Why Fatwood, A Definitive Answer (mostly for the benefit of the newer guys)

[pitdog]

Good job, bro! For those without the means of obtaining any, I noticed they sell boxes of fatwood at my local Lowes home improvement store with the fireplace stuff. And by the way, see you got more TOPS gear, you tried that lite traveller yet?

Forget the lite traveller , I want him to get the M1 Midget !:thumbup:

 

[Moosez45]

Good post, Mist, as always. I need you to do me a review of the that xCest please. I been eyeballin' them and BeartheDog has gone further by settin' me up some infor, but since you got one, either review it for me or, send it north, so I can review it myself:thumbup:

I would prefer the latter, but, hey, I'll takes what I can gets.

Perhaps a trade may be in order??

Moose

 

[SouthernCross]

G'day Miasma

SouthernCross, have you found any fatwood in the bush in oz?

I haven't.

Whilst we have some local species of conifer that we call pines (eg bunya, hoop, huon, celery top etc) none of them are true pines (of the genus Pinus).

The most widespread introduced pine is the Radiata, that I'm pretty sure was selected for its low sap / resin content. I have looked through old Radiata loggin sites without being able to find any.

I have never seen a Eucalypt produce it.

The closest I reckon we've got to fatwood is our Cyprus trees which can produce an exudate in response to injury / insect attack. It generally seeps down the outside of the trunk and will burn when lit with a flame.

Bear in mind though that paperbark is a pretty good substitute. The outer layers protect the inner layers from rain and when "fuzzed up" will light from a spark :thumbup:

[youtube]Vv76wzA99N8[/youtube]

Hope this helps.





Kind regards
Mick

 

[Mistwalker]

I live in Southwest Washington State and yes Fatwood definately does form in Douglas Fir also. It looks practically identical to the pictures that Mistwalker provided. I usually find it in old rotting stumps. If you take a knife or hatchet or whatever you prefer and tap rotting stumps as you see them, you will suddenly hit a hard spot if there's fatwood. Everywhere else your knife will just sink into the decomposing wood but you'll get a definate "thump" when you hit fat wood. I like to use the spine of the knife so as not to dull my edge. Sometimes you'll find just a small section of the stump is fatwood and other times the entire stump is rich fatwood, even the roots.

It's pretty amazing stuff once you learn to find and utilize it and the fatwood around here, coming from Douglas Fir, smells great! Sometimes I'll put a chunk in my room or in the camper just because I love the smell so much. However I have also come across fatwood that smells of turpentine, like Mist said. Go check it out!

Thanks, I'll have to remember that info on the Douglas Fir, not sure we have many of those here though.

Love the smell of fatwood, too! Tons of it all over around here. Great post Mist!

Thanks Bro, glad you liked the post. Yeah, I love the smell of it too.

Thanks mistwalker, grate info for the new people like me. Even tho I live in Oklahoma where there is none. But I'm planing on going back to the pnw soon. So hopefully I will get to try someday soon.

I knew there are places where it doesn't occur naturally, but it can be bought in stores and usually a fairly large package costs about the same as a mag bar...and fatwood has a long shelf life too

Great post, Brian.

Bryan

Thanks Bryan, ever found any in your neck of the woods?

I guess I have a new hobby, stump tapping. I actually didn't know what fatwood was before I joined this forum. I'm hoping to find some soon, I have about a month before the real snow comes.

Thanks to all for contributing to this thread!

If it occurs naturally in your environment it is a great resource to know about.

Great post. It's really some amazing stuff. I don't have any local to me, but I hoard small amounts when I'm in an area with pitchy trees. It lights like gasoline every time and I always carry a small piece of it in my pack.

Thanks Bro, I never found any when I lived out in Dallas, but if I go back I'll definitely take some with me for the rainy days.

Good job, bro! For those without the means of obtaining any, I noticed they sell boxes of fatwood at my local Lowes home improvement store with the fireplace stuff. And by the way, see you got more TOPS gear, you tried that lite traveller yet?

Thanks man, I had been wanting one of these since I first read about them. Purpose built survival knives almost always catch my attention. Last time I check on the Light Traveler that were waiting on the next production so I got the XC EST instead.

