First time fatwood!

[Skimo]

I was walking the other day and spotted a dead stump, didn't have my hatchet.

Today I went back and took a little bit of fatwood, no where near the quality that some here harvest B5 Mistwalker off the top of my head.

I cleaned up a little bit of it... the shavings went in a little fire on the back porch.

ETA, I need a bigger chopper. The RAT 7 I think is a small chopper, probably the smallest I would use, on stuff smaller than 4 inches it's fine, but beyond that, it's just a baby blade.

To the pics!

 

[Bushman5]

whatcha talking about? thats GREAT fatwood! congrats!

 

[Skimo]

WOOHOO!

Thanks, I think early tomorrow morning I'll head back and try to get the whole stump. The trunk of the tree is still attached by a thread, might be harvestable wood in the trunk. It's right by a trail. Should be easy to cart it out, the stump might weigh 30-40 pounds!

 

[newknife]

That's great looking fatwood! Nice score. If there are still some big roots in the ground be sure to get them...they're probably rich as well.

 

[mrappraisit]

That amber colored fatwood is the really good stuff, super resinous! Enjoy.

 

[Skimo]

Oh, there are roots alright, I kicked the stump a few times, those roots are probably solid resin!

Cleaning it up is the hard part.

I just might take a flashlight out tonight and work on the trunk a bit. I'm pretty stoked.

 

[newknife]

Hey Skimo,

Aside from chopping...how do you like the RAT-7?

 

[Skimo]

I love it, the D2's heat treat on this knife is superb, after whacking away it stays sharp, no chipping the edge will roll if you hit something hard though, like the rim of a thick glass, short story, the glass got lucky.

The black coating wears away fairly easily, I haven't had any rust issues, even with the non stop wet season we're having, just normal maintenance and sharpening.

I don't like the serrations, so when I sharpen I just run the stones right over them (visible in the above photo)

Great knife over all, I don't have too much use for the finger groove on the blade. (choil?)

Over all 8 out of 10, points taken for finger groove and scales slightly extending past the tang. Medium size camp knife, good steel, grips well even while bloody, accidentally tested it myself the other day when I poked myself, soap and water is a much better way to test.

price point is around 75$ a good deal I think.