I use Fatwood to start the stove; stuff works really well. Whatever is leftover starts the charcoal chimney during warmer months and shoulder season fires next season. Part of me is intrigued and part of me is “no kidding captain obvious” on what I’m about say. New Fatwood burns better than last season Fatwood. On one had, this is contradictory to firewood drying, the more,time, the better, On the other, is small bit of wood that are stored in a semi humid environment during the off season , so it’ll absorb some moisture. On another note, you should have seen the look on the kid’s face at the local big box store when I asked him where the Fatwood was located. “What’s flat wood?” was his reply. LOL.
Found a broken pallet that had a fat wood board in it. Co-worker looked at me funny for wanting it and talking it. Made my day. Hoarding at work!
Backwoods Savage, can you explain why cat stoves don't like Fanwood? I have a dead eastern white pine in the yard. Have started a burn pit a couple time with twigs from that tree. They light fast, but put off a dark almost black smoke. I had wondered if these twigs were similar to fatwood for some reason, with the way they burned. Since they put off such dark smoke, would they be bad for a cat stove as well?
They should be okay after they have dried well enough. Even though dead, there is no doubt still sap in there and that is why the black smoke. On the cats, it is the precious metals that are on the inside of the cells where the problem lies. It supposedly can ruin those metals and therefore a very short life of said cat.
What we call “fat lighter” or “lighter wood”, designates pieces taken from a Southern Yellow Pine stump. Usually after it’s been there a year or so. Great fire starter, though we also use red cedar kindling that works as well.
Ever notice fatwood smells like turpentine? The volatile components in fatwood evaporate, so the fresher the better. Do a search on pine oil and you can see what chemicals it contains. Also note it can spontaneously ignite just like drying oils on a rag.
