Young Writers Society

To ask a seemingly random question, does anyone know about trying to burn pitch? Is it actually flamable, or does it have to be on something, like wood, to burn better? How about tar- is it any different?

It is extremely flammable, and hot-burning.

As for tar, it's nasty to burn, but it does burn. And it is very different. Tar is essentially the icky half of fossil fuels while pitch is dried tree sap, usually a species of pine.

Doing a quick Google search ought to bring up a lot more info.

Kyllorac wrote:It is extremely flammable, and hot-burning.

As for tar, it's nasty to burn, but it does burn. And it is very different. Tar is essentially the icky half of fossil fuels while pitch is dried tree sap, usually a species of pine.

Doing a quick Google search ought to bring up a lot more info.

Or just go out and try burning them. I mean, go google it, because you must be told by the great search engine.

Google be with us.

(srsly just get some matches, a lighter, and some kerosene or something; walla!)

I've tried google with only moderate success in finding what i was looking for, but i'll keep looking. Just thought I'd check here.

(srsly just get some matches, a lighter, and some kerosene or something; walla!)

Haha that'd be nice, but my book unfortunately doesn't have access to matches, lighters, or probably kerosene.

Have you ever been camping? Sometimes the flames will catch the pitch suddenly, and whooom! Haha. I believe it was also used to coat the heads of torches. Then again, I could be wrong. But I'm sure it's very flamable.

What firestarters are your characters using? Is it an accidental fire? If so, any kind of match or lighter would work. Or you could try flint--it's hard to figure out how to use, but once you do it's easy. This is assuming you were planning on trying it out, which I'm not sure I should be suggesting... Don't play with fire! >.>

I wouldn't know about tar.

ok thanks- as I have no intention of trying it out, I just wanted to make sure it was safe to assume pitch would be very flammable if it came into contact with fire. My book is definately set in more of a flint-and-steel age than matches or lighters, and I wanted to make sure pitch would work