Must not be any pine trees up north

[Squintacular]

Fat lighter is best from long leaf pines. Which are common in the carolina or as we call them "yella pine". Long leaf pines when mature are monster trees which produce excellent lumber. I have some 70 year old pines in my yard which are 25-40 inches in diameter 100-150 feet tall.

 

[Preston]

One thing that's worked for me, learning over time, is to cut it in about 8 inch blocks. Then split it to about a 1/4 in strips. One thing is not to have a squared off end. It likes a pointed one. I put all my splint in buckets and let um dry for a year at least. Fresh cut lighter is not as flammable as it is dry. It will burn like crazy, but not light as easy. Then when time comes I put in the kindling and one strip of lighter wood. Light the lighter and thar she goes.

 

[Squintacular]

One thing that's worked for me, learning over time, is to cut it in about 8 inch blocks. Then split it to about a 1/4 in strips. One thing is not to have a squared off end. It likes a pointed one. I put all my splint in buckets and let um dry for a year at least. Fresh cut lighter is not as flammable as it is dry. It will burn like crazy, but not light as easy. Then when time comes I put in the kindling and one strip of lighter wood. Light the lighter and thar she goes.

Pointy or frayed ends is definitely the way to go

 

[treeslayer2003]

sassafras makes good kindling.
we don't have longleaf but we do have some kind of pine that don't really rot and has a heart. there ain't many left and the foresters don't really know what to call it. my father always called it old growth pine.

 

[slowp]

We call it pitch wood. You'll run into a bit of pitchy fir here and that works OK. I can get a fire going without it, using paper and kindling. Western Red Cedar makes the best kindling.

 

[Preston]

sassafras makes good kindling.
we don't have longleaf but we do have some kind of pine that don't really rot and has a heart. there ain't many left and the foresters don't really know what to call it. my father always called it old growth pine.

A good bit of the pine here that is "old growth" is Slash pine. We had a lot of long leaf but after the war a large number was cut down for sale overseas. Japan got a lot for houses.

 

[treeslayer2003]

Preston, these are normally large [30"+] very little taper, 80' or more tall and have different bark than a lob. it kinda looks like the pattern on a giraffe. the crown is flat topped instead of cone shaped. sound like slash? they got a lot of pine smell to.

 

[rwoods]

We call it pitch wood. You'll run into a bit of pitchy fir here and that works OK. I can get a fire going without it, using paper and kindling. Western Red Cedar makes the best kindling.

I agree WRC is "better" kindling as it is plentiful and light, and scraps are easy to come by from construction sites. "True" fatwood from the Southeast (or "lighter") is not exactly plentiful*; it is heavy and hard as a rock; and it is expensive if you buy it. But it will light and burn in almost any condition. Burns hotter and longer than WRC. Smokes like a diesel going wide open uphill. As noted by another poster, 1/4" strips are the best size. A few 6" by 1/4" strips in your aid kit is not a bad idea. With judicious use, a little will last a long time. I have been whittling on this little piece I got from my father for ten winters now. It was probably 5" across when I got it. Still almost 4" and weighs 4 1/4#. Ron

*(I've never seen any in East Tennessee, the piece shown is from the woods of Florida)

 

[Cerran]

We have a lot of Pine up north but very few pitch pines if any at all. Most pine species where I am at is white pine or Lodgepole pine with some Ponderosa pine

 

[Woody912]

Preston, these are normally large [30"+] very little taper, 80' or more tall and have different bark than a lob. it kinda looks like the pattern on a giraffe. the crown is flat topped instead of cone shaped. sound like slash? they got a lot of pine smell to.

Longleaf has 18" long needles, pretty distinctive. Your description matches everything else

 

[1project2many]

There's plenty of pine up here but generally it doesn't decay the same way as what you've got. Hemlock will rot, and white pine that dies on stump usually dries out. I know that the earliest settlers had a processing plant about 20 miles west of here to produce pine tar or oil but AFAIK that was from White Pines that were supposed to be used as ship masts.

Birch bark is much easier to get here. I've got three totes of it for my wife to use. I peel it off in big sheets, lay it flat to dry, then put it in the tote. It burns like plastic, it throws off wisps of carbon like plastic, and sometimes it even smells like plastic.

 

[Johnny Yooper]

I use dry white cedar. Starts fires better than any pine species round here.

+1

I always take a few chunks back with me when I'm up in the motherland

 

[513yj]

+1

I always take a few chunks back with me when I'm up in the motherland

I always have more than I need but something about splitting kindling with a hatchet is fun to do plus the smell of cedar is great too.

 

[unclemoustache]

Fatwood? Hold on, we gotta bring 08 into this conversation.

We call it pitch wood. You'll run into a bit of pitchy fir here and that works OK. I can get a fire going without it, using paper and kindling. Western Red Cedar makes the best kindling.

I agree - especially when it's in the form of shakes or siding that's been sitting on a house for years. Whenever I happen to tear out a roof or wall with this stuff, I save every scrap for kindling. Fantastic!

 

[Metals406]

Zogger hit it on the nose.

Fatwood can come from pines and evergreens. Like was said, you hunt the old stumps and blowdown in the roots.

It can be fun to go hunt for it, like horn hunting or mushrooming or trying to find a good huckleberry patch.

 

[slowp]

Shhhhhhh. Don't tell where the huckleberries are.

 

[Pruning@trunk]

used motor oil is my fatwood

 

[Preston]

Something else I've found to start very fast is the very fine flimsy strips of white oak. When it splits and has the frayed ends, dry that out, put that on a bed of coals in the morning and the fat lighter ain't needed.

 

[mainewoods]

I gather bushels of white pine cones in the fall. They are covered with dry white pitch and make great fire starters. Burn hot and light easily. There are fallen, bone dry, pine branches every where, and they are excellent kindling. A couple of hours and a pick up truck and you will have all the kindling you will ever need.

 

[wareagle5.0]

i never heard it called anything but fat lighter or lighter wood. there is plenty of it down here. they use to use it to make dynomite too. my uncle saidthey hauled rail cars full of lighter stumps bound for dynomite plants in the 1970s. ive never started a cold fire with anything else.
love this site btw.