# Dumb fat lighter question.



## Usingmyrights (Jan 10, 2011)

Whwn I bought my property there was a large pine tree that was already on the ground and mostly rotten. What I found interesting is the whole core all of the way up, even into the branches was all fatlighter. That was three and a shot years ago. I'm trying to keep my property somewhat natural so other than bucking it up I left it where it lay. Long story short I actually needed some today and got to thinking what I should do with it all. Should I just put the rounds somewhere out of the weather, go ahead and cut it into usable pieces or what. What would best preserve it in the long run?


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

Oh man, that stuff is _precious_. :happy: Put the rounds somewhere dry out of the weather to let the rounds finish curing. Don't cut the rounds up until a couple of weeks before you need to use it, it will stay more potent if you keep it in rounds until just before you're ready to cut it up to use it.

.


----------



## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

Ummmm.... What is fatlighter??? Guess I need to do a google search. LOL....


----------



## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

Fatwood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## Usingmyrights (Jan 10, 2011)

Fatlighter, lighter wood, pine knot, pine heart, etc. Lots of names same stuff. Unlike regular woods like oak and such, you can take a good size piece and light it was a match. It'll catch fast and burn hot.


----------



## Ruby (May 10, 2002)

When I read your title I didn't know what you were talking about, but here we call it rich-lighter.


----------



## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

Heh, oddly enough I knew what they were talking about, even though we call it "Light or Not" because it catches so easily. 

What a lucky find! I'd put the rounds up out of the weather for future use. Don't cut until needed.


----------



## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

I had no idea what fat lighter was. And you thought your question was dumb?


----------



## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

I use fat wood to start my woodstove. I put 5 pieces on top of twigs and paper then logs on top and it starts perfect every time. We don't have it naturally in my area so I buy it from these folks.

Fatwood, Fatwood Firestarter - Plow & Hearth


----------



## nostawmama (Dec 29, 2011)

Wow. Learn something new everyday. What a find Usingmyrights


----------



## unregistered65598 (Oct 4, 2010)

lonelyfarmgirl said:


> I had no idea what fat lighter was. And you thought your question was dumb?


LOL I didn't know either and was gonna respond in as much the same way.


----------



## Usingmyrights (Jan 10, 2011)

I didn't realize that it was such a great find. I know it's nice to have, but I guess down here I'm used to it being around. I'v easily got over 100lbs of it on my few acres just waiting to be "harvested".


----------



## Farmer Willy (Aug 7, 2005)

lonelyfarmgirl said:


> I had no idea what fat lighter was. And you thought your question was dumb?


I thought he was talking about a zippo lighter, that's about the fattest one I know.


----------



## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

I'd cut it into 10" rounds, get it out of the elements for a year, and start splitting it into pencil sized pieces as needed. You have more than a lifetime supply. The taproot is even more concentrated with resin if you dig it out.


----------



## Usingmyrights (Jan 10, 2011)

I actually have at least one more old pine stump out back. Looks like I should get into the fat lighter business.


----------



## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

Usingmyrights said:


> I actually have at least one more old pine stump out back. Looks like I should get into the fat lighter business.


Quite a bit of it for sale on ebay. Just search for 'fatwood'. Looks like they are getting roughly $2 per pound in 10-15 lb quantities. I'd think USPS would be the way to ship it in those boxes where they say if it fits, it ships regardless of weight.


----------



## jamala (May 4, 2007)

I knew what you were talking about (I am proud, usually I have to google--lol" My dad had some old pine stumps removed last year and we found lots of fat lighter knots. The man running the bull dozer wanted some of it and the rest we put under the barn to keep dry.


----------



## Old Vet (Oct 15, 2006)

Usingmyrights said:


> I actually have at least one more old pine stump out back. Looks like I should get into the fat lighter business.


fat wood is pine with rosin still in it. The best is the tap root or burls or knots. It will light with only a match most of the time. It is found in FL,MS,AL,TN,AR, and just any where pine can be grown. The pine must be somewhat green and not dry out so that the rosin can be found in it.Put the rounds up out of the weather to keep them from rotting and cut is up as needed for a year supply.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

When they cut certain trees the roots continue producing sap, and the stumps become saturated with resin. They can weigh over 1000lbs. Used to be harvested for making explosives. One good stump will last a lifetime. When a tree dies standing, the heart is often fat as well. Some varieties of pine are more known for producing fat wood. Old lumber was often made from just the heart if long leaf pine, and is often referred to as "heart pine". That lumber is all fat. Those old houses and barns go up like gasoline when they catch fire.


----------



## Usingmyrights (Jan 10, 2011)

I actually have a big long leaf pine that'll be coming down once I get the money. As far as being able to get fat lighter off of it would it be better if it came down in the summer or winter. I read somewhere that the time of year makes a difference.


