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Andy talks with James about the SYP on his trailer.
James is a new member that joined last night. He is a Forester with Hercules Powder company and buys stumps for them. His user-id is J.Hercules.
I'm sure you will all enjoy having James as a member and we will certainly like having another Southern Forester aboard. Perhaps we can delve into some of the questions about Hercules that have come up in previous threads. :)
Stump buyer, EH ??? As in, Fat-Lighter'd ??? ;D ;D
Yep, that's the market. :)
Guy that owns the camp, burned about 6 last spring ::) ::)
What a waste. That stuff is worth its weight in gold as fireplace fire-starter. (figuratively anyway) Even a small piece will start a huge bon-fire.
James is interested in Acres and Acres of pine stumps.
Does he eat grits? We need more grits eaters on this forum. ;D
Tom,
What will they do with pine stump?. ??? Am I missing something here. Sorry I asking a silly question. Must be to late in the evening.
Thanks
Ron
Ron, they make gunpowder out of'em. Just about every part of a pine tree is used for something. Around here, they bale the straw like hay and sell it for landscaping mulch. The bark is also used for mulch, as well as being ground up and used as potting soil. Some of the large mills fire their kilns with pine bark, too. The sap itself used to be a valuable commodity, but that industry has about petered out.
The stumps from the larger trees become saturated with sap and become what we call "Lightered". This stuff will burn like nobody's business. A big stump will burn vigorously for hours, sometimes for a couple of days. Lots of energy in there. :o They grind this stuff up and mix it with some other things and it becomes gunpowder. Whenever James checks in with us, I'm sure he can explain it better. :)
Do ya reckon James will have any free samples, be time to start fishin in a few weeks?
Does anyone know if there is a Pine stump market in Wisconsin?
DanG,
Thanks for the response. Learned something new. Is there any particular pine that is more desirable for making gun powder?
Thanks
Ron
As far as I know, Longleaf is the best, but all 4 of the major SYP species will produce lightered stumps under the right conditions.
I know charcoal is a key ingredient in Gunpowder, but, don't know if they make charcoal first from them stumps. This could be an interesting thread. Hey James, where ya at ??? ;D
The biggest job, I understand, is to distill the "turps" from the stumps. Turps are used in most everything from paints and women's make-up to Other products generally classified as "Naval Stores", e.g., pine oil, pitch, rosin, tar, and turpentine.
Naval stores are now used largely in the manufacture of soap, paint, varnish, shoe polish, lubricants, linoleum, and roofing material.
Link to a USDA page on Naval Stores (http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/history/naval_stores.htm)
There are other threads in the Forum about the Southern turpentine industry and pictures of Long Leaf and Slash pines that bear the "cat-face" of the turpentine man.
Come on James, You can jump in here any minute now. ;D
This is all very interesting. Didn't know such a market existed for pine stumps. I've seen summer sawn white pine stumps with loads of pitch oozin out. Didn't know ya could make gun powder outta the stuff. :o :P
Thanks Tom for the help finding this message. This is my first time using a forum and with the holidays I have had little time to play on the computer.
Yes, I am a Stump buyer! Fat Lightered is the game and I need to dispel a myth already listed in the previous discussions. Gunpowder is not a product of the stumpwood business. We extract the pine oil and rosin from the wood of the southern pine fat lightered stumps. Everyone knows about pine oil -- But, the resins are the main product and we make many different products from them. We have food grade gums, ( Chewing gum, esters that are in citrus falvored soft and sport drinks, ie orange soda, mountain dew, gator aid ect. tooth pastes.) Most of our resins go into adhesives like surgical tapes, postit notes, traffic signs. Some resins are in asphalt and concrete to allow expansion & contraction without cracking. There are hundreds of uses for resins and plenty I probably do not know about.
The Gunpowder story came about because Hercules was a powder company when it got into the stump business in 1920. Back then a large amount of dynamite was used in the harvesting of stumps and Hercules was looking for a chemical industry to expand into so they liked the idea that a product they already made could be used in their new endeavor.
Well, I have been very long winded here so I will say thanks for the welcome and I am sorry it took so long to answer , but I was looking in the wrong spot on the forum the other night and it took Tom's email to get me back on line.
Welcome James!
Good chance to show off my book case on my desk. ;D
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Well, whadda ya know. DanG was wrong. ;D ;D :D :D :D :D
I had heard over the years that Pine Stumps was used for gunpowder, also. ::) ::) ::) ::) ;D
Thanks for clearing that up for us, James. What other kinda info ya got for us ??? ;) ;D ;D
James , thanks for the eddecatiun.
I am jealous of the number of dynamite boxes you have. I have one that a landowner gave me 10 years ago. He told me when he was young in the 20's Hercules harvested the stumps in what are now fields and the wooden boxes where left behind, so they collected them and used them for nesting boxes for their hens.
Sure glad you found your way back, James. I was beginning to get a little worried. :D
I thought pine was used in dynamite too. Had heard it all my life. Shucks! .....and I thought I knew everything. :D
I hope you don't forget to put a picture of your table on the forum when you get it made. Stick around now, ya hear? :)
OH! You aint seen long winded yet. ;D
James, I collect them. Wiht all the logging and mining in Michigan in the bygone days, they are pretty common. I also have blasting cap boxes, and that yellow round tin you see is one of my cap tins. We use the crates to decorate with.
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