Fatwood wont light

R

rahershey

Joined
Sep 1, 2001
Messages
7
Im trying to light some fatwood using only a fero rod on
a mag firestarter and also a fero from a broken blast
match. I have shaved the fatwood, scraped it, made fuzz
sticks and it wont light:( . I have a couple of firesteels
ordered on on the way and was wondering if these will have
a hotter spark then the others.

I do not want to use 0000 steelwool, char cloth. or cotton balls
to lite the fatwood just the spark from the fero rod :).

What am I doing wrong.

Thanks

Rich
 
Make sure that you have a good scraper such as the back of a piece of hacksaw blade. You may not be getting enough spark.
 
I have not used Fatwood, however a very common method problem with spark lighters in general is that the rod is held above the tinder. The rod should be right down in it. You can't hold it above as the sparks will not be hot enough to catch. Use the scraper firmly on the rod as the more pressure the more sparks. As well as Jim noted, you want a sharp and hard scraper. A cheap kitchen knife will do to test, however you will really damage the edge, the bit of hacksaw blade, is the best way to go. The spines of most knives are often sharp enough, but an actual edge is *much* better.

-Cliff
 
Never seemed to me that fatwood lit all that easily even with a match. I wonder if it is wax coated a little bit. Has anyone done it your way. Maybe it cant be done. Not sure. I always thought that fire starting paste that comes in a tube was the best way to start a fire. But again that was with matches.
 
I've done it. Cliff's advise is good. Small shavings and put the end of the rod right in the shavings.

Pat
 
I had the same problem, so I asked our friend in The Netherlands. Bagheera told me that you have to shave the fatwood REALLY thin---like translucent slivers. You then need to scrape some of the actual ferrocium (sp?) off of the firesteel and mix it with the shavings. Then get the firesteel into the mixture and really shower it hard with sparks, as Cliff and the others stated. Keep up the shower until you have clear ignition, rather than periodically backing off to see whether anything is starting (one of my initial problems).

That said, I still find it easiest to use the drier lint or 0000 steel wool.
 
I use pine routinely (the old growth type, usually stumps and the like). I form a nest of sorts with whatever is available (crushed beech leaves, catails, moss, etc.) Then in the center I scrape a good size portion of pine. Up to a tablespoon. The pine falls into the cracks and crevices and also in a center clump. With a 4" rod from Greg Davenport I strike with a knife blade at a 45 degree angle down on the tinder. It lights. If fatwood is not similar ignore this completely.
 
I regularly demonstrate lighting a fire with my metal match and some fatwood.

If fact, the piece of fatwood I have is not a great piece either, it has a relatively low pitch content.

The key item in my method is that I do not shave the fatwood. I use the scraper from my metal match real aggressively on the wood, to create a nice pile of scrapings, all very fine. With that, I will get a flame after usually only two shower of sparks.
 
It worked

I tried the advice of many who posted here and of others and here
is what I found.

Jeff Randall replied that "Fatwood varies in resin content". Upon
checking the fatwood I had, some were much more rich in the resin
content then the others and picked those out from the rest and used
these. He also went on to say he fussed these and never had a problem
lighting it with a ferrocerium rod. I tried this and it worked

Jimbo's advice on the scraper was good because I was using the blade
from my knife and not really leaning into it as far as scraping went.
I used a scraper from a boy scout metal match and ground one side down
a little to a sharper edge. This really took off the fatwood quick and
made nice small shavings of it. These lighted REAL quick.

Cliff said that a very common problem with spark lighters is that the
rod is held above the tinder. The rod should be right down in it. I
was holding it an angle and trying to throw the sparks to the fatwood.
After putting the rod right in a pile of shavings it lighted.
I also used a FREE cheaply built knife whose blade was semi sharp
and this threw a lot more sparks than the scraper. This blade is
extremely thin and wont hold up to too many scrapes.

And finely PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

And thanks to all who replied
 
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