How to Collect Fatwood

One of the best fire starters found in nature is fatwood. Fatwood actually has many names such as pitch pine, lighter wood, and heart pine. Now you’re probably wondering why it’s called fatwood? Well, fatwood is wood that has a high content of resin merged inside it which makes it unaffected to rotting and is perfect for fires.

There are many ways to find fatwood, but keep in mind that fatwood is found in only pine trees. You can find it in dead branches, stumps of fallen trees, and in the roots as well. One of the easiest ways is to collect fatwood is from a dead branch just like the picture shown above. 

Once you found some fatwood here are the steps to make it ready and easier to carry.

The first thing you want to do is you want to remove any unwanted material such as the bark or any smaller branches attached to your fatwood. Afterward, if you took a big branch cut it into smaller pieces so it can be easily carried. 

Once you have it nice and clean, you can take it a step further by drilling a hole into one of the ends. Loop some paracord through the hole and now you can hang it just about anywhere.

To use fatwood, just take a knife and begin shaving the wood off, this is just your tinder. In a desperate survival situation or if you have plenty of fatwood, you can use as kindling by using whole sticks along with shaving to get a successful fire going.