- Joined
- Dec 27, 2003
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Hey guys, thought I would post some pics of my trip into the woods today near my home and show you what I found. These stumps full of fire are easy to find and I thought I would show you what to look for if you don't know what they look like.
Finding fat wood means you can make a fire even in the pouring rain.
I have never seen fatwood rot. It seems much heavier than a regular stump the same size. I guess the resin adds the extra weight.
Here are some pics I took today of what to look for and a few pointers on how to harvest it.
An ordinary looking grey stump, but it's not ordinary, the wood inside this stump contains a golden saturated wood that will burn like kerosene or better in my opinion. You just need to look for grey looking stumps and use a heavy blade or ax if you plan to harvest any quantity.
You need a blade to cut small slices off the outside of the trunk if you want to make fire.
Be careful here, I used my SOG Hunter Revolver to baton slices off outside, but this wood is hard as a rock so if you use a blade, don't slice too thick or deep or you will break your blade.
If you plan to harvest fatwood in any quantity, you really should take an ax. It will save a lot of time.
When you see a "hornet nest" colored stump, you can make a test scratch on the outside to see if the grain looks golden. If it looks golden, then it's probably a fat wood stump. You can also tell by the smell of very heavy resin smell, very rich, not like regular pine wood smells.
Notice in the pic below is a fat wood stump and just to the north at the top of the pic is another fatwood stump. There was actually 3 stumps in this area within 30 feet apart seen in next pic.
In this next picture, I batoned a small slice off and held it up to the sunlight so you can see the amazing golden colors in this wood. It looks like honey, but I'm sure it would not taste like it.
I just love finding this stuff in the woods. And since I use a wood stove in my home, I use a bucket full or two every winter to make fires in my wood stove.
Notice as I was cutting this slice with the saw on the Revolver, it looks like it is gumming up on the saw teeth, it was. Fat wood is not easy to saw because it contains a heavy resin. It's not really sticky like pine resin though, it is gummy.
You can see the saw teeth are gummed up,
If I put a match to this saw blade it would probably burn for at least 2 or so minutes.........
A shot of my trusty woods companion, the SOG hunter Revolver stuck in a nice fat wood stump.
Just to give you an idea how big one of these fatwood stumps was,
Notice the honey colored redish glow in the slice I am taking, this is showing the sunlight through it. It actually glows when you hold a thin slice in front of the sun.
Notice the Hunter Revolver resting on the fatwood stump to the north of the other fatwood stump.
And I find one more.........
I guess proof is in the pudding..........notice greyish black smoke coming off burning fatwood.
It is sizzling as I am burning it and it takes a good while to get to this point, meaning fatwood burns a long time.
Hope you enjoyed seeing these pics as much as I enjoyed taking them for you.
The one thing I have wondered about these stumps for years and if anyone knows the answer please speak up. Why did the old timers cut these pines when hard woods are readily available (assuming they were old timers) because the stumps have to be old because they seem to never rot..........and does all pines or spruce type trees make fatwood stumps after cut ?
Robbie Roberson
Finding fat wood means you can make a fire even in the pouring rain.
I have never seen fatwood rot. It seems much heavier than a regular stump the same size. I guess the resin adds the extra weight.
Here are some pics I took today of what to look for and a few pointers on how to harvest it.
An ordinary looking grey stump, but it's not ordinary, the wood inside this stump contains a golden saturated wood that will burn like kerosene or better in my opinion. You just need to look for grey looking stumps and use a heavy blade or ax if you plan to harvest any quantity.
You need a blade to cut small slices off the outside of the trunk if you want to make fire.
Be careful here, I used my SOG Hunter Revolver to baton slices off outside, but this wood is hard as a rock so if you use a blade, don't slice too thick or deep or you will break your blade.
If you plan to harvest fatwood in any quantity, you really should take an ax. It will save a lot of time.
When you see a "hornet nest" colored stump, you can make a test scratch on the outside to see if the grain looks golden. If it looks golden, then it's probably a fat wood stump. You can also tell by the smell of very heavy resin smell, very rich, not like regular pine wood smells.
Notice in the pic below is a fat wood stump and just to the north at the top of the pic is another fatwood stump. There was actually 3 stumps in this area within 30 feet apart seen in next pic.
In this next picture, I batoned a small slice off and held it up to the sunlight so you can see the amazing golden colors in this wood. It looks like honey, but I'm sure it would not taste like it.
I just love finding this stuff in the woods. And since I use a wood stove in my home, I use a bucket full or two every winter to make fires in my wood stove.
Notice as I was cutting this slice with the saw on the Revolver, it looks like it is gumming up on the saw teeth, it was. Fat wood is not easy to saw because it contains a heavy resin. It's not really sticky like pine resin though, it is gummy.
You can see the saw teeth are gummed up,
If I put a match to this saw blade it would probably burn for at least 2 or so minutes.........
A shot of my trusty woods companion, the SOG hunter Revolver stuck in a nice fat wood stump.
Just to give you an idea how big one of these fatwood stumps was,
Notice the honey colored redish glow in the slice I am taking, this is showing the sunlight through it. It actually glows when you hold a thin slice in front of the sun.
Notice the Hunter Revolver resting on the fatwood stump to the north of the other fatwood stump.
And I find one more.........
I guess proof is in the pudding..........notice greyish black smoke coming off burning fatwood.
It is sizzling as I am burning it and it takes a good while to get to this point, meaning fatwood burns a long time.
Hope you enjoyed seeing these pics as much as I enjoyed taking them for you.
The one thing I have wondered about these stumps for years and if anyone knows the answer please speak up. Why did the old timers cut these pines when hard woods are readily available (assuming they were old timers) because the stumps have to be old because they seem to never rot..........and does all pines or spruce type trees make fatwood stumps after cut ?
Robbie Roberson
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