Specially for the Fatwood haters !

pitdog

pitdog

Joined
Apr 13, 2007
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Due to recent rise in fatwood haters on the forum I decided to head out today and make fire using alternative tinders.

I awoke this morning to heavy rain but by the time I reached my hiking spot it was just drizzling and misty. All this rain meant the rivers and streams were flowing nicely !

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-12-07

I decided to use Cedar bark as tinder today but as I always struggle to maintain a flame with it I added some Balsam sap as an accelerant.

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-12-07

I love the Balsam Fir, not only does it provide it's sap in these convenient blisters but it can also be used to treat many ailments.....and it's also probably the nicest smelling thing in the forest !

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-12-07

I fluffed up my bark and added some sap,

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-12-07

At this point I should add that I found I could'nt strike the going-gear rod in the pic with my knife spine and so had to switch it for my well worn LMF type Primus one on my car keys !

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-12-07

About 5 or 6 strikes later we had flame !

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-12-07

You can see some other bark I found which may have been a type of birch, this did not really assist with this fire. I then added some dried resin off a nearby Duglas Fir, now we were really cooking !

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-12-07

I timed this for the burn time and at 5 minutes it was going strong but a man and his dog approached so I put it out. I'd guess it would have burned for about 8 minutes had I left it !

I then wandered down to the water to take in the misty views !

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-12-07
 
Don't understand the fatwood haters myself.

Good on ya for using other materials!
 
Nice. I love the micro nubbin of a firesteel too, and it still works great I see! I may be angry about a good many things, but hating on a certain type of tinder seems like a waste of hate :D
 
Blasam sap is cheating! You may have well used gasoline.. You will never survive a real wilderness...



:p

Great post Pit!
 
Great job Pit and awesome pictures as usual. Especially great since our discussion yesterday, I thought fatwood was the only game in town in the PNW. Chris
 
I feel like I should pretend to be ardently opposed to all things fatwood, just to perpetuate the controversy. I could claim to represent the Resinwood Protectionist Movement. ;)

Great pics as always, Pit. I love the last one.

Best,

- Mike
 
You mean there are other things than fatwood that can start a fire....oh what an eye opener...Good pics as always!
 
Isn't taking cedar bark and adding balsam sap kind of like saying "I made some fatwood, then lit it with my firesteel?"
 
Good post Pit. I've seen you post about Basalm fir before or at least others post about it. The Gasonline Tree, as I recall. Nice, I don't know if we have them here, but my search fu should tell me that in a second.

Hate the GG didn't work out this time, what do you think it was? I just squared the spine on my BK14, and its a launcher now, lol.

Wheres Snickers and Maisy? Leave them at the casa de pit?

Either way, good post on some improvised tinder there, brother, hope to see many more just like them. Next, throw a fatwood torch in there again, next to the lake, I want that for a desktop.

Be cool.

Moose
 
moosez45 said:
Good post Pit. I've seen you post about Basalm fir before or at least others post about it. The Gasonline Tree, as I recall. Nice, I don't know if we have them here, but my search fu should tell me that in a second.

Hate the GG didn't work out this time, what do you think it was? I just squared the spine on my BK14, and its a launcher now, lol.

Wheres Snickers and Maisy? Leave them at the casa de pit?

Either way, good post on some improvised tinder there, brother, hope to see many more just like them. Next, throw a fatwood torch in there again, next to the lake, I want that for a desktop.

Be cool.

Moose
Click to expand...

Cheers buddy, the dogs were with me but wouldn't stand still for any decent pics, just caught Snicker for this one,

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By pitdog2010 at 2010-12-07

I'd taken the GG steel because it definitely throws off a hotter spark but my knife spine couldn't have been sharp enough for it and I didn't want to use the edge. Strange how it still worked with the Primus one though !:confused:
 
pitdog said:
Cheers buddy, the dogs were with me but wouldn't stand still for any decent pics, just caught Snicker for this one,
I'd taken the GG steel because it definitely throws off a hotter spark but my knife spine couldn't have been sharp enough for it and I didn't want to use the edge. Strange how it still worked with the Primus one though !:confused:
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Ok, I was going to say, no fatwood and dogs, WHERE'S THE REAL PITDOG AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!!! I don't have to say that now.:D

I'm gonna try to get a pic of me hittin' my GG with my BK14. After I got done with it, and went to test it out, I was like "OH S4!T!!!" It threw globs way out there, my oldest and most accomplished firestarter said"Daddie, when can I have one of those?"

Soon.

Moose
 
moosez45 said:
Ok, I was going to say, no fatwood and dogs, WHERE'S THE REAL PITDOG AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!!! I don't have to say that now.:D

I'm gonna try to get a pic of me hittin' my GG with my BK14. After I got done with it, and went to test it out, I was like "OH S4!T!!!" It threw globs way out there, my oldest and most accomplished firestarter said"Daddie, when can I have one of those?"

Soon.

Moose
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LOL !:D:thumbup:
 
hlee said:
Isn't taking cedar bark and adding balsam sap kind of like saying "I made some fatwood, then lit it with my firesteel?"
Click to expand...

:D No, it's more like improvising with natural materials; dry, combustable and fine enough to catch and hold a spark. Fat wood is great, but not always available in all locations.

August West said:
Little blast from the past, I sure miss a lot of those folks.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=445892&highlight=runningboar
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That was a good post Chris...who was that runningboar guy anyways:D

ROCK6
 
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