Buying Fatwood?

[JNieporte]

I've tried finding fatwood myself, but have had no success. So, where do you buy quality fatwood? I found some UniFlame brand at Home Depot. Six dollars for four pounds in a plastic see-through bag, and it seems to be good stuff. About thirty 8" long sticks.

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/uniflame-fatwood-pine-fuel-4-lb-bag-201274.html

I've also seen this in a six pound box for $18 at Meijer...

but I'm not sure if it's any better than the Home Depot stuff. For the same price as the six pound box, I can buy 12 pounds of the HD stuff. I'm not sure about paying a premium price for something I'm going to set on fire.

 

[schmittie]

I've bought fatwood many times, unfortunately. It's hard to come by here as we don't have many pine trees. I've not been too impressed with the quality of the bagged stuff though. It burns, don't get me wrong. It seems to need an awful lot of heat to really get going. As in, 'Hurry up, this match is gonna burn down to my finger tips!!'

But the stuff I would rather use is what I've purchased from individuals who have harvested it themselves. (There's lot of it on that auction site). I can't actually prove there is a difference, but it seems to light with much less effort and burn more fierce. Maybe it has something to do with the personal touch in the harvest

 

[JV3]

i bought a 10 lbs box for $20 shipped i think two years ago from here: http://www.greatgreenapple.com/hearth/fatwood/. i'm not even half-way through it and it's very high quality stuff.

 

[jacksterp]

You only need a small amount of fatwood shavings to ignite tinder. Four pounds is more than I have used in a lifetime.

Luckily I can find fatwood easily and when I harvest some I always store it in an airtight container. That way it lasts quite a while.

 

[Quirt]

You cannot find it? Is it because you live in an area void of resinous trees or because you've been unsuccessful in knowing where to look for it and/or harvesting it?

 

[JNieporte]

You cannot find it? Is it because you live in an area void of resinous trees or because you've been unsuccessful in knowing where to look for it and/or harvesting it?

I know where to look, and have harvested it before. Due to some health problems, I've been unable to go hiking. As of about eight months ago, I found spots where I've harvested fatwood before, but somebody beat me to it. Lots of rejected stumps, and what was left was only a handful. I found out later that a local scouting troop had raided the area, and more around it. The scout leader takes all he can for himself and leaves nothing. I found this out because my nephew attended the guy's scout troop.

 

[FTR-14c]

I would give the bag from HD a try. The stuff we find varies from almost crystallized or petrified to more grainy like whats in that bag.
It all burns very well. If you scrape yourself a little pile of fuzz it goes right up.
Here is a few pics of some fatwood we hauled out on a family hike.

 

[Eero]

Nice haul FTR. I've never even gone out and tried to find any myself. I live in the Seattle area and we probably have tons around here. I bought a dinky box of fat wood at a camping supply store for about $4 a year ago and have one piece left. Maybe it's time for a mission. A while back I saw that miswalker posted a picture of a downed tree that he found some fat wood in and if it were me I would have just stepped right over that rotten long and moved on but next time I'm exploring I think I may do a little digging and bring a big chopper like my BK9

 

[lambertiana]

I think next time I get a chance to go to the sierra lower middle elevations I'll just harvest a whole bunch of ponderosa fatwood and offer it to anyone willing to cover the shipping. You can fit a lot in the flat rate priority boxes. This is the kind of fatwood I find up there

 

[FAL'ER]

Nice haul FTR. I've never even gone out and tried to find any myself. I live in the Seattle area and we probably have tons around here. I bought a dinky box of fat wood at a camping supply store for about $4 a year ago and have one piece left. Maybe it's time for a mission. A while back I saw that miswalker posted a picture of a downed tree that he found some fat wood in and if it were me I would have just stepped right over that rotten long and moved on but next time I'm exploring I think I may do a little digging and bring a big chopper like my BK9

You should have come to BeckerWest bro, there was a class on finding, harvesting and processing fat/pitch wood. Come next time and you can have all your willing to carry.

To the OP, email me your mailing address, I've got some for you. And 1 stick of this stuff can be used to make multiple fires, unless your in a downpour.

 

[Loosearrow]

I think next time I get a chance to go to the sierra lower middle elevations I'll just harvest a whole bunch of ponderosa fatwood and offer it to anyone willing to cover the shipping. You can fit a lot in the flat rate priority boxes. This is the kind of fatwood I find up there

I see that and I can almost smell it. Brings back memories.

 

[dipbait]

I think next time I get a chance to go to the sierra lower middle elevations I'll just harvest a whole bunch of ponderosa fatwood and offer it to anyone willing to cover the shipping. You can fit a lot in the flat rate priority boxes. This is the kind of fatwood I find up there

I might take you up on that.

 

[Eero]

You should have come to BeckerWest bro, there was a class on finding, harvesting and processing fat/pitch wood. Come next time and you can have all your willing to carry.

I should be there this next year for sure. I burned a whole chunk of it by accident when I had a campfire camping at about 5,000ft this summer so I know it's around the PNW but I just need to do some investigating one of these days to find some to actually harvest.

Here is a pic of a fire I made with some fat wood shavings:

 

[91bravo]

This is what a fatwood stump looks like:

This is what it looks like underneath:

Close-ups:

All processed and ready to go!

If anyone would like to try some, just let me know and I can send a sample out. Fatwood is everywhere down here in the South. You just have to go get it!

 

[orca8589]

When we bought our house last year, I had to take some shelving out of the garage, that had been built into a wall at the time the house was built.

Basically, the builders used fatwood for the bracing & shelf supports; they just painted over it with a couple coats of indoor house paint, no primer. I've got two long pieces, and I'll have more when I pull the rest of the shelving down. As soon as I pulled the first long piece off, it filled the entire garage with that intense pine smell - still sticky & pungent after 50+ years. The stuff lights up with one match.

91bravo, I'd like to take you up on that offer, so I can compare it to what I have here. I can PayPal the shipping cost.

Visitor message sent.

~Chris

 

[thelastbestplace]

I was surprised that my local Ace Hardware had it (in a small town).

Recently I was trying to make a fire while it was raining. It had been raining for days and it was fairly windy. I tried everything to light a fire: Purell, feathersticks, vaseline cotton balls but the one thing that started the fire was a feather stick of fat wood.

 

[91bravo]

When we bought our house last year, I had to take some shelving out of the garage, that had been built into a wall at the time the house was built.

Basically, the builders used fatwood for the bracing & shelf supports; they just pained over it with a couple coats of indoor house paint, no primer. I've got two long pieces, and I'll have more when I pull the rest of the shelving down. As soon as I pulled the first long piece off, it filled the entire garage with that intense pine smell - still sticky & pungent after 50+ years. The stuff lights up with one match.

91bravo, I'd like to take you up on that offer, so I can compare it to what I have here. I can PayPal the shipping cost.

Visitor message sent.

~Chris

email sent!

 

[ISKski]

Found this in 100+ yr old floor boards, it is by FAR the most flammable fatwood I've seen

[video=youtube;F8L4hyU0CW0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8L4hyU0CW0&feature=plcp[/video]