Pitch pine resin torch

[TWM]

So with torches becoming a finite craftable again from v.321 on, gas being in limited supply, and with branches not being the most userfriendly or reliable light source¹, I was wondering about wilderness survival torches.

As it turns out, bushcrafters do use pine resin to make torches for wilderness survival. And they are using a lot of materials that are already in the game, like birch bark, cattail (personally I feel old man's beard should do as well, forcing the player to make choices on what to spend his limited resources), a sturdy piece of fir wood... the main thing missing is pine resin.

Apparently, there is even such a thing as a pine knot torch, which people have been using for ages, cutting off branches of dead pinewood trees at the knot, and then splitting them and filling them with fat, resin rich, pine shavings. Basically it's the same idea, using the pine resin as a fuel source, it's just a more direct way of doing it.

Those are just a few ideas on how bushcrafters might make torches in the wilderness, that I'd like to see implemented in the game in some shape or form.

¹ Just picture yourself in a cave, fumbling around in the dark, wasting matches (1 for a lightsource, and then at least one or more for a branch, which, let's be frank, doesn't last all that long),

[Dirmagnos]

And from where exactly do you intend to get that resin in the middle of the winter ?

Pine knot one seems interesting. Could be rather effective once lit, but require quite some time to make and some skill to actually fire it up.

[TWM]

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And from where exactly do you intend to get that resin in the middle of the winter ?

Actually, according to people who make a living out of knowing these things, winter is "an excellent time" to gather resin from pine and fir trees:

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Winter also an excellent time to gather resin, especially after storms that can often knock large chunks of this aromatic substance to the ground. This makes it much easier to gather, although I have certainly been known to shimmy up many a Pine to reach a choice chunk of resin.

She's by far not the only one claiming pine resin can be harvested in winter.

So this shouldn't pose a 'realism' issue.

[Boston123]

19 hours ago, Dirmagnos said:

And from where exactly do you intend to get that resin in the middle of the winter ?

Pine knot one seems interesting. Could be rather effective once lit, but require quite some time to make and some skill to actually fire it up.

The resin is actually on the outside of the tree, built up on the bark from anywhere there is a wound. It is readily available year round.

And, they totally shouldn't require some skill to start up. Resin-soaked wood, also known as "fatwood", will readily ignite with just the touch of a flame, and burn when wet or windy (obviously, dunking the fatwood in water will douse the flame, but it will generally spring back to life when touched with fire again). 

I personally have casually strolled up to a dead pine stump, grabbed a chunk of branch, wrenched it off, and set it alight with an ember.

Fatwood is good stuff. I always carry some, wrapped up in birchbark (to protect it from water, and to serve as tinder).