"Fatwood" Fire Starters--what kinda wood are they?

[DanG]

Here's a few shots of one that is standing in my front yard.  We just ain't had the heart to cut it down.  It was recently dead, maybe a year, before we found this place in 1993.  It still had most of its bark, and the limbs were slowly falling away.  Now, there are a few chunks of rotted sapwood still clinging to the heart, which is about 6" diameter.





The second pic shows some branches that have gone to lightered.  some are no bigger around than your thumb, but are several feet long.  Left undisturbed, they'll be there for many years.

[DanG]

You're probably right about that, Furb.  Here's one of those knots from inside a lightning struck tree.  This stump is also in my yard, and I was watching as the lightning hit.  MAN what a shot!!   There was kinda a little story about that.  It was in '95 and we hadn't moved out here yet.  We were having a little picnic under a small pecan tree with my parents.  We heard a little rumble in the distance, and my Mom suggested we get out from under the tree.  I said, "Ma, it ain't gonna hit this little squatty tree.  If it hits, it will get that real tall pine over there.  Just as I pointed at the tree, the lightning hit it.  It scattered long, thin strips of wood fiber all around the area, and the smell of pine sap was instantly apparent, even though we were 75 yards away.  It took my Ma 3 days to get her color back!




This shard was from a branch that had been self-pruned early in the tree's life.  It was about 2 feet from the ground, and near the pith.  There are several of them visible in the rotting stump.  You also find these on the side of the lightered snags.

[Paul_H]

It looks kind of like a piece of back bone.

[Don P]

This high resin content is why that it was chosen as a tree of choice (along with slash pine) as a tree to run naval stores operations on. Navel sores  is gum turpintine/ gum rosin/ turpintining etc.  The collected the resin and then boiled it down to make turpintine and other things. 

I've seen "turpentine" listed as occupation in some old family papers from eastern NC. It was a pretty large business at one time.

I was looking up something this morning and came across this article. Parts of it kind of pertain to this thread, alot of it doesn't, but its interesting reading anyway  ;

http://www.wdsc.caf.wvu.edu/otherwebs/wdsc_100lec07notes.htm

[DanG]

Interesting link, Don.  I read the whole thing, then bookmarked it for a future re-read.

I well remember the turpentine industry around these parts.  The last vestige of it that I saw was at Woodville, just south of Tallahassee.  There was a small plantation there, where an old black man had a couple of hundred trees that he was working.  You could see the barrels of sap sitting out there, and he had an old, green Chevrolet pickup he would haul a few barrels in.  I don't know where he was selling it, but he apparently had a market.  This was in the mid-eighties, back in the last century.   I'm thinking of making a little run down there to see if there is any evidence of it left.  You can bet I'll have the camera with me.

[Pullinchips]

Dang,

I've seen knots like that on old rotted pines that grew up threw barbed wire. rest of the tree rotted and left pieces like that on the barbed wire.

Turpentinning, vey good book, called treasures of the longleaf forests of something to that effect, not sure about the aurthor, so mabe not any help there.

i have seen many old turpentine "cat faces" that have turned to lighter stumps still standing in the longleaf woods at my previous occupation as well as many live trees that were worked at one time.  Turpentining is almost a lost art and a huge part of the deep souths forest history.  Georgia was a hot bed for this practice.

-nate

[Murf]

The good Lord sure does work in strange ways now don't he. 

Why in da heck do yer think he made da best stuff fer light'n fires an den stuck way down south where dey don't need it anyways? 

[etat]

Of course we needed em.  Had to have a fire to cook our corn pone, and heat up our coffee and cook our catfish and hushpuppies and of course.....cook  up our g r i t s .......back in the day of course.........  

[woodbowl]

Shore do need it is right! ...................... Near bout freezed my tater off this morning it was so cold. If we didn't have a lighter knot to start up with, we couldn't get going to school and work very fast. 45 degrees ain't no fun first thing in the mornin'!

[beenthere]

........... 45 degrees ain't no fun first thing in the mornin'!

That's pretty cool for the bedroom temp first thing in the mornin, I agree, and "that's a fact" (famous quote there). We try to keep the bedroom temp above 60° in the winter here.

[Max sawdust]

Ya Beenthere,
We have ice on the insides of the bedroom windows at night up Nort.   45 sounds right for sleepin.

[DanG]

Yep, 45's good fer sleepin', but it ain't worth a hoot fer wakin' up!

Tell y'all what!  I'll whackity-whack a whack of lightered splinters and ship'em to youses(that's Yankee for "y'all") for 5% less than Menards sell's them for.  How's that for the spirit of brotherhood and fair trade?  Merry Christmas to all of youses!

[Paschale]

Yep, 45's good fer sleepin', but it ain't worth a hoot fer wakin' up!

Tell y'all what!  I'll whackity-whack a whack of lightered splinters and ship'em to youses(that's Yankee for "y'all") for 5% less than Menards sell's them for.  How's that for the spirit of brotherhood and fair trade?  Merry Christmas to all of youses!

Hey...now that sounds like a DanG good deal!        Sign me up...   

[Murf]

Counter offer.......

How's abouts I bring a whack of Maple syrup and old Cheddar Cheese down ina spring an we trade straight up instead.

Ya jus gotta promise not ta pour da syrup, er grate da cheese over no grItz's .......... 

[woodbowl]

Counter offer.......
How's abouts I bring a whack of Maple syrup and old Cheddar Cheese down ina spring an we trade straight up instead.

Bring that whack of syrup and cheese on down with you on the way to Lakeland this April Murf. Me and DanG will be roundin' you up some lighter knots. Are you planning to go to Sun-n-fun this time?

[DanG]

Brang it on, Murf!   I likes cheddar cheese, but I takes my Gritses straight, 'cept for a little salt and butter.  I kin probbly trade the maple surple for somethin'.  We get our syrup from sugar cane.  I can probbly git ya a bottle of it.

[woodbowl]

I kin probbly trade the maple surple for somethin'. We get our syrup from sugar cane.

DanG, I need to swap you out of that bottle of maple syrup! I've got a pair of socks that I've only worn for 2 years I'll trade you for it. I'll let you know as soon as I find them. If I don't find but one by then, I'll settle for a half a bottle.

[Pullinchips]

just picked up about 100lbs of the stuff out of the woods friday at work.  Not the good longleaf stuff but was from rotted old growth shortleaf or lobblolly.
Now i have to cut it into short lengths (7 ft lengths right now) split and you have instant fire starters for free not the $30 for 10lbs catalog price.  Hey i ought to supplement my grad schol stipend by selling lighter wood.  Any one interested? 

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Tried it on Ebay, and couldn't give it away

[Pullinchips]

good to know.

I have seen longleaf pine cones for sale on ebay about $10 for 2 dozen i beleive.  I thought if they sold i would sell them to but seemed like no one was bidding on them.

oh well another idea shot down.

-Nate