Love it how you gently explain it to someone who has no experience at all - but still as an advanced bushcrafter myself i still love to watch your lessons. Thanks for your great work.
Thank you so much, for making the videos Dan. I have been traveling the country by foot for 2 years now going on 3, and have been utterly lost during winter... No longer, I have been learning and growing rapidly thanks to your wisdom. I could never tell you how grateful I am, though perhaps if you get to see this message, you might have an idea. ♡
@@codycampbell3562 yeah, I carry a military rucksack, 2 days of water, a water filter, a flint and steal, a tarp, a blanket, a tent, a Bible, an extra change of clothes, a dozen pairs of socks, a bag of chargers and battery packs, a pocket full of snacks(usually trailmix), a couple lighters, a couple notebooks, my phone, my wallet, a pair of binoculars, a few packs of baby wipes, some extra string, my cat, about 20 pounds of cat food, steal toe boots, a case of momentos, a can opener, a case of tide pods, a pigy bank for my change.... Probably left some things out... The moat useful things on this list other than food and water from experience would be: Baby wipes. Socks. Blanket. Heck, before I brought my cat with me, I wouldn't need any of this. Straight cowboyed it. Though that is alot more "hardcore" than I'd recommend to anyone else. Hope this helps ^.^
I spent a whole summer collecting lumps of pine tree, sections with protruding branches. Once I cleaned it all up and was left with just the fatwood I started sawing it into smaller sticks. The sawdust is as easy to light as gasoline. I sawed up as mush of that as I could and still have usable pieces of fatwood. I filled a couple of fist size cloth bags and a couple of old sweet tins with this sawdust. I did this over a few weeks of lockdown out of boredom but its certainly paid off. I've enough fatwood sawdust to last a lifetime. And Ive still got a small sack full of 1 x 1 inch x 4 to 5 inch sticks that will last someone else a lifetime too.
That's awesome! Could I possibly talk you into sending me that fat sack of fat wood! Lol! I love fire..one of mother nature's greatest! Hit me up if you are interested! You are truly blessed to have all of that fat wood!
@@jasongarling20 That would depend on where you are? If you're in the UK I don't mind but if youre further away then the cost to send it maybe more than it would cost to buy it. Its very heavy because of the resin. Its like plastic its so dense with resin. I will be going to the post office on Monday or Tuesday next week so its no problem.
Dan, its Dan, and u said it right, most people mess these up. Scrape the 90deg. Spine, it makes scrapings... run the blade across the wood it shaves it, making shavings. U rock buddy!
Keep in simple, no messing, great film, great reminder of the simple things work with the right resources and techniques 🔥👍. Great stuff as always Dan Atb Rick n Billydog
Down south we put down a plastic tarp when sawing up our Fatwood to catch the sawdust. Then put in large pill bottles. Down here in Georgia and Florida we call it Lighterd.
And oh my is fat wood amazing down there. It lights up almost like gasoline! Im used to using fat wood from NW AR or Central KS, so when I lit up some shavings from fatwood I found down in GA, it nearly exploded and scared the shit outta me, my dad, and my brothers! 😂😂😂
Is the peeler tough enough? How to sharpen it? That steel is not meant for wood. You should already carry two knives, or tools, capable of wood processing. The peeler has limited uses. If it works for you, go for it!
Excellent advice, Dan. I had previously focused too much on the shavings. On a funny note, a friend showed me an old "Survivor" episode. The contestants were handed a pile of dry coconut husk, a ferro rod and a knife. It took the first contestant 53 minutes to ignite! The reason? They all used the BLADE to scrape their ferro rods - damn. Made me feel pretty good about my limited bushcraft skills. They should rename the show "Poser".
Good tip, recently moved to the North East in NH seacoast from down south, so I’m having to relearn a few fundamentals with the different trees and weather conditions.
