Fatwood - Fire - Snow (kinda) (pictures)

[ISKski]

So a few weeks ago, I went for a walk in the woods with my lovely lady, I was on a mission to find some fatwood but there were no pine trees to be found! as we crested this tough hill - i noticed there were 3 pine trees standing in a little group, as i walked up to them, i noticed this stump here.. it seems that pine tree and an american beech were growing in exactly the same spot, weird. Here you can see my using my izula to break down the stump and harvest some fat wood... strangely enough, most of the fatwood was found on the trunk of the tree on the ground (no pix sorry). I found most of the fatwood at the joint where the branches met the main trunk -

Here is my prized piece, solid fat wood

here is an example of how the fatwood was in the limbs of the tree

so then a few weeks later there was FINALLY some snow here in PA, not much at all, barely any as a matter of fact, but i've been waiting all season to try to light a fire in the snow, so i went for it!
I used some of the fatwood i gathered a few weeks ago as my tinder. I found a piece of standing dead wood, broke it down to a manageable size and then used my izula to break it down even further to a good burning size...

breaking the wood down

then i got it to go, fat wood is AWESOME, because it doesn't look it too much, but it was very wet outside yesterday

tool of choice

here is a shot so you can get a scope of the area

All in all, it was a really really good time!

thanks for looking

ISK

 

[cut it out]

very nice pics!!!! yeah PA is really low in snow this year!!!!

 

[WILLIAM.M]

Good post

Thanks for taking us along

 

[kgd]

Nice post. Its kind of a luxury to find fatwood where I camp out. I tend to take along those Coghlan's firesticks (paraffin impregnated sawdust) in their place. Both work great.

 

[Tilley Knife]

I have a couple hundred pounds of fatwood/pine knot/lightered if anyone would like some. It is from the Ouachita Mountians in Mena, AR. Great, survival kit material, bug out bags and just all around fire starting. Good quality wood. Will make a good deal on it!

Man, you're pimping this stuff hard and fast You must be covered up in it. A lot of the guys in here get thier own but good luck.

 

[trailbum]

Looks like time well spent.

 

[infocus2006]

Fatwood will light in a heavy rain if it is quality stuff. I have soaked fatwood in a bowl of water over night and it lit the next day without a hitch. It has to be quality wood though. I got a couple hundred pounds of this stuff. Nice pics though.