----------



## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

It start easily and small pieces of it make great kindling. You don't want to use a lot of it or burn big pieces of it often because it makes A LOT of creosote so you'll have to clean your chimney more often or risk chimney fire. All that resin in the wood turns to creosote and coats your stove pipe/chimney. Small amounts often are ok, but big pieces often are not so good. People who burn a lot of pine often have problems with creosote build up. Here in Ohio, very few people even bother with it other than small pieces for fire starters only.


----------



## poorboy (Apr 15, 2006)

Jist called pine knots here inna my part of the ozarks...City raised stepdaughter sent me a box fer Christmas one year,bless her heart... Told city raised wife to let her know we have it for the picking up outa our woods..


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

whatever you do dont put a big chunk in a stove or fireplace....you will be sorry.its like a 5 gallon can of gasoline.once on the coast of washington state on a extra cold and rainy day we tossed a piece about the size of my arm on our lunch fire.we couldnt get within 20ft of our fire.


washington state is full of the stuff in the areas i worked...st.helens,rainier and adams.but most there call them pitch stobs.


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

[youtube]_OymEVbxwXg[/youtube]


----------



## foxfiredidit (Apr 15, 2003)

This original homestead was built around 1850. This is a lightard support post from under the original barn. Its been a gatepost into my place for 10 years. Not a soft or rotten place on it, above or below ground...been in service in the ground for 162 years or so. Pretty solid peice of nature's work. 











An old barn beam with a couple of lengths of lightard added for support along my fence. There's an old hinge I left on as the nails were too hard to pull. 











Another lightard gatepost and a straight piece of lightard for support, I dug the support out of the branch bottom mud. 










Some recent pieces picked up around the place. Some were sawed off many years ago and left on the ground, where they got covered up. The round piece in the foreground is a "lightard knot" as we call them around here. Just a chunk of wood where a limb met the tree truck when it was alive. Great kindling wood for sure. 










There are stumps around here that are 2 to 4 ft. high, that are unchanged since my earliest memories. Whole trees of this stuff lie buried 3 feet underground where they originally fell and became covered up over hundreds of years. 

About 25 years ago, some local entrepeneur started buying up all the old lightard fenceposts from around the farms here. They were straight grained and easy to split. Back then he was giving $50 for a full pick-up load. He set up a workshop and had folks sitting there with hatchets splitting up lightard for sale to areas that never heard of it. Wasn't long after that when you could find it in specialty catalogs and outdoor shops for an exorbatant price. I reckon folks liked it because a straight grained lightard fencepost 7 ft. long nowadays is scarce as hen's teeth. We never sold any, now I may grab a hatchet and split some up and get rich....maybe not.


----------



## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

The place I get my fatwood from just sent me an marketing email. 12lbs for $14.99.

12 lb. Bag of Resin-Rich, Easy-Start Fatwood Kindling - Plow & Hearth


----------



## Usingmyrights (Jan 10, 2011)

If I had fence post and lumber that old, I couldn't destroy it if it was still in decent shape. If nothing else use if for taxidermy and other forms of art. As far as build up, im thinking it'll about getting my own chimney sweep since itll be alot cheaper in the long run.


----------



## longshot38 (Dec 19, 2006)

Nah, it isn't worth anything ship up to me and i'll look after it for you.:happy:

good score.

dean


----------



## meanwhile (Dec 13, 2007)

We love Fat Lighter! Good stuff. Around here people split it up into 12 inch pieces and bag it and then sell it. If it is in a cute little bag, they get $5.00 bucks for just 12 pieces!

We save it in rounds and split about what we need for the season. We just stand it up straight in black plastic tubs and save it in the wood sheds (with roof). Then, when needed we set a bucket of it near the basement stove or in the front room area.

Good stuff! Save it!


----------



## dkhern (Nov 30, 2012)

heart pine it doesnt rot or deteriate too resionus too dense if you have a choice cut your tree when the sap is up once the sap wood rots off you have heart pine otherwise it all rots


----------



## Usingmyrights (Jan 10, 2011)

Is the sap up in the summer or winter? I've heard both ways.


----------



## poorboy (Apr 15, 2006)

logbuilder said:


> The place I get my fatwood from just sent me an marketing email. 12lbs for $14.99.
> 
> 12 lb. Bag of Resin-Rich, Easy-Start Fatwood Kindling - Plow & Hearth


Split a five gal bucket full yesterday from a small stump I picked up here onna farm..:whistlin:


----------



## Usingmyrights (Jan 10, 2011)

If I could pull the stumps at my place and get good quality lighter from them, I could probably almost fill a 55 gal drum.


----------



## goodshephrd (Feb 21, 2010)

Can cedar be used that way too?


