmettoPrepared]

@@reedin9954 sugar beets are about the only way I can think

[@darlatobin2240]

Nice video! So what is the difference in pine tar and turpentine? People use turpentine to kill intestinal worms. You mentioned using the pine tar externally to kill ringworm and other fungal/parasitic infections

[@PalmettoPrepared]

My understanding is turpentine is distilled from pine resin like how you would distill spirits

[@user-hx2hl1zw3w]

What does "froggy" feel like? Never felt froggy?

[@PalmettoPrepared]

Bahaha it basically means someone feeling anxious to do something, not wanting to sit around

[@user-hx2hl1zw3w]

@@PalmettoPrepared 👍we call that antsy 😁

[@MarkusWITH_a_k]

How did you wind up with less then what was in the bottom container almost like it boiled off like water evaporated into a more concentrated product

[@PalmettoPrepared]

Unfortunately alot of pitch is water. That and I'm sure a good amount was burnt up while waiting to drain out the bottom. I've since discovered that this method works but isn't exactly the most efficient.

[@vDC2me]

We have a live tree with pine sap dripping out. Besides putting it on a stick and seeing it burn, what can we do with it?

[@PalmettoPrepared]

You can make a pine sap salve

[@CamppattonFamilyCompound]

First

[@delfindaffy]

I'm sorry, but 90% of your tar went out as smoke, via the top hole....The hole has to be in the bottom so alle the smoke gets directed into the jar in the cooler ground....that way the tar smoke will cool down an besome solid tar... I have done it many times with Birch bark and pine fatwood. Example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3nTiqqQbJadjsk

[@waver1731]

Do you know if the loss of tar, via the smoke, also happens with a traditional Swedish 'valley' kiln? By the looks of them, they are not closed systems, with copious amounts of smoke exiting from the top of the kiln, through all of the peat moss that is placed on top. I can only assume that volatiles, released due to the heat inside the kiln, would be finding their way up into the atmosphere, along with smoke and soot. Or am I not understanding the process correctly?

[@spartankoh9901]

Great and very helpful video, i was just looking for that for way long time ago, and yup my man showed up, like & subscribe you have it, 🤝🏻 🫡🌹