lighting : )

I have no clue on how to make a torch. i live in high desert (plenty of vegetation) and ive tried so many ways to make a torch and all have failed except wraping a shirt around a stick dipping it in motoroil and burning it.... but that is cheating i want to know how to make a torch with natural /desert\ materials. if not desert materials how bout pine and poplar materials? <br> <br><br>

WSK, Are we talking the classic "storm Frankenstien castle"torches?The two natural materials in your area are pine pitch and animal fats.In actual practice most native peoples would avoid torches.It destroys night vision and alerts game or adversaries to your presence.I have excavated numerous small fatlamps in archaeological sites.These are usually a nonconductive stone such as steatite or soapstone.these were the 'minimags' of their time.If we all went out into even an abundant area utilizing natural materials,it would quickly be denuded.What may look like a dead stick to us may be a vital part of some animals existence,ie packrat middens.This is why we carry all this 'stuff'.A common tinder in the western desert you SOULD burn are the ever present cowpies.You can find a stick,make cordage from yucca leaves and wrap it tightly into a huge match.<br><br>