Fat wood

xpertgreg

Senior Member
I drug home about a 40 pound piece of fat wood today. is there anything special I need to do to keep it usable or can i just leave it next to the fire pit and just cut off a piece when I need it to light a fire? I figure by Home Depot standards I probably got about $200 worth for free:banana:

gw
 

Slayer

Senior Member
just bust up into small pieces...great for starting a fire, but be careful about burning to much, it can and does add to buildup inside your chimney.......
 

Ed in North Ga.

Senior Member
when I first heard about "fatwood" upon moving up here, I was kinda skeptical- a wood that burns with just a match? Lighter wood? My old 8th grade Ag teacher said its was "good stuff"!
I thought it was another teacher trick- They sent me to go get a "left hand hand saw" from the vocational wing- which I promptly did (that one put them on guard)- a skyhook- which I did, I had one in the truck, and asked them where they wanted to mount it- then asked me about snipe hunting, to which I replied "why would anyone hunt little snipe marsh birds?" A can of compressed air- had one of those too-use it for filling tires-I wasn't fun for them at all. :bounce: (then the Ag teacher failed me anyway for being a smart alec).

Once we found out what lighter wood was, I got every single chunk within a mile of Pops house- boy, that stuff burned HOT! and no more gas/kerosene tinder to get the fireplace going in the winter!..but I sure did miss the WHOOOMMMP of a good gas fire exploding.:bounce:

[COLOR="Red] Edited for typing around the censor. [/COLOR]
 

clent586

Senior Member
If you are using in a pit, i am assuming you will be outside. Pine Lighter (fat wood) will weather as good as anything. No need to cut up unless you want to. Just cut off what you need when you need it. Clent
 

xpertgreg

Senior Member
yeah, we don't have a fireplace, but do have a fire pit outside.

gw
 

Vernon Holt

Gone But Not Forgotten
If you are going to refer to this material, you may as well learn the real name for it. The term is "lightwood". This is derived from the fact that this rich, resin filled wood was first used as torches to furnish light before lanterns and flashlights existed.

It was first used as a means of shining the eyes of deer when hunting at night. This is where the term "fire hunting" was derived.

In areas where pine forests prevailed, the term lightwood was shortened to "lightood" with the w silent or completely left off. The wood ultimately became known to most country folks as "lightard." Out of respect for country folks, please do not call it lighterwood or fat wood. It makes you appear to be a novice.

Best way to process the wood is to take a chainsaw and block it up in 12 inch long blocks then split the block into "splinters" to use as you need them.
 

Havana Dude

Senior Member
Mr. Vernon, I'm glad you stated the use of the word,"lightard". That is what I grew up calling it. And the only thing I could add to your post is to tell him to clean the bar on the chainsaw after cutting lightard. It will surely gum up the bar as the resin heats up during the cutting. At least it always has with me. May want spray WD40 on it liberally prior to cutting.
 

knifemaker

Senior Member
I'm quite sure y'all er talkin bout rich pine, right.
 

xpertgreg

Senior Member
Sorry, just thought more folks would know what I was talking about if I called it that. Henceforth it will be refered to as lightood. I grew up hearing it called fire starter. :)
gw
 
We had a drought in SE Georgia along about 1980. There was a tract of land on our club that hadn't been timbered in 75 years or so, and it dried up enough that they were able to get into it, but they still had to pull up some dirt, and build some raised roads.

The shoulders were covered with old, old lightered stumps. I filled up a PU truck in a little less than 2 hours, just picking it up and throw it in. Burned nothing but lighter that winter, felt like the richest man in the world. A little bit goes a long way in a fireplace.
 

General Lee

Senior Member
Fat lighter is the name for it in these parts.You would get some strange looks asking for "lightwood"
 

hunter_58

Senior Member
always heard it called lighter and/or lighter wood.
 

KDarsey

Senior Member
" splinters" or " lighter", sometimes "fat lighter", thats what my Grand Daddy & Grand Mother always said
 

dawg2

AWOL ADMINISTRATOR
I have called it fat lighter. I usually take a Machete, and split it long ways into strips and then break those long strips into smaller pieces.
 

jav

Senior Member
we called it lighterknot, since i was big enough to drag it through the woods, so i guess we will keep on
 

MCBUCK

Senior Member
lighter pine
 

discounthunter

Senior Member
just be aware ,not all fatlighter is created equal. look for the one that actually feels sticky after its cut.the higher the pitch content the easier its lights and stays lit,and the hotter it burns.
 
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