Have I committed sin? Pine pitch harvesting dilemma

[benn25]

Been out for the last 2 days scavenging for some fatwood.

Day 1: Thought I had found some, got all excited, got back home to find not much at all.
Day 2: Spent 4 hours in the sodding rain determined to get myself some fatwood. Thought id test my Corona 10" for the 1st time to saw a trunk through which took me 15 minutes only to find the middle was brittle as hell. Gutted. However, very impressed with the saw.

Anyway, determined to find some I finally found a downed pine and..... voila.... with some pine pitch...and here lies my problem

I got the pine pitch off a living tree (obviously) and decided to cut a square in the bark so I could get it easier. However on getting the bark off I've opened it up so the flesh is showing.

Have I doomed the tree as it is now exposed or will it recover?

 

[beezer]

should be fine. ive seen timber harvesters rubbing up against trees and taking loads of bark off and the trees continue to grow.

 

[bikebum1975]

As a kid had a pine in the backyard of my grandparents house. I abused the heck out of it and stood just fine. So the one you're talking about should be alright

 

[Robson Valley]

You should be OK in your harvest. Let the cut surfaces weep and sweat more sap = that's OK but wait 6 months.

I live in the boreal forest biome. ICH biogeoclimatic zone to be precise. Google McBride to see what my place looks like.

Just as long as your cuts are less than 1/4 of the tree's circumference, think of this as "milking".
My 16" dia spruces have many weeping branch cuts in my front yard. I keep thinking that I should
harvest the sap/gum but I never get around to doing so.

 

[superc0ntra]

Tree should be fine as long as it's not removed all around. An old Swedish way of creating weather resistant logs was to bark the trees but leave a strip about 4" wide which prevented the tree from dying.
Tree got filled up with sap (fatwood) and the logs produced were very resistent to time, elements and bugs. That's why many old houses are still standing despite not being painted.

 

[Wayland]

That's a really useful tip.

 

[bikething]

Tree should be fine as long as it's not removed all around. An old Swedish way of creating weather resistant logs was to bark the trees but leave a strip about 4" wide which prevented the tree from dying.
Tree got filled up with sap (fatwood) and the logs produced were very resistent to time, elements and bugs. That's why many old houses are still standing despite not being painted.

interesting... how long does the process take?

 

[benn25]

This is great info and put my mind at ease. Thanks alot. I was going to harvest some sap tomorrow, but I think Ill leave it for a while as you say. Great info. Thanks again!!

 

[benn25]

I live in the boreal forest biome. ICH biogeoclimatic zone to be precise. Google McBride to see what my place looks like.

Wow....just wow.

 

[The Cumbrian]

Wow....just wow.

That looks like the sort of place that R. M. Patterson wrote about in his later books. Stunning.

Cheers, Michael.

 

[Robson Valley]

I hope you noticed that I'm standing in front of some Douglas-fir log rounds in my avatar. Rotten to the core but no pitch pockets to speak of.
Think I will go out front and have a poke at my spruce trees for resin/pitch. Lots of beeswax so might do up a mix to anchor a couple of copper knife blades that I have bashed out.

 

[Dave]

Tree should be fine as long as it's not removed all around. An old Swedish way of creating weather resistant logs was to bark the trees but leave a strip about 4" wide which prevented the tree from dying.
Tree got filled up with sap (fatwood) and the logs produced were very resistent to time, elements and bugs. That's why many old houses are still standing despite not being painted.

Interesting. I wouldnt have thought a 4" strip of bark, would be able to keep the tree alive or free of infection for long.