How do you harvest fatwood?

[lopro]

Is it in the stump only or can fatwood be found in the entire tree?

Also, does the pine tree need to be felled or dead for a certain amount of time before the pitch accumulates to make fatwood?

I don't know, but I sure have a lot of dead/fallen pines around and I'm not planning on buying any fatwood. A step by step guide to harvesting the best fatwood would be well used.

 

[bundysgn]

what is fatwood?

 

[c5rulz]

what is fatwood?

x2

 

[Cliniford]

what is fatwood?

Sold as a natural firestarter. Very popular!

 

[John Ellison]

It could be different in other parts of the country but around here it can be found in the stump and also in the heart/center and around some limbs. Pitch is not in every pine tree, just a few of them. Just look for the old stumps and sometimes you will find a core of the trunk with a few short knots left and the outside will have rotted off. Some green standing pine has a lot of pitch in it but the best and easiest to get is in the old stumps. They will look like an old, old grey stump. Sometimes there will be a hole around it where the outside has rotted away. Saw off a thick cookie and smell it.

Rich pine will smoke like crazy. I like to use a piece about the size of my finger, light it with a match, then use other kindling on top of it. If you keep your eye open it is all over in the woods. Unless somebody else has scrounged it up.
Stumps are the easiest to work up. I just cut the stump into 2 or 3 inch cookies and then split it up with a hatchet.
Maybe someone else knows about why they make pitch. My guess is stress.

 

[lopro]

It could be different in other parts of the country but around here it can be found in the stump and also in the heart/center and around some limbs. Pitch is not in every pine tree, just a few of them. Just look for the old stumps and sometimes you will find a core of the trunk with a few short knots left and the outside will have rotted off. Some green standing pine has a lot of pitch in it but the best and easiest to get is in the old stumps. They will look like an old, old grey stump. Sometimes there will be a hole around it where the outside has rotted away. Saw off a thick cookie and smell it.

Rich pine will smoke like crazy. I like to use a piece about the size of my finger, light it with a match, then use other kindling on top of it. If you keep your eye open it is all over in the woods. Unless somebody else has scrounged it up.
Stumps are the easiest to work up. I just cut the stump into 2 or 3 inch cookies and then split it up with a hatchet.
Maybe someone else knows about why they make pitch. My guess is stress.

I'll be looking for pine stumps next time I'm out there.

I guess I could also just round up some pine cones, that's probably easier. I almost forgot how I used to keep a couple of sacks full of pine cones and use a couple of them to get the fire started. They worked great...natural firelighters.

 

[mbergeon]

I'll be looking for pine stumps next time I'm out there.

I guess I could also just round up some pine cones, that's probably easier. I almost forgot how I used to keep a couple of sacks full of pine cones and use a couple of them to get the fire started. They worked great...natural firelighters.

We line up paper bags in the back of the gator and one person drives slow thru the woods as the others walk behind and fill the bags with pine cones. 15 minutes of work lasts a long time.

 

[deutzman]

In my area we call it Lighterd Knot. It was used to make planting pegs to plant tobacco when it got to wet for a regular hand planter and so wet we didn't have to put any water under the plants. In other words the soil was mud. One person dropped the plants on the ground and the other person used the peg to make a hole in the raised bed to stick the plant in and then use the peg to compress the dirt to the root and stalk. Very hard work. Most worked without shoes when it's that wet.

The very best Fatwood/ Lighterd Knots came from the Va. black pine. Spruce was ok but black pine was better. And we also used it to start fires.

 

[Intheswamp]

Look for old pine "skeletons" laying on the ground in the woods, these are basically the heart and knots of pines. Old stumps with the outer portions rotted away and a solid "heart" in the middle are excellent. Many old fence lines used lighter'd posts. Old houses/buildings being torn down can be a treasure trove of lighter'd wood.

Ed

 

[corsair4360]

Fatwoof

For those who are asking what fatwood is, it is southern yellow pine (slash, lobolly, or longleaf) lower logs and stumps heartwood that is saturated with pitch. If trees have been used for pitch production, then fat wood can occur on the edges of the cuts on the tree trunks. Fatwood readily lights it with a match and it starts a fire very easily. It is the easiest way to start a fire I know of. It is waxy to the touch and will persist long after the rest of the log or stump has decayed.

I worked in Mississippi for a year in the forestry business we found section and other corner markers made of fatwood last for years they do not decay. Some locals collected it for sale.

 

[abikerboy]

In my area we call it Lighterd Knot. It was used to make planting pegs to plant tobacco when it got to wet for a regular hand planter and so wet we didn't have to put any water under the plants. In other words the soil was mud. One person dropped the plants on the ground and the other person used the peg to make a hole in the raised bed to stick the plant in and then use the peg to compress the dirt to the root and stalk. Very hard work. Most worked without shoes when it's that wet.

The very best Fatwood/ Lighterd Knots came from the Va. black pine. Spruce was ok but black pine was better. And we also used it to start fires.

I remember as a kid, we would hack and gather these "pine knots" as my mom would call them. We would hack them up with a scout ax, and you could light them with a match and toss them in the stove under the kindling. My after school chore was to keep wood in the stove and to keep the area around the stove swept up and clean. I can remember being too lazy to walk to the wood pile one evening, so I tossed one of the more solid pine knots in the stove simply because it was already in the house! Boy though, did I learn my lesson! That was a mistake that I will never make again! deutzman, I see that your profile says that you're in Cody, Va...I'm just outside of Staunton Va myself. I like seeing the locals on here.

 

[deutzman]

I remember as a kid, we would hack and gather these "pine knots" as my mom would call them. We would hack them up with a scout ax, and you could light them with a match and toss them in the stove under the kindling. My after school chore was to keep wood in the stove and to keep the area around the stove swept up and clean. I can remember being too lazy to walk to the wood pile one evening, so I tossed one of the more solid pine knots in the stove simply because it was already in the house! Boy though, did I learn my lesson! That was a mistake that I will never make again! deutzman, I see that your profile says that you're in Cody, Va...I'm just outside of Staunton Va myself. I like seeing the locals on here.

I'm about 35 miles south of Lynchburg in Halifax county. I bet you had a hot stove with a big chunk like that in there. LOL I live in a house that was built in 1917 and the whole house is lighterd knot. I've told my family many times if it ever catches fire just run and don't look back till you are 500 ft. away. This stuff burns like gasoline from the 1960's.

I use to gather it for starting wood stove fires. Since I got the OWB I never let the fire go out. Started Oct. 10 and been chunking wood in there since.:msp_flapper: