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Post by Sasquatch on Jan 18, 2010 20:23:23 GMT -5
Does anyone here use fatwood in their "fire kit?" I discovered the wonders of Fatwood fairly late in the game. Fatwood is taken from the base of pine trees and is naturally full of resin. When you light it, it catches easily and once it gets going burns like a candle. Even better, it easily splits into smaller, straight pieces for inclusion into a fire starting kit. The one pictured below has a few pieces of fatwood and some dryer lint for tinder in a waterproof container. With those things you can start a fire quickly under adverse conditions. I made a little movie, but it really doesn't do it justice. Fatwood movie: s55.photobucket.com/albums/g160/Klemford/?action=view¤t=fatwoodmovie003.flv
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Post by Sasquatch on Jan 19, 2010 11:29:57 GMT -5
I forgot to mention that fatwood is fairly cheap. I know that Wal-Mart and Rural King carry it.
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Post by raporter on Jan 19, 2010 11:40:05 GMT -5
We have lots of dead or dying white pines in the area. Looks like I need to go do some sawing. I have always stayed away from pine due to the pitch in the wood getting all over my tools. Anyone know how much of a problem this would cause with my chainsaw?
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Post by Russ Koon on Jan 19, 2010 13:37:19 GMT -5
Brings to mind our first family camping trip, to the Smokies about forty years ago. I'd been a country boy for about ten years before that trip, and a Boy Scout for a while, too, but had never developed a lot of skill in firestarting.
Following a cold and rainy night, we were trying to get a campfire going at a picnic area, and I was having trouble getting it to take off. An older local gentleman had watched for a while before offering his help. He quietly suggested that what I needed was a "pan nee". When I clearly had no idea what that was, he showed me "knee", the exposed knob on a root from a nearby pine, and explained that the pitch from the tree was concentrated in the knee, making it an excellent firestarting fuel. He did this while bringing out his pocketknife and deftly removing one such knee about the size of his thumb from a root protruding from the soil nearby.
That root sure did the trick. Sustained the flame long enough to get the small campfire going and saving us from another meal of raw hot dogs.
I have learned a few other handy firestarters in the years since, through trial and error.
The bark of white birch, or the "paper birch" more common around here, works about as well as dry paper, and it doesn't harm the tree at all to take a few handsful from a standing one. They are common in low areas like along creekbanks. And some weeds are great for starting and sustaining a fire when everything else is too wet to get going. The dry ones seen in winter sticking up out of the snow will be relatively dry, inside and out, and are easily gathered. Some are better than others, and I unfortunately don't know my weeds well enough to know which ones are best, but the short dark ones (rabbit brush) are generally pretty good and it will usually only take a minute to gather an armload that includes a good variety.
For the actual fire starter, I used to like Bics, and plenty of them scattered throughout my pockets and packs so there would always be at least one handy. Lately, I've become fonder of the butane lighters with their hot little blue flames that will get stuff burning quicker. The Ronson brand I get at WalMart in the checkout lane seem to be rugged and dependable, and are very reasonably priced. Pretty handy when you have some wiring to do, too, as they make solder joints quickly and neatly.
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Post by parson on Jan 19, 2010 13:47:41 GMT -5
My admittedly limited experience with campfire starting leads me to wonder how in the world forest fires ever happen!
It usually takes me volumes of newspapers to get a fire going in our fireplace.
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Post by raporter on Jan 19, 2010 14:32:41 GMT -5
My admittedly limited experience with campfire starting leads me to wonder how in the world forest fires ever happen! It usually takes me volumes of newspapers to get a fire going in our fireplace. Parson, Mother Nature is just a whole lot better at these things than You and I. ;D I have a fireplace insert I use a lot. I use those fire starter logs you can get about anywhere to start my fire. I just break off a piece about an inch or so and place it under some dry scraps of lumber with a piece of firewood over that, light it and away it goes. Not exactlyl the Boy Scout way but it works.
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Post by throbak on Jan 19, 2010 14:37:46 GMT -5
hand torch with mapp gas has never failed for me ;D
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Post by Sasquatch on Jan 19, 2010 14:48:32 GMT -5
Russ, I have heard of the old pine knot trick... there was another name for it but it escapes me at the moment. Such knowledge is always in danger of being lost. Raporter, the Fatwood has a very aromatic smell and is perhaps a tiny bit tacky feeling. I do not think it would hurt a chainsaw...it's not like sap or anything. I can tell you it splits very easily. It sure burns great! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatwood
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Post by DEERTRACKS on Jan 20, 2010 7:06:28 GMT -5
Used it many times camping. Good stuff!
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Post by duff on Jan 20, 2010 18:48:44 GMT -5
I have pine trees out back and load up with the pine cones that have the white sap drizzled all over them and store them in a cardboard box with other tinder. No splitting and I would just mow over them anyways or rake them into the woods. This fall I could have filled up a 3 yard dumpster. You light one and let the fire feed up the "petals" for lack of better terms and they usually get going fast and hot.
Another is to find sap weaping out of a tree and collect the bark that has all the sap on it.
Propane torch is last resort on damp stuff!
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Post by kevin1 on Jan 21, 2010 14:06:37 GMT -5
I've heard of and seen fatwood sticks, but never used them. You can make homemade "fatwood" sticks pretty easily with some sawdust and paraffin from candle stubs. Just melt the wax, stir in the sawdust until the wax is fully absorbed, then mold into sticks. Any time I've hunted away from my own land I always carry a magnesium firestarter and some dryer lint just in case. A simple birthday candle will light all but the wettest wood, and a box of them fits in a pocket.
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Post by retnuhreed on Jan 21, 2010 17:00:34 GMT -5
I have tried a lot of products. The one I swear by is the firestarting squares. They are sold at tractor supply in boxes of 144. They light in about 3 seconds and will get your fire going. Some fire starters need a fire starter to get them lit.
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