Alternative Fuel: The pinecone

jca21

jca21

Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
3,188
While I was out walking the dog this afternoon I realized that there were a ton of pinecones on the ground. These pinecones were dry and open and brown. Very woody i might add, especially when you pull some of the tabs off you can find wood like fibres.


I returned later in the afternoon and filled up a grocery bag full of pinecones and took them home. They have a wonderful smell to them that i just cant get enough of :)


I decided to bring out my bushbuddy stove and see how well the pinecones would work as stove fuel. Having filled the pot with a liter of water i proceded to get myself setup.

IMG_0394.jpg

My bushbuddy stove setup and ready to go. The Brunton IB pot filled with water and lid on. A small bag of fat wood with shavings and my brian andrews skog kniven. Also, the type of pinecones i was using. (Not pictured is my goinggear firesteel/mischmetal [always mix them up]).


IMG_0396.jpg

i proceeded to stuff the pinecone with a few shavings of fat wood and then struck a spark onto it.

IMG_0397.jpg

The fatwood lit up instantly and the pinecone lit up with it.




IMG_0398.jpg

i placed the pinecone into my stove and proceeded to add more pinecones to it. Heres a pic of the stove going with 3 pinecones in the stove.


IMG_0402.jpg

Heres a shot of the pot on top of the stove.

Heres a few shots of the fire from the stove

IMG_0404.jpg


IMG_0406.jpg




The really cool thing that i found was that the pinecones burnt almost like charcoal. They would burn really hot in the beginning and then produce a very nice and even heat, perfect to cook a few smokies on.


Heres a shot of the pinecones burning like charcoal.

IMG_0407.jpg



All in all it was quite an interesting experiment. Once the pinecones had burnt down they really did burn like the briquettes you'd buy in a store. Seems like a great way to cook in the outdoors.

Oh ya, it took 10 pinecones to boil up 1L of water in 8 minutes. Not bad when you've got nothing to do on a Sunday night.



Cheers,

JC
 
That is very cool. I use that stove as well. In fact, it's the stove i use on any multi-day hike. I usually light it off with a little chunk of an esbit along with sticks that I gather and bag as I walk. If I get the chance, I'll try the pine cones. One question, though. Did the pine cones leave any really tough residue inside the stove or on the outside of the pot?
 
the outside of my pot is black as hell from all the soot from previous use so i couldnt really tell or notice if there was additional buildup.

The inside of the stove seemed fine, it was as if i was burning wood in it.
 
That's cool. You can always find cones, or at least I always can where I live. Wonder how different cones would work. Those are some sort of Pine, red pine or ponderosa pine, I can't really see from the pictures. I'd like to see the same with spruce cones too.
 
I've tried spruce cones when i was camping. They work but not as well as the pines.
 
We have plenty of pine cones in the middle elevations of the Sierras, and I use them for fires all the time. These in particular are really good to have:
Cones.jpg


The longer one is sugar pine from the Sierras, the shorter one (and heavier) is coulter pine from the coast range.
 
is it just me or do pinecones have alot of resin in them? they threw off quite alot of light and probably could be used for nice small hot fires at camp. maybe even make a candle out of it :D
 
I have 47 large pines on my lot, and every winter we make a good size fire out of the hundreds of cones and deadwood they drop. they give off a deep orange glow from their interior, and snap/pop almost like popcorn every couple seconds. I'm not sure why they do that, maybe its the pine nuts exploding, but its very beautiful and relaxing.
 
I've burnt the cones from Scots Pines before now. They light easily and give off plenty of heat and don't appear to contain much resin.
The only snag is they burn up quickly so you have to be constantly feeding the fire, possibly because of their small size, about 1 1/2"

Scots pines at my parents old house:
yarmouth044.jpg
 
Pine cones dipped in a thin layer of beeswax are sort of a traditional firestarter material up in these parts. They burn like rockets--even without the wax! :cool:
 
Interesting. I was also wondering about residue from sap that may be in the pine cone. I have a yard FULL of white pines and that sap gets on EVERYTHING under the trees.

I guess this is going to be a harsh winter as there are more pine cones this year than I can EVER recall seeing on the ground.

Peter
 
Not all pine cones are created equalo, I have had some varities that flamed on quickly and others that just would not stay lit.
 
We have a pine of some sort in our front yard. It gets sap all over everything. The pinecones are huge, each weigh at least 1lb. They drop while still green and are wet with sap. I'll have to try this, but my guess is that these sappy suckers will go up like napalm.
 
not sure how well the green ones will burn but the brown ones definetly light up fast. i'm going to go have to hunt for some pine resin to do a combo with the cone.


cheers

and thanks for the coments

JC
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top