Cut up some FAT WOOD

Mannlicher

Mannlicher

Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
3,400
I took one of my fat wood logs, cut off an old turpentine plantation almost 100 years ago, and started making little pieces from larger ones. This wood is full of resin, and is more like napalm when lit than wood. :D
The log I am working on now:
FatWoodLog.jpg

Some of the pieces
LittlefromLarge.jpg
 
if you want to really get some benefit out of good quality fat wood, use it like Cedar,and put some sticks in the wife's undie drawer. :D
 
Thats pretty cool! Chris and I dug up a bunch last trip we took. Fun project. Now I have a log much like that one. Too big.
 
Nice haul! I'm betting you didn't process that with a Randall :)

Recently found myself in possession of much more fatwood than I will ever use starting fires...now I am exploring for medicinal uses.
 
mistwalker said:
Nice haul! I'm betting you didn't process that with a Randall :)

Recently found myself in possession of much more fatwood than I will ever use starting fires...now I am exploring for medicinal uses.
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Should be able to make pitch out of it. Then you have a glue in itself or you can mix it with other things for different types of glue (forget what though). Also good for waterproofing.

Sugar maybe? That or extract the sap some how, forms small logs/bricks and you can use it as a candle I believe. Just some ideas.
 
riz_aaroni said:
Should be able to make pitch out of it. Then you have a glue in itself or you can mix it with other things for different types of glue (forget what though). Also good for waterproofing.

Sugar maybe? That or extract the sap some how, forms small logs/bricks and you can use it as a candle I believe. Just some ideas.
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Thanks for the ideas. I know you can make pitch...but in thinking about the turpentine I'm really interested in a natural topical antiseptic.


Mannlicher said:
nope. I used a small Wetterlings ax and for the fine work, a Cold Steel Bushman. :)
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Lol, I don't blame you, I'd only do it with a knife of that caliber under "necessary" conditions.
 
I love fatwood. I use it for every single fire I make. It takes a sweet spark from a firesteel and smells good too.
 
That is why I continually ask myself why do we need PJ soaked cotton balls when most forests are plum full of that stuff? One stick of that in a backpack is better than any cotton ball any day.
 
I agree. When I saw the logs into short lengths, I save all the sawdust. To start a fire even in bad conditions, a little pile of that sawdust and a good spark, or in my case, a good match, gets it going in no time.
 
I like the idea of fatwood in the drawer, though the smell goes away pretty quickly, I think I might do that, or make a little sack from an old sock and fill it with shavings.

I fine mesh bag would probably work just as well.

Ok, time for me to go start making shavings.
 
DUDE!

I was just kidding about putting fat wood in the wife's undie drawer. My God, she would kill me if I had all her frilly things smelling like turpentine. :eek:
 
Very nice. I had bought some fatwood to start my charcoal grill, but found that the resin kept sticking to the knife and then I'd end up having to clean the knife with water and a towel to get it really clean. Not a problem now since I changed to a gas grill.
 
I recently discover a large stump full of fatwood while hiking, and was only to bring back what I could baton with a rat rc-3. I like to use a sharp coping saw and make like little 2" x5/8"x1/2 pieces of it, that can be split into match sized pieces with just hand pressure on the spine of a knife. I need to go back with an axe and the atv to harvest the whole stump. I also know of a 8 foot long, 2 feet in diamater of fatwood. Also wanted to say that fatwood sometimes has really great looking grain, with the diff amounts of resin. It can look like Burl in some cases.
 
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