Great stuff buddy !

WTH another TOPS Knife....quit with the teasing now !

I was watching Duel Survival the other night when they were in the PNW, Cody was whining about how all the tinder was wet and I kept think he's gonna show the viewers what Fatwood is in a minute....never happened !!! Wonder why they missed out this miracle of nature ????

Thanks Bro, but... what teasing? I'm working on a review of it

Hmmm, curious. I'm told it is available on one side of the ridge line out there but not the other. Was pretty sure it was there on the western (wet) side.

I've been lucky enough to find it in the woods in other areas, but not in middle Tennessee, despite having a farm with a lot of pines. Maybe it's just bad luck...

Hmmm, can't speak for the hole state but I have lots here in SE TN, and I've found a good bit as far west as Fall Creek Falls...

Forget the lite traveller , I want him to get the M1 Midget !:thumbup:

I do like several things about the M1 Midget, may have to pick up one of those later.

Good post, Mist, as always. I need you to do me a review of the that xCest please. I been eyeballin' them and BeartheDog has gone further by settin' me up some infor, but since you got one, either review it for me or, send it north, so I can review it myself:thumbup:

I would prefer the latter, but, hey, I'll takes what I can gets.

Perhaps a trade may be in order??

Moose

Thanks Bro, glad you enjoyed the post.

I am working on a review of it now...not sure I'll be wanting to trade it though...

G'day Miasma



I haven't.

Whilst we have some local species of conifer that we call pines (eg bunya, hoop, huon, celery top etc) none of them are true pines (of the genus Pinus).

The most widespread introduced pine is the Radiata, that I'm pretty sure was selected for its low sap / resin content. I have looked through old Radiata loggin sites without being able to find any.

I have never seen a Eucalypt produce it.

The closest I reckon we've got to fatwood is our Cyprus trees which can produce an exudate in response to injury / insect attack. It generally seeps down the outside of the trunk and will burn when lit with a flame.

Bear in mind though that paperbark is a pretty good substitute. The outer layers protect the inner layers from rain and when "fuzzed up" will light from a spark :thumbup:

[youtube]Vv76wzA99N8[/youtube]

Hope this helps.





Kind regards
Mick

Thanks Mick, I can definitely see the heavy black smoke of some type of pitch burning there. Did that come from a live tree? Straight off the tree or was there some drying time involved?

 

[SouthernCross]

G'day Brian

Did that come from a live tree? Straight off the tree or was there some drying time involved?

I stripped that off a live tree about 1/2 hour before the video was taken.



Kind regards
Mick

 

[Mistwalker]

G'day Brian


I stripped that off a live tree about 1/2 hour before the video was taken.



Kind regards
Mick

Interesting thanks! We have some non-indigenous paper bark trees used ornament-ally around town and in parks here. I'll have to experiment more with them.

 

[lambertiana]

Mick - That paperbark looks like good stuff. It reminds me of the paper birch that grows in the northeastern US and southeastern Canada.

Monterey Pine (pinus radiata) is native to the coast near here, but I have never looked for fatwood in it. It is widely planted in Australia and New Zealand because of its fast growth and good pulp properties. It's worth checking to see if it yields good fatwood. But if it doesn't, you always have the paperbark.

 

[SouthernCross]

G'day Brian

...We have some non-indigenous paper bark trees used ornament-ally around town and in parks here. I'll have to experiment more with them.

Not only does the paperbark make very handy waterproof kindling, but its' usefullness doesn't stop there

Aboriginals made canoes from the bark (I would imagine similar to the Birch Bark canoes of native Nth American Indians).

The bark makes a usefull traditional dressing / bandage for wounds :thumbup:

You can also distill a potent antibacterial / antifungal /antiviral and anti headlice oil from the leaves (think tee tree oil, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_tree_oil )

Heck, the bark also makes a very servicable substitute for toilet paper

If your in a position locally to do more experimentation, I would strongly advise you to look into this plant

It's one that is well & truly worth knowing :thumbup::thumbup:




Kind regards
Mick

 

[SouthernCross]

G'day Lambertiana

...Monterey Pine (pinus radiata) is native to the coast near here, but I have never looked for fatwood in it. It is widely planted in Australia and New Zealand because of its fast growth and good pulp properties. It's worth checking to see if it yields good fatwood. But if it doesn't, you always have the paperbark.

