Fat lighter

[Mergie Master]

Fat lighter, fatwood or pitchwood is where the pine sap/pitch/resin settles into the the heartwood of a dead pine. Stumps are the most common place you can find it, but sometimes the heart of the whole length of the tree will be fat lighter. The outer wood rots away and leaves only the fat lighter.

I have heard some people call it kindling too. Although technically that's incorrect.

[skrimp]

I can't pass a pine knot up!

[Relentlous]

A lot of the stumps in the lake are fat lighter. When the lake was about dry a few years back, I burned stumps all night to stay warm.

[charlie horse]

Sill beams on old houses (30s and before) are full of pitch, pine heart wood..termites cant fuck with it, water cant rot it..

[Duck cutter]

Sill beams on old houses (30s and before) are full of pitch, pine heart wood..termites cant fuck with it, water cant rot it..

Yep. Old barns too

[higear]

Thanks for edumacating me, Guys!!


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[Calibogue]

Kindling can be any wood used to start a fire. Fat lighter, also known as Pitchwood by some, comes only from old pine stumps.

Fat lighter is not exclusive to just stumps....

[DRDUCK]

Yep.

[charlie horse]

Kindling is a yankee word.

[Mergie Master]

Sill beams on old houses (30s and before) are full of pitch, pine heart wood..termites cant fuck with it, water cant rot it..

This ↑

The first house I ever bought was an old mill village house. When I started to remodel the bathroom I decided to put a medicine cabinet over the sink. I needed to cut a rectangular hole in the wall between studs to add the medicine cabinet. I drilled a starter hole for the jigsaw and about burned up the drill bit. The walls were some kind of slats about 1" wide laid together horizontally. The walls smelled just like fat lighter when I was cutting. I dulled quiet a few saw blades trying to cut the hole in that stuff too.

I remember thinking that if the house ever caught fire it would go up like a house made of matches.

[Duck cutter]

but sometimes the heart of the whole length of the tree will be fat lighter. The outer wood rots away and leaves only the fat lighter.

Yep.
I remember my dad and I squirrel hunting one day on the farm when I was a kid and we walked up on a rotting pine tree. He said he remembered years back when the tree fell during an ice storm. He kicked away the rotten part and sure enough the whole heart of the tree was lighter. We went back a few days later and cut it up with a saw

[formerly bohica]

I love light wood, but it is hell on a chimney. Learned that the hard way.

[ecu1984]

The best are whole logs that can be cut into 16" blocks...... Splits so pretty!

I splintered some with a hatchet last night. My wife isn't the best at fire building in the fireplace when I am out of town and this makes it super easy for her.

[deerslayerjohn]

Sill beams on old houses (30s and before) are full of pitch, pine heart wood..termites cant fuck with it, water cant rot it..

And if catches fire, it burns like soaked in gasoline. Hard to put out and burns very fast too.

[Palmetto Duck]

Only way to go. I drag it out of the turkey woods constantly. Newspaper and gas starters are for pussies. One match to start a fire is all you need. Try to kick a 3 foot stump over of this shit and it's like kicking a building. You'll land on your ass. Been there.

[SaltMuck]

I love looking for the stuff. Hit up mature hardwood stands and bottoms. Old stumps stick out like sore thumbs. Walk the creeks and look on either side. Take a sharp axe and a sledge hammer. Get a piece started with the axe and break it off with the hammer.

[Highstrung]

Gbelly is the king of fatlighter, indisputable.

[Duck Nitz]

a lot of the "uppity" places get their fat lighter from other countries...sad

[WoodieSC]

So if I have some large pine trees logged, do some of you want to arm wrestle over the stumps?

[Spur hunter]

If you got a stand of knotty pines then you know where there is all the fat lighter you will ever need. I got as much pictured here in about 15 minutes a couple years ago. Should last for several more.