Harvesting fatwood/pitchwood?

This thread inspired me so I did some fatwood-foraging last weekend up at my place: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-Cutlass-amp-phat-bob?p=10200503#post10200503

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Burn and felling areas are fantastic-as the trunk is damaged, the roots pump the resin up into the woodgrain. Another good place is at the bases of dead low hanging branches. If you collect the low knots, they burn bright and burn forever.
 
OREGON FAL'ER said:
Look for stumps with mostly rotten wood piled up around the base. Then look for protrusions or "fingers" sticking up. Like this pic here the BK2 is sticking in the Pitchwood on this stump, there's a couple of fingers to the right and left of the knife that's pitchwood too. I wonder why certain parts have rotted away and some haven't, resin, thats why.


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Not much left of that stump after I got after it with my BK9. :D

I got a good 5-7 lbs easily from that stump there.

Thanks again for showing me how to look for it Fal'er!!!!!!!!
 
It's as simple as finding proper old stumps, kicking them over and prying them apart with your BK-2. It's really great fun and you'll love the smell. It's wood perfume to me.
 
OREGON FAL'ER said:
There is a super good thread over at Bushcraft usa with tons of pictures. it's been some months since I have seen it but worth the look if you find it.

Here,
http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6096&highlight=fatwood
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Yep, I was asked by a mod to write that one as a sticky topic on the subject, but the politics on that site are nuts at times. Two mods had differing opinions on the subject so it went back and forth from sticky to un-sticky for a while. Some good people there on that site as usual, but I find certain aspects of it a little narrow minded for my tastes so I seldom go there anymore. About the only reason I do go there now is when I have something to add to this thread that I think will benefit some of the 300 plus that liked the thread...and of course to pop it back up to the top and be a pain in the neck of the ones who want it to just go away :) I'm thinking if they just want it to go away they could just delete the post then I could use it elsewhere without exceeding bandwidth on that PB account every month. Thanks for bringing it up, I just took a series of photos on more advanced fatwood spotting techniques and close-up shots to add to it that I'll add to this thread too, just need to edit them.


upnorth said:
It's as simple as finding proper old stumps, kicking them over and prying them apart with your BK-2. It's really great fun and you'll love the smell. It's wood perfume to me.
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Sometimes yes, and sometimes it takes paying attention to minute details.
 
here's a weird thing... based on threads, I found tons of pitch-soaked pine on my property. only problem? it doesn't burn all that well. does it need to be oven dried or something? or are there species where the pitch doesn't burn worth a darn? or...?
 
If it's really pitch-soaked, it will not need any drying. Get a large piece burning, and if it burns with huge yellow flame and puts off a cloud of black smoke, you will know if it's the real deal. Is the wood full of pitch to the point that it is translucent? Does it leave your cutting tools coated in sticky goo?

Part of the equation is to get your tinder in thin shavings/dust to light properly. Once lit it goes like gangbusters. I'm pretty sure that you have ponderosa pine on your property. The ponderosa here (pacific coast subspecies) produces good fatwood.
 
Many big box stores also sell boxes of pre cut Fatwood, what I found was a medium to decent grade. I just kept the box in the car trunk. It is quite inexpensive and I used it once for a large get together in a public park. The briquettes were glowing pretty damn fast with the F.W. ripping below them. Man that stuff really kicks out flame ! I've found my own F.W. (not so great in my location) and had some shipped to me from a bud on the coast. I love the stuff that is almost translucent with saturation. I would say that basically every F.B. knife sheath fire kit that I have contains rich F.W. strips, waxed cotton balls etc.
 
should I expect it to ignite immediately and easily? or is it more the idea that if you can get it going then it'll burn really really well?
 
BRL said:
should I expect it to ignite immediately and easily? or is it more the idea that if you can get it going then it'll burn really really well?
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Usually It will light with 1 strike of my ferro rod, if I use the spine or blade of my knife held perpendicular to the pitchwood and scrape a pile of very fine fuzz. So yes very easily and almost immediately.
 
Yeah Mist, that is a sweet thread. I didn't know it was yours. An excellent primer on what to look for, and once you know what to look for it's hard not to see it. At least out this way. Usually goes something like, hmm rotten stump or tree, wait there's part thats still intact while the rest is rotted away. Whack it with my trail hawk and if it's hard and makes a thud it's pitchwood.
 
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well, damn, all my ponderosa pitchwood is kind of hard to light even with a steady lighter flame. very strange.
 
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