Fatwood at Wallyworld

brewcitymike

brewcitymike

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Aug 26, 2011
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So I was in the home/hardware section of my neighborhood wallyworld and was turning into the space heater isle(spelling??) and noticed that they sell a good size box of fatwood for just under $10. Its got a lot of sticks in the small kindling size of about .5-1" thick and about 6" long. I'm new to the Fatwood world and don't know squat about it except that it comes from pine trees or something though I'm not sure if its a specific type of pine or where to look for it so buying it seems like a great idea to me. I know some of you are gonna say "just go find some, it's half the fun", which I do believe myself but sadly I live in the inner city and trips to the woods are few and not all that often. I know I might be able to find some pine trees in my neighborhood but I wouldn't even know where to begin. A buddy has a huge pine in his back yard so can I just hack a chunk out of it or do I need a specific part of the tree? Then again, I'd rather buy it then kill a tree which I personally know to be at least 30 years old though I'm sure its at least double that.
Here's a box of the stuff I'm talking about
images (1).jpg
 
I got some similar to that from Meijer last year at the fall clearance sale. I think the two boxes I got were around $2 each. I have searched around my area but have no luck finding it naturally.
 
 
when a pine tree is cut at the base it will still release sap into its stump or broken limbs, as the tree dies and dries out its full of sap which is called fatwood.

have you burned any?
you will see it catches flame excellent and burns for a good amount of time, it also burns dirty and black (the Smoke)
I got a batch at Lowes that was some pretty damn good stuff, nothing wrong with buying to have on hand and play with.
Its also fun as hell to try to find in the woods....
 
Real fat wood is actually pine heart. When a White Pine dies the "heart" or core of the tree will still retain the majority of the sap. Cutting down a pine tree won't really do it, although with enough drying, dying, and hard work, I guess it could. You want to look for something that looks like an old cedar fence post sticking up from the middle of a barky circle on the ground. The barky circle was the outside diameter of the pine tree when it died. The piece sticking up is the heart or fatwood. It will look old, grey, and dry until you cut in to it. If the cut is sticky and smells, you know, like a pine tree then you're good. On a side note, all pine burns due to the high sap concentration; however, nothing natural burns quiet like fatwood. It’s my understanding that Yellow pine dies differently. As in the heart dies before the tree, so they don’t yield fatwood. As long as your fatwood is dry (water moisture, not sap) store it in a tuperware type container and it will stay fresh for quiet a while.

IMG-20120130-00104.jpg IMG-20120130-00105.jpg IMG-20120130-00106.jpg IMG-20120130-00109.jpg
 
Thats a good deal if you live in the desert like me and cant harvest it. You can also get it at Home Depot for $6.00 for the same size box.
 
I have found a couple pines and cedars that were dead, standing, and rotten on the outside with a solid core. When I cut into them the center was not fatwood like, at least not yet it wasn't. I guess it is possible that I cut into them too soon and the resin just didn't have enough time to full permeate.
 
I bought a box of fat wood at my local supermarket a few years ago, and am just now running out since I use it sparingly. I think it would be more satisfying to harvest some in the woods, so I'll be keeping my eyes open
 
Can you post a upc from the box for me? My store can order it, if they can find it.
 
brewcitymike said:
So I was in the home/hardware section of my neighborhood wallyworld and was turning into the space heater isle(spelling??) and noticed that they sell a good size box of fatwood for just under $10. Its got a lot of sticks in the small kindling size of about .5-1" thick and about 6" long. I'm new to the Fatwood world and don't know squat about it except that it comes from pine trees or something though I'm not sure if its a specific type of pine or where to look for it so buying it seems like a great idea to me. I know some of you are gonna say "just go find some, it's half the fun", which I do believe myself but sadly I live in the inner city and trips to the woods are few and not all that often. I know I might be able to find some pine trees in my neighborhood but I wouldn't even know where to begin. A buddy has a huge pine in his back yard so can I just hack a chunk out of it or do I need a specific part of the tree? Then again, I'd rather buy it then kill a tree which I personally know to be at least 30 years old though I'm sure its at least double that.
Here's a box of the stuff I'm talking about
View attachment 261099
Click to expand...

I got the same stuff, exactly the same box from a ''Rona'' store up here. 8-10 bucks ? I think that it is harvested in Honduras ? It was not bad with some really good pieces here and there. I purposely eyeballed different boxes for saturation. I took the really good stuff out and used the mediocre for starting camp fires and it will REALLY get a camp fire ripping. Since then I have received fat wood from the southern U.S. (the best) and the Pacific North West (the same excellence or very close to it). Mediocre but usable fat wood has streaks of sap running through it and has a slight resin smell. The super excellent throughly saturated fat wood is almost translucent and has a very strong turpentine smell to it.
 
I have been using fatwwod for years,getting a fire started in my chiminea,hiking camping etc.. Always able to find it at Lowes, Depot etc.. Now that I have learned what to look for, I can't wait to go into the woods and start hunting some down. I own some acreage in upstate NY which i predominantly pine with plenty of white pine. I always thought it was some sort of exotic stuff,harvested God knows where and never even considered googling the stuff.
 
I have only found it wild once but it was a good score and I still have some. I have seen it at Menards also.
 
How does one store it to keep it at it's "peak flamability"? I only have the storebought, and seems to deteriorate (ie loses the smell,etc...) . Thanks for input!
Fred
 
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