Must not be any pine trees up north

[AKDoug]

Up here in the true north we only need fire starter once a year... right around October 1st. The fire doesn't go out until sometime in April. I just round up scraps of cedar siding from job sites to use as kindling.

 

[ropensaddle]

true lighter really only comes from the heartwood of the longleaf pine, grows from the Carolinas maybe to East Tx, best produced when it dies on a stump. Have gotten some lighter like material from very old loblollies, not sure about the west coast pines. Guessing I am the only guy in Indiana using it for firestarter. This fencepost in the background is lighter, I set it 50 yrs ago and it was old then.

I have oddles of and the real term is PINE KNOT i kicked up several thousand stumps full of turpentine resin in my life. Loblollys are full of turpentine and sometimes knots in old rotting logs are as good as stump but they are rarer. I can light mine with one match

 

[ropensaddle]

Up here in the true north we only need fire starter once a year... right around October 1st. The fire doesn't go out until sometime in April. I just round up scraps of cedar siding from job sites to use as kindling.

Brahahahaha

 

[ropensaddle]

probably not, most likely loblolly and they'll just rot. Go out and find the really old pine stumps and knots, make a cut and check for turpentine smell

Loblolly is the real deal pal lol i can prove it too

 

[cornfused]

Here in Iowa we use either eastern red cedar or silver maple. Both are plentiful, split very easily into kindling and start with just a fist size piece of wadded up paper.

 

[muddstopper]

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.

I was working around Brunswick and Jesup Ga a few years ago and watched them digging up the pine stumps from clear cuts. They had a little dog that ran around and found the stumps and the handler would put a little flag and give the dog a treat for everyone he found. Fun to watch that little dog. You would think he was hunting rabbits. They used a trackhoe to pull the stumps and load the in big trailers. I was told they where going to be used to make dynamite. I know you could smell the pine rosin in the loaded trailers as they drove down the road.

 

[sirbuildalot]

I usually use 2x lumber scraps as well. Old cedar clapboard siding works great too. My folks take dryer lint and put it into toilet paper tubes, then close off the ends. I might try it this year.

 

[TimberWolf530]

Menards sells Fatwood. They occasionally put it on sale for $3.99
https://www.menards.com/main/heatin...594-c-6855.htm?tid=5597028481317033325&ipos=2

 

[svk]

These are virgin white pine stumps that were originally trees that were deemed too small to cut and were preserved as the brush piles were burned. They are still solid after 105 years of standing guard over the forest. I do not take them unless I find one that finally fell over. You can shave pieces off and they make great kindling.