"fatwood" = Pitch Pine

https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/hunting/2014/06/fire-starting-tips-how-collect-fatwood/


Good afternoon all,

Per ...

Author tells that bottom section of some pine trees has accumulation of "sap" / "pitch" that serves as a great firewood. Some work involved to identify and get to this.

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Found this article while - the standard - "looking for something else". Doing research on the hardwood tree that has much water inside it. Ran into above. Hopefully of value.

 

The most coveted fatwood is from the long leaf pine . This species of pine only grows in the south to south east United States . The southerners where this is found simply call this " lighter " . I was fortunate enough a few weeks ago that one of our survival members came across some of this in the woods in the state of Alabama . He brought me a good supply . It is enough to last me for years . This year I am able to start my fires in my wood heater much easier by using a small piece to get the oak burning . Back in the day when my grandfather was living off the land he would hitch up " Dan " his horse to the wagon and go into the vast open woods where he lived and pick up a wagon load of lighter . He kept what looked like a huge pile of it . That is all he burned in his fireplace " just pure lighter " . Now that made a hot fire . I have never tried any of that store bought lighter but am very suspect of its quality as compared to the lighter we use from the longleaf . The guy that gave me the lighter was bringing me some more a few days ago but enroute to here from Alabama was redirected to either Louisiana or Texas to try to restore electricity to the storm ravaged area . So my other lighter is in limbo and perhaps on the back of a power line truck .

 

I've never used pine in my stoves and fireplaces. Pine will creosote your chimney in one year's use. If you burn it, then you MUST thoroughly clean the flue else you WILL have a chimney fire.

Working with the Germans, they couldn't believe that we Americans used hardwood in our fireplaces. Hardwood in Germany is prized and thus expensive. German law back then was that you were required by law to have you chimney's flue cleaned twice (2x) per year.

The German engineers with whom we worked were flabbergasted by how things were in America. One of our crew owned under 10 acres of scrub land down by the river. A German asked him if this was some great family inheritance. The story spread and we all laughed. In Germany, their lives are very restricted and having land is the exception and not the rule. German taxes are through the roof. Health-care taxation there is included in with your social security payments. I can't remember the exact numbers (and inflation has made the numbers meaningless anyway), but in speaking with a non-ranking German engineer in our group, the percentage of his take-home pay eaten by just the social-security-healthcare was like 30%. Plus, the Germans had a stack of other taxes! No wonder they were unable to own land! I didn't ask what property taxed were -- I understand that they are monstrosities. The German people seem to know no other world than that of being regimented.

The Germans sure are massively sensitive to the safety precautions relating to chimney flues. Me, I'd not burn pine in the first place. And I HATE using a decent chain saw on a stump to cut it down to ground level. When you start hitting the dirt accidentally -- and you always do -- your chain gets dulled and in very short order. Hate that. I hate pine. I don't want to live anywhere near pine stands. Southern pine forests ruin the soil. You gotta royally lime the soil to grow anything. I won't live in those places. Pine forest fires are unimaginably hot and will bake a house well over 100 yards away. I'm too old to deal with any of that crap anymore.