----------



## poorboy (Apr 15, 2006)

Usingmyrights said:


> Is the sap up in the summer or winter? I've heard both ways.


Rises in the spring,is up through the summer, and goes down fall, is down thru winter...methinks


----------



## naturelover (Jun 6, 2006)

goodshephrd said:


> Can cedar be used that way too?


Cedar shavings, cedar bark and thin cedar sticks of kindling are good for *starting* a fire but you should use a hardwood on top of that for heating and cooking. Cedar burns extremely hot and fast with much explosive sparking and if you're using it for heating in a woodstove or fireplace there's a greater risk of a chimney fire with cedar than there is with pine, and the risk is already high with pine. Cedar resin has *cedrol* in it (a *sesquiterpene alcohol* found in cedar, cypress and juniper resins) which is more explosive than pine resin so you will get more excessive sparking and explosions from cedar. Cedar fires deposit resin in chimneys as they burn. The resin deposits are more flammable because of the cedrol in it and must be regularly cleaned from the chimney.

Something else that's good for starting fires is the pitch from fir blisters. The pitch can be collected by poking a hole in the fir blister and it will drip out then harden. The fir pitch can be spread out onto other pieces of kindling wood that can be used for starting fires.

You can do the same thing with the pitch from pine blisters.

.


----------



## goodshephrd (Feb 21, 2010)

Okay. Thanks for the info naturelover


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

naturelover said:


> Cedar shavings, cedar bark and thin cedar sticks of kindling are good for *starting* a fire but you should use a hardwood on top of that for heating and cooking. Cedar burns extremely hot and fast with much explosive sparking and if you're using it for heating in a woodstove or fireplace there's a greater risk of a chimney fire with cedar than there is with pine, and the risk is already high with pine. Cedar resin has *cedrol* in it (a *sesquiterpene alcohol* found in cedar, cypress and juniper resins) which is more explosive than pine resin so you will get more excessive sparking and explosions from cedar. Cedar fires deposit resin in chimneys as they burn. The resin deposits are more flammable because of the cedrol in it and must be regularly cleaned from the chimney.
> 
> Something else that's good for starting fires is the pitch from fir blisters. The pitch can be collected by poking a hole in the fir blister and it will drip out then harden. The fir pitch can be spread out onto other pieces of kindling wood that can be used for starting fires.
> 
> ...


i love the pitch that drys on the outside of evergreens to start a fire.take a tooth pick and stab i dry ball and flick the lighter.instant flame to get other woods burning.it works no matter how hard it raining....and you know i know rain...same as you.

p.s.glad to see you around here my friend.

p.p.s....lol..you know what they call silver fir in the higher elevations that i cant type here....lol


----------



## wagvan (Jan 29, 2011)

vicker said:


> When they cut certain trees the roots continue producing sap, and the stumps become saturated with resin. They can weigh over 1000lbs. Used to be harvested for making explosives. One good stump will last a lifetime. When a tree dies standing, the heart is often fat as well. Some varieties of pine are more known for producing fat wood. Old lumber was often made from just the heart if long leaf pine, and is often referred to as "heart pine". That lumber is all fat. Those old houses and barns go up like gasoline when they catch fire.


Really? I did not know that. Our home's exterior is brick, but everything on the inside is 130yo heart pine. I had no idea it was so flammable. We can't hardly pound a nail into it or drill a screw into it because it is so hard. Its like stone.


----------



## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Usingmyrights said:


> I actually have a big long leaf pine that'll be coming down once I get the money. As far as being able to get fat lighter off of it would it be better if it came down in the summer or winter. I read somewhere that the time of year makes a difference.


I don't believe the time of year is relevant for 'fat lighter' we call em pine stumps around here, regardless of whether it's roots/stumps/trees. Only the sapwood will rot away, and the central part of the tree, the heartwood, which is rich in resin, will last forever. We had a great 'clearcutting' hereabouts, a good 25 years or so ago, and before the dozers came in and converted thousands of acres into pine plantations, I, and a few locals, 'loaded' up on every stump we could find. I have probably several cords stacked up... just go up and grab a chunk when I need it.

I wouldn't leave it in the woods... fire comes through, you'll have none left. I've got several dozen pine knot 'logs' in my woods, but I'm 'rich' already, so just leaving em in the woods, memorizing and noting their locations, just in case!

I've seen large pine stumps bleed for weeks after being sawn...


----------



## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

wagvan said:


> Really? I did not know that. Our home's exterior is brick, but everything on the inside is 130yo heart pine. I had no idea it was so flammable. We can't hardly pound a nail into it or drill a screw into it because it is so hard. Its like stone.


Sounds beautiful!


----------



## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

FYI.

The place where I usually get my fatwood has a 20% off sale.

http://www.plowhearth.com/resin-rich-easy-start-fatwood-kindling_p64.html


----------

