NFR Let's talk about "fat wood".

Non-fishing related
DimeBrite said:
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Tell me again that story of when you shaved the fat wood honey.
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I have these socks at home. But I do not have fatwood nor a significant other who talks to me in this way. I am glad for the internet friends I have for now I know how to fatwood. Perhaps now I also shall find myself telling her of fatwoods I have procured and she will call me honey. This is American Dream!
 
Not too long ago I got on a mission to step up my campfire skills. In the Southwest, a Bic lighter usually did the trick. Not so up here in the Cascades. After watching you tubes and reading for endless hours... the next time I was out target shooting I decided to make a campfire. The ground was covered in snow and mud, and a steady light rain, with fairly strong winds. I found some nice quality fat wood, cut it with my folding saw and split it with my knife. I found a flat rock above the mud, put some fat wood down, sprinkled a handful of shaved magnesium on it, and with one strike of a Ferro rod, I had a roaring fire. Roaring! No paper, no kindling, no matches, no lighter....Roaring fire. I felt accomplished.
 
Hundreds of people die in the woods every year, that could have lived through the night (and been rescued the next day) if only they had the ability to build a fire. Safety experts suggest carrying matches....well, good luck with that up by Mt Baker in the rain. Up here a big heavy knife to "process" the firewood is essential. You can split away the wet outer wood or chop down "Squaw wood" (old broken off branches) that is not water logged. But if you find fat wood, even in the wettest conditions, you will have a very good chance of making a fire. Also, shaved magnesium can be bought for cheap online. Combined with a "ferro rod" and fat wood... it is like turning on a stove....even in the rain.
 
I was driving up to Bellingham on the Chuckanut road. I pulled off to stretch my legs, I walked a short distance down a trail, and found some fat wood in an old decaying log. It was raining. I took out my small pocket knife, sliced off some of the fat wood and easily lit it with the Bic lighter (that I happened to have in my pocket). Instantly, I had a small three inch flame that I could have never achieved without my study of fat wood.
 
Jim in Anacortes said:
I did not expect to this thread to drift in this direction....but I am actually finding it pretty darn funny.
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Honestly I'm really interested in Fanwood now, gives me something else to search for in the woods. I'm also extremely immature.
 
Splitting the top quality, honey colored fat wood (found around here) into very thin sticks, maybe 14" long and tying them up in a bundle as if to make a torch can be fun. I was astonished the first time I lit one of these on fire.. Mother Nature gifted us with the most flammable wood, in the exact spot where it is the most difficult place to start a fire. I like that.
 
Igniting fat wood with a match or lighter is easy, but only if it is not raining or windy. Think about a wet lighter, wet hands in a strong wind...not gunna happen. Now a Ferro rod that shoots extremely hot sparks that ignite the extremely hot burning magnesium shavings, that in turn ignite the fat wood...that is going to happen..even in severe weather.
 
I've seen the small ferro rods with small blocks of magnesium for sale at stores. In dry conditions they will work. But not up here. I can picture an idiot proclaiming that this "firestarter" will save the day. Good luck with that up near Mt Baker in the rain. A beefy ferro rod with a good striker is needed. In dry conditions they will ignite tinder...up here, dry is not the norm. That is why I highly recommend buying a bag of shaved magnesium. Trying to shave off a tiny bit of magnesium from that "fire starter " is pathetic. A handful of shaved magnesium will light instantly with a Ferro rod and burn extremely hot.
 
Jim in Anacortes said:
why I highly recommend buying a bag of shaved magnesium.
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I believe Shaved Magnesium was @Matt B's nickname in Junior High, before the spate of mysterious fires occurred.

If the whole sordid affair perhaps best summerd as "St Alphonsus School for Wayward Boys chem lab keeps burning" is not a podcast by now it probably should be....

Was it the Nuns? Father O'Shaugnessy's passion for fatwood? Or some Little Wanderers/Street Urchin/Scholarship Kids with axes to grind?
 
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TicTokCroc said:
I tried looking up fat wood on YouTube and now I'm sleeping on the couch, Thank
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Jim in Anacortes said:
Igniting fat wood with a match or lighter is easy, but only if it is not raining or windy. Think about a wet lighter, wet hands in a strong wind...not gunna happen. Now a Ferro rod that shoots extremely hot sparks that ignite the extremely hot burning magnesium shavings, that in turn ignite the fat wood...that is going to happen..even in severe weather.
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Quick cure for a wet Bic lighter is to run the wheel quickly down your jeans on top of your thigh until it throws a little shower of sparks. It will spark up nicely after that.

Back east, birch bark was my go to fire starter. I'm glad for this info about fat wood now that I live in the PNW.
 
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