Fatwood

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Knifemaker
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Please explain to me what exactly fatwood is. Is it a species? Is it the sappy portion of pine??
 
It comes from the stumps of pine trees that have a denseconcentration of pitch which burns quickly.
 
It doesn't necessarily have to be Pine, but is typically from a conifer, but can be from any tree that produces these ultimately flammable resins. Some trees from rainforests also produce fatwood, and there is concern that perfectly good species are being over-harvested for a quick buck.

It's part of the culture of the Southeastern US, therefor it's usually typified as a Southern yellow Pine.

Depending on how the tree lived and succumbed, the resins and pitch build up in the lower portion. As it decays, the resins do Not, they are also bug tolerant. And of course, they are quite flammable.

I cut down a pine tree, 2 years ago, and threw the bottom 2 feet into the woods, where it sits, quietly decomposing. once it's at the point where it can be torn open, I'll see if there is any decent fatwood to be harvested.

Example of where you may find it:

Lets say a mature Conifer (Pine) breaks off near the base, leaving the stump and a couple of feet sticking out of the ground. After several years as the stump is decomposing, it gets weak, so weak that you can kick it apart easily.
Most of us have probably done this without even thinking about it.
As you kick it apart, the peices that are still intact, the "leftovers" so to speak, are actually fat wood.
It comes in all flavors and amounts. Some will be loaded with it, some will have very little, and amounts anywhere in between.

Most websites you go to to find "What is fatwood" are also sites selling it.
To them FatWood "is" whatever they happen to be selling and calling "fatwood".
 
SkunkWerX said:
Most websites you go to to find "What is fatwood" are also sites selling it.
To them FatWood "is" whatever they happen to be selling and calling "fatwood".
Click to expand...

This is what i wanted to avoid. If you do a search on epray, you get a bunch of hits. What good is a bunch of regular pine kindling?
 
Hey Guys...


The Best fatwood in my opinion is from here..

www.fatwood.com

This fatwood is out of Honduras, and is 80% resin...

The best "bought" fatwood you can get...

IMHO...

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
Skunk,

I am pretty sure your experiment with the pine log won't work, you have to have the roots still on. I think that when the tree is cut with the sap down the roots just keep trying to send the sap up totally saturating the wood. About half of my explanation was a WAG I really don't know what creates this resinous pine but I have never found any fatwood that wasn't a stump.

Picture711.jpg



Yall are right, most of what you buy that is called "fatwood" is nothing but dry pine kindling. Chris


EDIT: Aproy, I can't email from work but I can read them, I will hit you back tonight.
 
We have some up here in Ontario from logging about 150 yrs ago. I had a root/ stump that burned overnight in the middle of winter.
 
BrettP said:
You can buy it in the grocery store. Any one know how good it is?
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Real fatwood is very heavy and dense, in some cases you can see the almost petrified sap and it smells very strongly of pine. It burns very brightly and puts out a lot of smoke, sort of like burning rubber.

If what the store is selling is like what I described buy some and try it. Chris
 
Runningboar is right. It is almost always stumps. But we never called it fatwood, I have always known it as "lightered". And it is quite easy to find down south. Just go into the woods and look for stumps around waist high. I would get mine in the spring when the ground was the wettest. Good lightered will have a greenish hue and be very solid.. I would kick and push the stumps until loose and then pull them up out of the ground. You will need a buddy or two to help you haul it out of the woods. Good hunting.
 
A lightening struck tree is an excellent source for fatwood.

I bought some of the stuff that is sold in our local Orchard Supply Hardware. It comes 50 sticks to the package and when curling pieces off of it, there's no doubt that it's full of sap.
 
Lots of great 411 here. Thanks guys.
 
longbow50 said:
A lightening struck tree is an excellent source for fatwood.

I bought some of the stuff that is sold in our local Orchard Supply Hardware. It comes 50 sticks to the package and when curling pieces off of it, there's no doubt that it's full of sap.
Click to expand...

I was wondering about that scenario as I went through the thread. I assumed that lightnng just killed a tree stone dead and stopped the sap build up process. But, lightning does wierd things at times and there would be an infinite variety of variables with tree thickness etc. Blown down snapped off trees are obvious. Most old cut down trees around here were cut pretty low because of commercial harvesting. So.....it boils down to looking for a pine stump that is age rotted so I can kick it or chop it apart.....I have seen huge hard globs of solidified sap on living pine trees all my life dripped from wood pecker holes. Anyone ever crush this chunks into powder and try to light them..... or do you absolutely need the assistance of the wood for a fire start. (sorry keyboard buggered, cant punctuate, replacement coming by UPS as I type.) Also, am I thinking correctly here. This fat wood is more oriented toward the second stage of fire building in the sense of: 1. I am using my very fine initial starting materials, THEN: 2. I would use fat wood as the real initiator that really gets my fire humping and prepped for the intermediate wood sizes 1-2 inch thick that I have gathered, before the main stage of bigger and maintenance wood.
 
upnorth said:
. So.....it boils down to looking for a pine stump that is age rotted so I can kick it or chop it .
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Folks, a good lightered pine stump is harder than woodpecker lips, it is not rotted and crumbly. If you try to cut one with a chain saw it will burn your blade up and the sparks will fly. The best thing I know of is a bow saw, a wedge and a maul and you are still looking at some work.

upnorth said:
2. I would use fat wood as the real initiator that really gets my fire humping and prepped for the intermediate wood sizes 1-2 inch thick that I have gathered, before the main stage of bigger and maintenance wood.
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Fatwood is used for tender, you can shave off pieces and it will catch a spark and burn like a magnesium bar except burn slower, then you use small pieces, the size of a no2 pencil or smaller, to light your other materials.

Me and my best friend found a big lighter stump when I was about 16, we pretty much got the whole thing and brought it to his house and set it on the hearth next to the wood stove. His mom thought it was just a piece of fire wood and put the whole thing in the wood stove and nearly burnt the house down, the stove pipe was glowing all the way to the ceiling, she turned the dampers all the way off and got it cooled down. Chris
 
Thanks for the education Chris. I see it all differently now, and it also makes sense. :thumbup:
 
longbow50 said:
A lightening struck tree is an excellent source for fatwood.

I bought some of the stuff that is sold in our local Orchard Supply Hardware. It comes 50 sticks to the package and when curling pieces off of it, there's no doubt that it's full of sap.
Click to expand...


My supervisor at work was telling me stories about his army days, and he said on one of his solo trips he found a tree struck by lightening, and that its sap was almost crystalized by the heat, which he stocked up on. He still has a few pieces somewhere. I guess in the army they train you to look for the stuff.
I ordered some online, can't wait to try it out. I am assuming it repels water pretty well?
 
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