Harvesting Fat-wood for Fire Starting, by NCSheepdog

While attending Outdoor Survival Class 25-01, Kevin shared several types of fire starting techniques. One of the tasks that we were given on day two was to find fat-wood.

Fat-wood is an excellent fire starter. I happened to have some fat-wood in my kit that I found on my property. Fat-wood can be found on fallen pine trees that have been seasoned for a while. It is found in broken branches that are close to the trunk.

The branches store some of the sap which seasons in the wood and contains a resin compound which is flammable.

Harvesting the fat-wood is quite easy. First cut as close to the trunk as possible using a folding saw (this is the safest and easiest method).

You will be able to smell the resin. It smells like strong pine or turpentine. After cutting, you will see the fat-wood.

The fat-wood is the reddish / orange area in the wood.

Once found and harvested, it is time to process it. Use a full tang knife and baton the wood to split it open.

After splitting it, scrape it down to manageable pieces and store it in your fire kit. When using it, you can scrape it into small strips or a powder (like sawdust) and use a lighter or a ferro rod to get it started, then slowly build your fire.

There it is. A simple fire starting item very close at hand when you are walking in the woods.

Please be careful when harvesting it. Make sure you have good gloves, saw and a sharp full tang knife.

If you want to learn more about fire starting, survival or tactics, come out to a class. Have some fun in the woods and learn something that can help you in the long run. You can find the class schedule at Brushbeater.org

God Bless,
NC Sheepdog