Fatwood?

N

newknife

Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
588
I wasn't really familar with this term until I read the fire starter thread. I googled it and I guess it's pine wood taken from the stump of a pine tree? Says it's flamable with just one match? Is that correct?

I'm surrounded by Ponderosa Pine tree's. If I find a dead one and chop into it...is that what I'll find?

Thanks!
 
Some pine trees develop fatwood, especially in the stump area and the upper parts of the roots. Whenever you see a dead ponderosa, chop into the base to check. Or if you see a rotted stump, cut into the middle to see if there is good fatwood there, sometimes the majority of the stump will be rotten with a core of good fatwood that will still be solid. Really good fatwood will be almost translucent orange, with a very strong pine pitch smell. And it will leave your blade coated with sticky sap. Cut into fine shavings or sawdust, it is very easy to light and burns long.

The best fatwood I have ever found was in a dead Ponderosa, so you have good potential where you are. If at first you don't find any, keep looking. Not all pine trees develop fatwood, and it is hit or miss. From what I have seen, less than 10% actually have good fatwood in them.
 
Look for ones that have fallen on their own, when the stumps look rotted the center will have a core of fatwood, I found the best piece ever a couple days ago, about 25lbs and solid resin.
 
99f250 said:
Look for ones that have fallen on their own, when the stumps look rotted the center will have a core of fatwood, I found the best piece ever a couple days ago, about 25lbs and solid resin.
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I'm going to try that tomorrow. There are Ponderosa Pine tree's like that all around me. In fact I've been tearing pieces of wood off of the fallen tree's to burn in our fire pit. It burns crazy hot. I never thought about looking at the stumps to find wood with high pine resin in it.

This forums helped me learn quite a few things. Imagine being in a forest like where I'm at and not knowing about all the resources that are literally right under your nose!
 
Fatwood is not always found in North America as readily as many imply. I've seen a lot down south but here in the Northeast it can be hard to come by. While a good source of tinder, I recommend experimenting with humble mercessant leaves. Beech is very common and will take a spark readily. Try not to put your faith in a single fuel source.
 
often the old stumps and roots of lightning killed pine will be a good bet on finding it..look for that orange color and strong smell like pine-sol. dont cook over it. It will soot up your pots really good or food cooked directly over fire will be inedible. good luck on your search. anrkst
 
I went to my local Hardware store and harvested two pounds for 2.99....oops I just told everyone my super secret place to harvest fat wood. Good thing I got some too, cause Bear Boy Grylls was grabbing several packages too!
 
Heck, I supplement our heat with a wood stove and happened to see
a small pile of wood at someones curb. I stopped to pick it up and to my
surprise, there was a large almost full bag of fat wood! Probably 5 lbs I guess.
I never get this lucky!
Check out my video I made over the summer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVNragwW6kc
 
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k_estela said:
Fatwood is not always found in North America as readily as many imply. I've seen a lot down south but here in the Northeast it can be hard to come by.
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You just have to know where to look wise teacher ;)


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k_estela said:
I recommend experimenting with humble mercessant leaves. Beech is very common and will take a spark readily. Try not to put your faith in a single fuel source.
Click to expand...

Thats another tinder you taught me. Allthough I always forget the fancy name for the leaves that died on trees and never fell to the ground...:o
 
Here in North Florida, fat wood is there for the harvesting. Anywhere there was a turpentine timber operation in the past, there will be fat wood.
 
Well, I was telling my wife about fatwood last night. So this morning she goes out to the pine tree that is about 5 feet from our house that has been fallen over with the roots exposed. If you tried to hug the tree you wouldn't be able to get your arms around it. So she takes my knife and comes back in with a small piece of wood that has orange and translucent resin all over it. She puts a lighter up to it and it goes up in flames! That is MUCH cooler that PJ cotton balls! I'm going to get the chain saw out later and get to work on the stump. :D

How far up the tree can you usually find fatwood?
 
theedge13 said:
what about the christmas tree? could fat wood be harvested (potentially) from it?
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I got a bunch from the place where we cut our Xmas tree every year. The stumps that were left after cutting have a high percentage of fatwood. The farmer said he usually pulls them up after a couple years and burns them but he would pile them up and save for me.:D--KV
 
kvaughn said:
I got a bunch from the place where we cut our Xmas tree every year. The stumps that were left after cutting have a high percentage of fatwood. The farmer said he usually pulls them up after a couple years and burns them but he would pile them up and save for me.:D--KV
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Sounds like you got a good hook up there
 
Pardon the crappy pics, they were just taken with my cell phone in the basement for this thread, but this is fatwood. They are chunky little slivers and shavings that take a spark from a fire steel easily.

As long as you know how to get a good, hot shower of sparks off a ferro rod, you don't need pocket fuzz, dryer lint or vaseline cotton balls to get it done in the woods for you. If come across fatwood, it burns forever and lights easily.:thumbup::thumbup:

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We'll I got the chain saw out and cut three huge root offshoots from a fallen over ponderosa pine tree. I think I probably have about 70 lbs of fatwood just off those three pieces and the whole trunk of the tree is still left. I have no idea what to do with it all. I just kept cutting up the three pieces to see the different grades of fatwood. Some of it is a sparkly yellow, pinkish colour that shines in the light and some of it is a deep grapefruit colour that's somewhat translucent. Lights up like crazy.
 
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