We out in NW and northern states call it pitch. It is formed much as speaker says in certain evergreens such as fir, pines and spouse. We also find pitch in liquid form, so thick it can actually slow or stop a power saw. Old growths almost extinct but rotten remnants still have pitch streaks in great shape within. If near a recently logged of spruce and fir patch one can find pitch in the slivers left on stumps that get ulled from center of tree as it is not fully cut off leaving a hinge to direct fall. On larger Fir and pines especially, one can get pitch from some roots. I scout along old stream and river beds in search of bull horns , they look and are shaped like cows horn. They are actually solid pitch left over from long dead or even delimed branches of old of 80,-100 year old growths logging days. The outer woods rot away leaving this odd shaped pitch I used to find many some as long as two feet or more and 8 inches on big end that took many an axe whack to shred into kindling size, hard as rock. Usually into hunting back pack one saved smaller 4" small pointed curled end as fire starter. Realy old pitch if exposed will be jet black and between and on outside one will find flat pieces of old pitch seams, it all burns well and great fire starter. In old days of logging and log camps men used to refer to these slivers and black pitch as "trading material" for favors of old maids, widows and single school marms. Warmed their hearts and their fanny! Would like to know where ter. Fat Wood comes from. Might it be that down south all old maids, widows and single school marms were fat ?
Yep, I wondered what they meant by "fatwood" until I saw a guy pick up a lump of pitch. Another quick source is the bark blisters on Noble Fir in the lower foothills of the various mountain ranges above 4,000'.
The Alone series contestants didn’t show much or any use of fatwood. Some complaints were that they couldn’t start a fire at all. I wonder how widely it’s actually used in bushcrafting. I will be doing a video on this someday, I live in Utah and lots of our pines have died from pinebore beetles.
Good tip, Dan. 👍 The vast majority of fat wood videos fail to mention this. Pro tip: slap some powder on them freshly shaved chestnuts & fatwood. (Hey, you started it 😆)
Last night’s fire was started with fat wood! I made the slivers, but forgot the shavings. I didn’t understand why it wouldn’t start as I had a ton of sparks showering the slivers from my ferry rod. Then it occurred to me that there were no shavings. Duh… it has been a few months since I’ve made a fire and I forgot that critical step.
I will actually lay 4 1”x 8” pieces of fat wood as a base, creating a box then lay slivers in a small pile in that base and light. It provides a great fire to start instantly adding pieces of firewood to the box!!🤘😉🇺🇸
Fatwood doesn't form from sap leaching down the tree. Resin is formed as a reaction to damage from insects, fungus or storm damage. Resin is produced at the roots and the outer wood of the tree and is "bled" to the damaged area to prevent further incursion from pests and fungus. Sap is an entirely different element of the trees function and it most certainly doesn't flow down the tree to form fatwood. When you find a stump that was clearly cut years ago and its filled with resin, how exactly do you propose that sap flowed down a tree into the stump when the tree is gone and it was alive when it was cut? Your videos are great, but this is a very common misconception about the formation of fatwood.
@@jerrodlopes186 Sap transports sugars and nutrients via the phloem and xylem system. It is made up of minerals and water mostly and is water soluble. Resin is not water soluble and is present in the outer portion of the wood, not in the transport system for the sap.
I hope people don’t expect to find the nice straight grain fat wood like we get commercially from Walmart. My understanding is the commercial stuff comes from a special tree in Honduras. The pine knots we get in the woods are going to be kinda gnarled and twisted. Great job!
I find pieces of perfectly straight grain Douglas fir here in BC all the time. Thats most of what is out there and it is infinitely easier to work with than fussing with crotches and knots. Honduran long leaf pine is high in resin, but doesn't burn as hot or as fast as other fat wood sources.
If you're getting your fatwood from the base of a limb or trunk there really shouldn't be any knots since knots occur where a branch comes off a limb. Most pines aren't going to have significant branches on a limb shooting off that close to the trunk where the fatwood is.
where I grew up in Oregon, we found it in old logged off stumps. The tree was cut live and when the next spring the sap ran up the stump filling it. After 30 years or so the wood had rotted away and left the fatwood. it was straight grained and full of sap.
while processing fatwood with a knife is 'bushcrafty' I find using a block plane the best way to do it. Block planes produce superior curls and very quickly produce a lot of curls. Unless you are very, very skilled at using a knife you'll never produce curls like I can with a block plane and I defy you to do it as quickly as I can with a plane. Planes are specifically made for processing wood as I describe.
