There IS fatwood in north central Canada

upnorth

upnorth

Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Messages
7,038
I was out performing stump surgery today with Dr. Becker Brute. Out of about 10-12 random Jack Pine stumps that I whacked apart I found signs of Fat wood to various degrees. Most of the stumps were natural breaks and a couple were chain sawed. I found that the natural breaks (wind) etc. showed signs were the sawed stumps were just a rotted mass. I have commercially bought Fat wood and some of it is extremely resin saturated, to the point of looking translucent or wet. I found very little wood like this today. Out of the dozen whacked stumps in this one location, I may have found 2 that had definite resin streaks in the wood and only 1 stump was quite outstanding. But this stump DEFINATELY contained Fatwood rich enough to have translucent patches. So.... it is worth the effort for me in north central Saskatchewan Canada to look for Fat wood in the Boreal forest. It does seem to be less prevalent around here possibly due to a shorter growing season etc., but it IS around here. I found the resinous wood on the outer and upper layers of the stumps while the bottom of the stumps were quite rotten. It was actually hard to chop into some of the stumps with just a knife. It is good to know that I can have a fire starting boost at hand in the bush here. Oh ya...the mosquito's were INSANE !!!
 
If it is where you are & is free then it is worth obtaining. Georgia (USA) is full of fatwood but if you buy it here it can be costly. I always prefer to gather my own, when possible! it is part of being self suffucient! (bushcraft)
 
Tim the Slugman said:
If it is where you are & is free then it is worth obtaining. Georgia (USA) is full of fatwood but if you buy it here it can be costly. I always prefer to gather my own, when possible! it is part of being self suffucient! (bushcraft)
Click to expand...

I've done some searching and googling, but am having a little bit of trouble finding much information on fatwood. I am in GA too. What specifically do I look for? I am headed to the woods this weekend and might grab some if I can.
 
basically fatwood is pine sap that has drained down into the trunk portion of a yello pine tree. when the tree dies or is cut down the sap has saturated the wood in the stump & it becomes fatwood or lighter wood. you can split it off & it will burn very hot & it is easy to get a fire going while using it. just look for old dead pine trees & pine stumps & you can find it on live trees, but it is easier to get it from dead trees. I split it up into match size pieces & carry in my fire kit. bigger pieces will start a very good fire!
 
Tim the Slugman said:
basically fatwood is pine sap that has drained down into the trunk portion of a yello pine tree. when the tree dies or is cut down the sap has saturated the wood in the stump & it becomes fatwood or lighter wood. you can split it off & it will burn very hot & it is easy to get a fire going while using it. just look for old dead pine trees & pine stumps & you can find it on live trees, but it is easier to get it from dead trees. I split it up into match size pieces & carry in my fire kit. bigger pieces will start a very good fire!
Click to expand...

Actually the stumps are saturated because the tree roots draw sap/resins up into the trunk. A old wind snaped tree stump is a prime candidate. Chop the stump up. You will see inner wood that looks translucent or wet looking. The fatwood has a STRONG smell of resin or turpentine. When you cut/scrape this wood it will leave a sticky smear on the blade from the resin. This sticky strongly fragrant wood will burn ferociously when cut into slivers and lit. I have fatwood slivers/chunks and cotton balls dipped in melted vaseline (petrolium jelly) jammed in an old empty family sized plastic aspirin bottle. This and a lighter plus my ferro rod and steel on my keychain weighs nothing, takes up no space and helps TREMENDOUSLY to start a fire under adverse conditions, such as extreme cold or rain. When it's nice out I can start a fire with anything such as grass/leaves. I keep my Fatwood as an "ace in the hole" for bad weather conditions, or if you simply want to get that fire going quickly. However, I now see that I can probably find it localy so I'll still bring my emergency back up, but will access the local resource.
 
I have a small block of fatwood 3/8" x 3" with a hole drilled in it & it is tied together with a ferro rod & striker & small knife & whistle. I can just shave off small slivers when I need them.
 
The thread with the pics mentioned said that fatwood will lose some of its effectiveness over time. Is this always the case? If so, how long does the stuff last? I would hate to have a bunch that is a year old and have it not work when I need it.
 
storl said:
The thread with the pics mentioned said that fatwood will lose some of its effectiveness over time. Is this always the case? If so, how long does the stuff last? I would hate to have a bunch that is a year old and have it not work when I need it.
Click to expand...

I think this is erronious. My Maya sticks are close to 7 years old and have not lost any potency that I can detect when I use them.

Maya sticks are the same stuff as the drilled ones that used (or still do?), to come with the Swedish firesteels. Comes from Central America and has an extremely high (~80%), resin content. The wood rots, the resin stays.

Think amber.

Also, I have a good size (~10#), chunk of what used to be a barn beam, sent to me by a member in Miss. Don't know how old it is, but was told the rest of the barn had rotted away years ago.

Not as much resin as the Maya wood, but close.

Makes a great doorstop and when I want to get the smoker going in a hurry I baton a piece about as thick as my pinky off. Break that into 2 or 3" lengths and it will really get the chimney starter going.

For the Maya wood/Firesteel, I just take the striker and scrape the sides of the wood till I have enough.

Rob
 
I have some in the garage that has been in there since last year and if anything it is even more flammable. Chris
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top