Want more?Here is the old fatwood video • Fatwood for Beginners Like what you see? Want more? Visit us at.. www.coalcracke... / danwowak / coalcrackerbushcraft and as always.... Stay in the Woods, Dan
Hey Dan, not sure you’ll see this, but one thing that’s underrated about your videos is how well-spoken you are explaining everything. Very knowledgeable, and it’s always explained very well.
Out of the 5 million bushcraft tubers yours are always my favorite. No bs. Straight to the point. I always end up taking the important with me and nothing I don't need.
Thanks for this demonstration. I have a lot of fat wood, but have been using it wrong. I have been using an entire little stick to start my fire. Now, the fat wood that I have should last a very long time and start fires more efficiently.
@Coalcracker Bushcraft Fatwood is my main go to firestarter. I found a couple nice patches of red pines in the woods across the road from my house. About a 60-40 mix of standing to deadfall. I love it because it's an all natural, renewable resource as well. Always great information in your videos. I definitely appreciate it.
While I was watching I was reminded of another tip I read that could be adapted to this. If there are high winds the shavings might be in danger of blowing away and if so you could put it on the sticky side of duct/guerilla tape to keep it from being blown away. I got the idea from the way the owner at silverfire stoves recommended putting magnesium shavings on tact cloth for the same purpose. Tact cloth would probably keep fatwood shavings from blowing away as well but I figured the tape was most likely more available. Of course the tape by itself works as a fire starter so it may be redundant.
Or you could feather stick the fat wood an at the end(closest to your hand) make real small feathers/ shavings making sure to keep them attached an then lay your ferro rod down along the feather stick an shoot sparks directly in the shavings
I just look for old pine stumps that have been subjected to the elements......if the stump has a gnarly, jagged, crenellated appearance - it's because the normal wood has rotted away, leaving behind just the fatwood. It's not rare and it's an easily findable resource - I don't mess about or use it sparingly, I use plenty and get the fire lit.....lots more out there to harvest in pretty much every Country on Earth. See a likely old stump? Give it a gentle kick, or tap with the back of your axe, if it's solid it's probably fatwood.
Dear Dan ,I really think you are the best in this field, why? simple, you explain things very simply, so easily, and what I also love about you is that you speak clearly and do one topic per video. not to mention the humor you incorporate into your videos. I have been following you for a while and if I lived in America, I would sign up for a course... only I don't live around the corner 😁. I just had to say this, and I hope you continue like this for a long time. thank you for your beautiful videos..👍🏻
if you're going to be out there a while and fatwood is not commonly-found in your area or an injury or snow make travel difficult/impossible, mix in regular dry wood (coniferous is best) with the fatwood. Then you dont need as much fatwood, you see. If it's an emergency, use 1/8" wide strips of duct tape to make a "nest' and use that to ignite "cigar rolls' of duct tape, which will dry out and ignite wet twigs.
Awesome the quilt does fit in the pack! Beats carrying it off to the side rolled up like a have. This method will be used from now on!! Thank you brother! Another awesome video as always brother 👍 💪
Dan you probably don’t know this but you can’t say FAT anymore PC you know !you could call it wood of substance or if it was a person (substantially challenged )ha ha I know you would never do that! Enjoy your channel and humor
I rarely make scrapings. 9 times outta 10 I just make feathers and some shavings. They light with a couple strikes of a ferrorod fine. I think using scrapings would be handy if you’re really trying to conserve your fire starter. But fwiw I’m not 😂
Lowes sells it too. Although once one knows where to look for it in the woods it's easy too. But i think the stuff they sell at the store is too even to be natural, it must be impregnated. Non the less, good stuff. I've used it. His piece looks suspiciously like a manufactured one. Not doubting his skills, though. For education and teaching, very convenient.
Hi Dan. Thanks again. Recently saw another channel having a pencil sharpener in his kit. Lead me to make narrow sticks of fatwood, fatwood pencil if you want. Works brilliantly.
You guys must have some pretty resin saturated fat wood there, the stuff I get here, while it looks kinda red in color and smells like pine, I have a very hard time getting it to ignite with a fero rod. Only been successful a couple of times, meanwhile birch bark I can get to take a spark from a fero almost instantly like you see here. Not sure if my fat wood is just wet or not enough sap/resin material impregnated in the wood or whatever, wish we had more pine trees around here so I can find a good source. Even with a lighter I have a hard time getting the stuff to ignite and stay lit. Now cotton balls soaked in vaseline those never fail me.
Teaching other people Bushcraft Skills, I find that most people have fixed-bladed knives that don't have a good 90 degree back-edge on them (i.e.-"Store-Bought Survival Knives"! Lol... I try to tell them that a Good Basic Carbon-Steel knife is WAY better than those Fancy Stainless Steel "Rambo Knives", any day of the week...!). Lol Love your tips, and tell others to subscribe to your channel.
I imagine what native Americans and other primative people thought. Fire was a daily thing for them, from birth. Fat wood was probably an obvious thing for them so much so like peeing behind a bush.
For someone who's gonna be living outta of a backpack for more than 10+ years (2 people N a dog average height), mainly dealing with rain and some decent winds what tent would you recommend as a very avid outdoors men. Thanks in advance if you respond.
Lol I wasn’t even lookin for it but stumbled onto a whole stump of fat wood ,no effort involved just a pick and go ,should be a several year supply , my fire making practice jus got far easier. 👍
Instead, I thoroughly work petroleum jelly into cotton balls and keep them in a sandwich bag. They ignite easily and burn a long time so wet twig fuel dries out and then ignites. Fat wood is cooler but not as easy for me.
Do you have a trick to keep the turpentine from evaporing from the wood? I found fatwood before but when I got to use it, it was dried out to normal wood
wanna keep from cutting the hell out of your self? Tear off a strip of duct tape, tear it in half lengthwise and put both strips on the edge of your knife before risking such things. I carry a small, soft bottle of adhesive remover so that I can switch around where I put my duct tape on drum liners and tyvek, but you can use alcohol to remove the tape residue, or in the field, you can use sand on the sides of your blade and your diamond sharpener on the edge
Whoa Dan! First you make me get a bigger toolbox to hold all the great tools I’ve gotten from you, now I’ve got to get an arsenal for some tricks? BTW I love watching your old videos.
Just got your book from Amazon. Very excited to read page by page. Looks like tons of valuable bushcraft information and projects. I know I'll love it. Rick from Rochester NY.
Thenx! I'm gonna get some fatwood and turkey tail, but in Holland we only have about three trees. 😪 And find a decent stick to make a wishbone figure four deadfall trap. 🙃
Hey Dan, Blackie Thomas has a short video where he takes a 4 inch long sliver of fatwood, and sticks it vertically into a crack in a piece of wood. Then you put scrapings at the base of this and strike your ferro rod. With the vertical piece burning, you get a bigger flame! Thought you might like this.
Great video.i have lots of fatwood. I cheat though. I work at a truss plant on the lumber yard side. We typically don't use the southern yellow pine that is fatwood/heart wood. So I go to the chop saw and cut it into pieces that are about the size of a sharpening stone. They are in every single bag that I have. I thought about putting the small fire starter kit and sheets together and selling it. Hey are you going to be at the Iowa deer Classic this year?
Dan thanks I always knew and use scraping fatwood never thought about shavings this is why you always listen to others ideas it can sometimes be better than your idea or your way!
Depends on the species of your Christmas tree. I don't think the typical fir used for Christmas trees has much resin, but if you get a true pine tree and lay it on its side, it may after a few months migrate the resin to one side of the trunk.