I keep some may dust in a little baggie in my fire kit. I generally use it to start my wood gassifier stove. I load it with sticks including a couple of pieces of fatwood then I sprinkle the scrapings on top and light it. Sure is convenient.
Honestly my favorite method for lighting a rocket log. Tip the log on its side, drop in the scrapings, light em up, then stand the log back up, drop in the shavings on top of the inferno, then drop in whatever is left of the fat wood stick that I used, then just let it burn and enjoy! NOTE: works best if you drill the vertical hole just a 1/2”-1” deeper than the side hole, so that the scrapings, once lit, have something to drop into when you stand up the log.
Love your channel and totally agree with shaving and thin strips but I’ve been camping in marsh lands were every thing is damp with a high humidity, and I’ve found you need slightly more slow burning chunky pieces to dry out the branches/twigs and even shavings, a little bit of everything is needed in these conditions. Much kudos and may your chimney smoke long 🔥
Also on a foot note I like using a very small portable wrasper to get an even finer grade of fatwood and very quickly and neatly collects it for you, you can also then roll these ultra fine shavings with some charcloth into what I have named fireballs! (Dramatic music!)maybe a good thing to try out on your channel I wrap them in tin foil and always carry them in my survival tin. Much respect ✊
I saw your channel nearly two weeks ago. Been hooked ever since. I did have a request. I am a type 1 diabetic that uses syringes and vials of insulin. Could you do a video on gear or prep with room for these very delicate medical supplies. Something for a week-long camp/travel bag for the outdoors. I've always wanted to just walk into the back country of Yosemite National Park, and just camp for a week. Yet I'm worried about carrying my meds. Thanks mate. Stay in the woods.
You won't need them. There are so many bears in Yosemite these days, you'll get eaten before you need them. 😉 Just a joke. I'm not unsympathetic to your unfortunate and serious condition.
Lol all good mate. Given the normal tourist site there, I wouldn't be surprised if Yogi didn't come up just to steal my meds. People leave so much junk food around, I'm sure there is a diabetic bear. Haha
My best friend and hunting,fishing and back country buddy. Is Diabetic. He uses cigar tubes. Sorry i can't remember the ring gauge. to put his vials in but 4 viles fit perfectly in a tube. then he found a metal tin approx 4"x3"x 1.5 in deep. holds 10 or 12 syringes. He's never had a problem with either breaking. There's a cigar bar in his home town that collects tubes for him. Just a suggestion you might think about. Good Luck.
@@paulebelmesser2699 Oh neat. That is a great idea! I'm gonna try that. Tell your buddy "Thanks" from a random diabetic on YT lol. But really, thanks for the suggestions.
I don't practice much with fat wood, we call it rich pine in the south, because I grew up using it, it's extremely plentiful down her, and it's almost fool proof. I feel like if I have access to rich pine then I've sort of already won- I'm going to have a fire- as long as I have at least a ferro rod or something- a lens, anything. I try to practice for when I don't have rich pine- then it's going to be tougher. May still be relatively easy depending on the conditions and what's available but, it's not going to be as easy as rich pine. I'm going to have to go through making a bird's nest and blowing it to flame and all that- much easier to fail. I grew up with a wood burning stove for heat and we used rich pine to start a fire every morning or decades of my life- if you have a lighter it's as easy as it gets. You don't need to shave it or anything- stick a flame to a piece the size of my wrist or smaller and most of the time it will light right up and keep on burning until it's gone.
I’m curious about something…. It’s Christmas time and in about 3-5 weeks a lot of us traditionalist are going to pulling out tree out of the stands. Being careful not to slosh or dump needles all over the carpet…. And then either dragging them to the curb if we live in the city, or tossing them out in the back somewhere by the wood pile…. Can you process quality fat wood from the trunk of a Christmas tree?