I have always wondered where Radiata came from :thumbup:

I haven't given up on finding fatwood with these trees, it's just I haven't found any to date (and believe me I have tried ).

Just as well I know of native alternatives



Kind regards
Mick

 

[pitdog]

A side note about Douglas firs is that they are one of the most fire resistant trees. Their super thick bark coupled with their ability to heal open wounds at a very quick rate make them one of the forests survivors !

Here is a pic I took of one forest fire survivor while hiking yesterday !

By pitdog2010 at 2010-11-03

 

[lambertiana]

Pit - if you want to start talking about the opposite, another real fire survivor is the giant sequoia. With non-resinous bark that is often 2' thick, it takes a really big fire to burn through to the wood. And it has to - the trees will have to withstand 2000 years of forest fires. And even when the fire is big enough to burn through the bark, the tree usually heals itself over time. Crosscuts of old trees will show multiple fire scars that have healed over during the previous couple of milennia. Sometimes the interior of the tree burns out like a chimney, but the sapwood and remaining bark eventually heal:

 

[Mistwalker]

Those trees are amazing. I hope to drive out there and see them myself someday.

 

[sicily02]

Mistwalker, I have only found fat wood at walmart so far lol.
We do not have the pine trees like some places do.

Bryan

 

[Mistwalker]

Mistwalker, I have only found fat wood at walmart so far lol.
We do not have the pine trees like some places do.

Bryan

I was thinking your area would be similar to Illinois. I was wishing I had had more time to spend in the woods up there in the Autumn, but it was summer and most of the time I was working.

 

[pitdog]

Pit - if you want to start talking about the opposite, another real fire survivor is the giant sequoia. With non-resinous bark that is often 2' thick, it takes a really big fire to burn through to the wood. And it has to - the trees will have to withstand 2000 years of forest fires. And even when the fire is big enough to burn through the bark, the tree usually heals itself over time. Crosscuts of old trees will show multiple fire scars that have healed over during the previous couple of milennia. Sometimes the interior of the tree burns out like a chimney, but the sapwood and remaining bark eventually heal:

They are crazy, I gotta get over there and see them sometime !

 

[kcardwel]

I live in Southwest Washington State and yes Fatwood definately does form in Douglas Fir also. It looks practically identical to the pictures that Mistwalker provided. I usually find it in old rotting stumps. If you take a knife or hatchet or whatever you prefer and tap rotting stumps as you see them, you will suddenly hit a hard spot if there's fatwood. Everywhere else your knife will just sink into the decomposing wood but you'll get a definate "thump" when you hit fat wood. I like to use the spine of the knife so as not to dull my edge. Sometimes you'll find just a small section of the stump is fatwood and other times the entire stump is rich fatwood, even the roots.

It's pretty amazing stuff once you learn to find and utilize it and the fatwood around here, coming from Douglas Fir, smells great! Sometimes I'll put a chunk in my room or in the camper just because I love the smell so much. However I have also come across fatwood that smells of turpentine, like Mist said. Go check it out!

Did that very thing today....darn stuff is hard for sure but got a nice bunch

edit: this is pine though

 

[lambertiana]

For those living all across the western US, Ponderosa Pine is widely distributed and is a reliable producer. This is typical stuff; sometimes the really saturated wood is deep reddish color.

 

[Don M]

Monterey Pine (pinus radiata) is native to the coast near here, but I have never looked for fatwood in it. It is widely planted in Australia and New Zealand because of its fast growth and good pulp properties.

It is also grown in southern Chile.

 

[Mistwalker]

It is also grown in southern Chile.

Fatwood exists in different places around the world. Most of the stuff available in stores and on line seems to be from long leaf yellow pines...a by-product from the Honduran lumber industry. I've been told it is in the Philippines under another name that I don't remember but I'm not sure what tree(s) it comes from there.