Well, every so often a family friend, he does tree removal, brings us a great big load of wood, all cut and read for the fire. I was going through and splitting some various logs, all long leaf pine. I came across a little fatwood in one. I was wondering where the hell it came from, so I started examining the other logs. I noticed one about a foot and a half in diameter and it had a big old wound where a limb was removed. I took my axe and chopped at the area around, greeted by a resinous aroma and the dark color of fatwood. I got excited, went in the house, grabbed a fiskars collapsible saw and my fallkniven S1.
The log was roughly three and a half feet long. The place where the limb was removed was in the middle, so I sawed a line two inches deep around the whole log. Then, took my SFA and split off these small sections of wood. I did this on both ends, and several minutes later I reached fatwood. The grain was no longer visible, just a uniformity of reddish orange. I shaved some off and lit it up. All I had on me at the time was a bic. It put off the telltale black smoke of fatwood, simultaneously setting the resin to bubble and sputter. It is some of the best I have ever found, burning for several minutes.
My method took forever! I just made do with what I had at hand, too lazy to head in the garage, besides I was not ready to gum up a chainsaw. I then found some less impressive fatwood in the other sections of the log. After processing for several hours, I still have along ways to go. It is amazing, I must have enough fatwood to last me years. I would say it probably around fifty pounds worth of stuff. I was left with black hands and tools that need to be cleaned and scrubbed, as well. It was worth it, I just have to put away the axe, saw, and knife( which I used to baton out the choicest sections of fatwood.) I will probably finish up the process tomorrow when I get a chance, I still have to clean the tools too. It was hot today, 70 degrees with 80% humidity. Hopefully it will be cooler tomorrow.
Just thought I would share today, sorry was not in the mood to gooey up a camera to take pictures of it.
Anyone else get out today to do anything today and practice any skills?
The log was roughly three and a half feet long. The place where the limb was removed was in the middle, so I sawed a line two inches deep around the whole log. Then, took my SFA and split off these small sections of wood. I did this on both ends, and several minutes later I reached fatwood. The grain was no longer visible, just a uniformity of reddish orange. I shaved some off and lit it up. All I had on me at the time was a bic. It put off the telltale black smoke of fatwood, simultaneously setting the resin to bubble and sputter. It is some of the best I have ever found, burning for several minutes.
My method took forever! I just made do with what I had at hand, too lazy to head in the garage, besides I was not ready to gum up a chainsaw. I then found some less impressive fatwood in the other sections of the log. After processing for several hours, I still have along ways to go. It is amazing, I must have enough fatwood to last me years. I would say it probably around fifty pounds worth of stuff. I was left with black hands and tools that need to be cleaned and scrubbed, as well. It was worth it, I just have to put away the axe, saw, and knife( which I used to baton out the choicest sections of fatwood.) I will probably finish up the process tomorrow when I get a chance, I still have to clean the tools too. It was hot today, 70 degrees with 80% humidity. Hopefully it will be cooler tomorrow.
Just thought I would share today, sorry was not in the mood to gooey up a camera to take pictures of it.
Anyone else get out today to do anything today and practice any skills?
