fat wood I.D.

[ratamahatta]

Went for a short walk today, think I found me some fatwood, if not what type is it?

 

[Shotgun]

Fatwood isn't a type of wood it's what happens with pine when it's saturated with resin. Looks like fatwood in the pic though but to be sure what did it smell like?

Edit: The rest of the pics are cool too.

 

[ratamahatta]

Fatwood isn't a type of wood it's what happens with pine when it's saturated with resin. Looks like fatwood in the pic though but to be sure what did it smell like?

Edit: The rest of the pics are cool too.

It smelled just like pine!!!

 

[MidwestDave]

Looks like it might be, but get closer to the roots for the good stuff.


Dave

 

[Mistwalker]

First off, cool pics! That spider pic is one of the clearest I've seen.

Secondly it is a dead pine that may have been on it's way to fatwood. Typically I the longer they stood after they died the better it is...seems that hitting the ground soon after death just makes the tree rot and the earth reclaims the whole thing.

Third fatwood does not smell like pine it smells like turpentine, nothing else in the woods smells like it.

 

[MidwestDave]

The cut shown in the pic is up by the branches.
Try the roots.


Dave

 

[ratamahatta]

There's several on the property that are still standing that are dead, thanks for the info, I'll try closer to the root of the tree's, here's some more pics of the spider and fungi that I seen also.....

 

[MidwestDave]

The fatwood I've found so far was actually below ground. The pine stumps were no more than 6" high and completely rotten. A shove with my boot revealed a solid core that was over a foot long with more than half underground.


Dave

 

[Mistwalker]

Cool, even more great pics. Looks like some of the same kinds of fungi I found on my last hike.

I have found a lot of fatwood below ground...but a lot above as well. Mainly when I find the richest fatwood it is in a state like what you see in the following pictures. There will be lines that are somewhat "topographic" in nature. On these the inside is so dense from the aging pitch that there is only a thin layer of the weathered material and the inside is very dense, quite glossy, has a strong smell of turpentine, and slivers of it will readily take a flame from a lighter even after laying exposed in the rain for days. It will burn like a candle, and will put off a heavy black smoke which will also help keep mosquitoes at bay.

However I did recently find this to contain fatwood.

That tree fell some years ago...more than three anyway because that was when I first went back into the area after being away for several years. However I'm not sure at what state the center was in when it fell. At first glance and touch it appears to be just another rotten log that will soon fall in the trail as often is the case. There are so many living pine trees blown down by storms here that often one will be laid across an opening like this. Those trees rot and deteriorate but the ones that die standing and stay standing leave at least a small amount of fatwood. The amount probably depends on the height and diameter of the tree. In a closer look at this tree I noticed wear rings at the base of some of the limbs on this tree so I started probing for solid material. Some of the limbs were very solid, and I consistently found VERY solid material about three inches below the very soft rotten outer core.

 

[fishshooter]

Mistwalker is spot on, great post my friend! What you have there just looks like pine to me. Fatwood is hard and gummy. It splits easy with the grain, but is tough chopping against it.

 

[mtnfolk mike]

great pics man..:thumbup: that spider shot is way cool... nice score on the fatwood.. i have a big box of it in my garage.. it's great stuff.. i love it..

we found a huge goldmine of fatwood at the BF CA. bush-bash... Christian and Sasha had a blast chopping that up.. ... it was super concentrated...

 

[pitdog]

Great pics buddy !

It's weird but after you have found fatwood a few times you can spot the stuff even way off. I look at stumps from maybe twenty feet away and know whether they are fatwood or not nowdays.

 

[Joezilla]

You'll start to find this wonderful water repelling wood everywhere, underneath your feet, inside stumps in the ground, under water in a pond. Just keep bashing wood and before you know it, you'll be able to find it blindfolded and barefoot.

Here is a multitool I found about a week or so ago during a hike in the woods. Its the Fatwoodbatontorchrabbitstickmallet. Designed by Mother Nature!

That spider is a marbled orbweaver by the way.

 

[DWK2]

That's my Gransfors maul that Chris is swinging. He and Sasha were kind enough to leave some of that fatwood for a lazy bastid like me to scrounge. Great stuff!

DancesWithKnives

 

[ratamahatta]

Mistwalker...thanks for the info, I'll be picking your brain for the great knowledge, Joezilla thanks for the info on the spider it was spot on!!!!!

 

[Mistwalker]

Mistwalker...thanks for the info, I'll be picking your brain for the great knowledge

No problem bro, if there's anything I can help you with just give me a shout. I'm in the middle of recollecting pictures of fatwood in its different states of being since I have gotten a better camera. The pics in the "Identifying Fatwood" thread are a few years old and were taken with an old vivitar.... the pics were pretty much hit and miss, and some just not as clear as I'd like or as clear as I can get them now.