How can you tell between quality fatwood and the cheap stuff?

Z

ziptrickhead

Joined
Sep 1, 2004
Messages
490
Not being able to find fatwood in my area, I think I'll have to buy the stuff from online or in stores.

When I was in home depot, I saw they were selling a bag of fatwood. Didn't check on the price but I doubt it'll be too expensive. The thing is, it was kinda dull in color and didn't have that reddish color to it.

So what are some ways of telling the difference between good fatwood and the cheap stuff? Just looking at the wood I can tell its fatwood since there was a bunch of resin on it.
 
The more translucent it is and the more "sappy" it smells the better.
I got a box at Wal-Mart and it worked pretty good.
 
Here's a picture:

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Is that Fatwood brand you're talking about?
 
Yep. I have a bag of that, and its good stuff. Never had a problem lightin it off.
 
As the resin in the wood dries some, it looses some of it's sheen, but still burns great, and usually after you take the top layer off , you have that nice bright orange-red color.
 
Cool! I'll head over to home depot tomorrow to get a bag. I guess if it's not great I can always use it for the grill.
 
Remember to use it for "Starting" your fire not for cooking with it, you don't want that (pine sap) in your food! once it burns away it should be fine.
 
I found some at a local store here in my state..it looks great, but man, the price kept me from buying it. I cant remember exactly how much, but it was alot. Is there a "going rate" for this stuff...or just find it and buy it?
 
gunknifenut said:
I cant remember exactly how much, but it was alot. Is there a "going rate" for this stuff...or just find it and buy it?
Click to expand...

Sometimes the more "brand name" stuff is kind of pricey for the small amount that they give you. It maybe only be $5 or $6, but you get like 10 pieces. To me, that is expensive.

However, the picture that ziptrickhead showed is a large bag, and I think it sells for around $5 or $6. I think it is quite reasonable.

I find fatwood in the woods quite often, but don't generally bring it home. I bought the same bag (pictured above) for use in my wood stove to get it started, rather than newspaper. It worked great for me.
 
The bag at home depot is 4 lbs for around like 6-7 from their online price. I don't know how much in store but I'm sure it won't be that much different.

And considering how little it takes for tinder use I'm sure it'll be worth it.
 
If you can, wait till early spring and go to your local Wally World or Lowe's. I picked up the small boxes for .25 cents and the big bags for $2. Great stuff!

Steve
 
I bought a bag of that brand and about 1/2 of it is really good quality fatwood. The rest is OK and good to practice with. The best pieces are saturated with dried waxy looking resin and you can barely see the wood fibers from the thickness of the resin. The less good pieces look kind of like a piece of plain pine wood but still burn OK. Look through the pile of bags and get the one with the most waxy looking wood pieces. When you get home sort them and practice with the more dry looking pieces.
 
Cotton Balls & Vaseline with any wood I can find is good for me.
 
alex said:
I bought a bag of that brand and about 1/2 of it is really good quality fatwood. The rest is OK and good to practice with. The best pieces are saturated with dried waxy looking resin and you can barely see the wood fibers from the thickness of the resin. The less good pieces look kind of like a piece of plain pine wood but still burn OK. Look through the pile of bags and get the one with the most waxy looking wood pieces. When you get home sort them and practice with the more dry looking pieces.
Click to expand...

thats why i buy so many bags.......i use the less pure stuff in my fireplace to help get the logs started for the winter fires.
 
Stormstaff: You can use it however you see fit. You can use it as is, you can split it into tiny pieces or shave it to really conserve it.

I cut 7 pine trees down about 8 months ago now. I am going to go and cut the stump soon and I should have alot of fatwood.
 
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