Hunting Washington Forum

Other Activities => Other Adventures => Topic started by: gaddy on March 02, 2020, 04:02:29 PM

Title: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: gaddy on March 02, 2020, 04:02:29 PM: Who carries Fat wood as a Fire starter and where do you find it? Knife you use ? Is it in your kit ? Was looking at some bush craft vid's and It looks good.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on March 02, 2020, 04:04:53 PM: Are you talking about the natural pitch wood, or commercially made stuff?🤔
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: gaddy on March 02, 2020, 04:09:28 PM: Natural Stuff. I always have something but had never heard of using Fatwood. Had to look it up. Was curious who used it.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: RB on March 02, 2020, 05:23:47 PM: Swains in Port Angeles is where I bought a big bag about two years ago.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: Rainier10 on March 02, 2020, 05:26:05 PM: I use it at my cabin. Mcclendon’s carries it.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on March 02, 2020, 05:34:55 PM: I just luck upon it from time to time, I used some last deer season which is rare. Do you use a lot of it?
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: Crunchy on March 02, 2020, 05:51:45 PM: If you know a roofer you might be able to snag a bundle of cedar roof shingles. If you look at it wrong it catches on fire. That's all we use.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: hughjorgan on March 02, 2020, 07:01:33 PM: Pretty sure you can get fat wood at Lowe’s or homedepot as well. No experience with it though.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: kellama2001 on March 03, 2020, 07:47:03 AM: We use fatwood all the time, it's great stuff! Get it through Plow & Hearth.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: Fl0und3rz on March 03, 2020, 07:56:18 AM: Base of limbs of fallen pine trees can be pretty pitchy, which is what i call fat wood.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: Rob on March 03, 2020, 08:00:07 AM: I keep 2-3 small sticks of it in my kit. Great Firestarter, burns damp and slow
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: gaddy on March 03, 2020, 08:05:09 AM: The base limbs and the root system is what I found when I looked it up. Rob, I was thinking of adding it to mine as well.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: kselkhunter on March 03, 2020, 08:53:29 AM: We use fat wood for lighting our wood stove. When I'm doing a later season hunt with tipi + stove I always have fat wood in my pack. We use enough of it for starting our wood stove that my wife buys it in larger packages off Amazon. So I always have a stash of it.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: h2ofowlr on March 03, 2020, 09:01:36 AM: I just use a cotton ball with some Vaseline on it. Works perfect.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: CoryTDF on March 03, 2020, 09:07:43 AM: Here is a good way to get your own fatwood. https://seekoutside.com/blog/fire-starting-wood-prep/ after i read this I actively searched for fatwood and found it was easy to find and procure. It works wonders in titanium stoves.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: Fl0und3rz on March 03, 2020, 09:08:05 AM: I think the recent sensation of "fat wood" may come from the regions with large hardwood forests. It obviously starts quicker and burns hotter than hard wood, initially.

We used to just call it wood - albeit pitchy - which was known to burn really fast and hot due to the pitch content. We tend to just find it for dispersed camp fires, with the stuff that has dried and crystallized under a downed evergreen being a gold mine.

Vaseline and cotton ball is a good substitute to take for when you can't find fat wood.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: Rob on March 03, 2020, 10:01:30 AM: Quote from: h2ofowlr on March 03, 2020, 09:01:36 AM
I just use a cotton ball with some Vaseline on it. Works perfect.
Good stuff too! The fatwood will burn a bit longer though - I think I get 8-10 min off a stick of fatwood. I like to have a film container (can you even get those anymore??) of cotton balls with Vaseline, and a couple sticks of fatwood. Add a few waterproof matches and a striker and you can cover about anything.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: CastleRocker on March 03, 2020, 12:04:44 PM: Never used Fatwood. I've always carried a small chunk of yellow fir, and just shave off what I need. Used to do do a lot of backcountry snowmobiling/skiing, and carried three unrelated means of starting a fire.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: Blacktail135 on April 23, 2020, 03:43:17 PM: Growing up in Georgia back in the 60's and 70's we called it fatlighter. We would wrestle it out of the ground from pine trees that died and rotted naturally. Once had a pile the size of a big wheelbarrow that we torched off at squirrel hunting camp. Kinda scared the crap out of us 4, 10-12 year olds. Big,hot fire,black smoke! Thought we might burn the woods down with that one.
2016, found a big,naturally dead fir stump on our place during property clearing for our house build. Smelled it before I saw it. Son-in-law was digging stumps, putting into piles and grading. I was watching him when I smelled it. Had him dig it out and set it aside. Still have about half of it. Gave most of other half away to friends.
I usually have in my pack: 3-4 sticks of that, some cottonballs soaked w/hand sanitizer, 12 waterproof matches (vacuum sealed) and a Maratac Peanut lighter.
I think when a pine or fir tree dies naturally and rots away above ground a lot of the pitch travels down the tree to the roots.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: DOUBLELUNG on April 24, 2020, 08:43:02 AM: Y'all are making me feel bad, I carry a sealed pack of army surplus trioxane in my pack. Before that, an inch of dryer lint in the bottom of a ziploc sandwich bag soaked with melted paraffin. I do love burning a good pitchy stump though.
Title: Re: Fatwood Fire Starter
Post by: gaddy on April 24, 2020, 09:18:36 AM: From what i saw, finely shaved it takes a spark easily with a pharo rod or other ignition source. Even damp. Hope to find some next time in the woods to add to my kit.