[levelfarmer]

There is enough fat lightard in the stump loaded on that truck to start fires in a fireplace for many years. A member of another forum asked who had an extra stump. Turned out he was only about ten miles away, so we loaded a stump for him with the fel. Yankees might call it "lightwood", "lighterwood". or "pitch pine."

Closeup shot of a split-off piece of the stump showing the red, pungent wood.

Fat lightard comes from the stumps of longleaf pine, some of them cut probably 100 years ago. Here is a stump still in the ground. It has been cut about 45 years.

 

[BrowserCat]

Pitch pine up here in the PNW is the kind of tree that grows in hot, dry areas like east of the Cascades...don't get much of anything like that in Western WA, for example; firs grow better here.

So - what do you do with the stuff? Use in place of other tinder? Is it like accelerant-from-a-tree?

 

[fulminated]

Not a yankee by any means, but I've never seen it called fat lightard...

fat lighter. fat wood. sure.

Man I do love the smell of that stuff. It reminds me of innocence lost and days long past.

The grocery store down the street half-pound bundles of the stuff for 3 bucks a bundle. I don't think anyone buys it though.

 

[fulminated]

Pitch pine up here in the PNW is the kind of tree that grows in hot, dry areas like east of the Cascades...don't get much of anything like that in Western WA, for example; firs grow better here.

So - what do you do with the stuff? Use in place of other tinder? Is it like accelerant-from-a-tree?

The resin in the wood causes it to go up like a match. It burns long enough to dry out small twigs, sticks, etc to help get a fire going.

 

[fbrown]

Some times you can find it where a tree has been struck by lightning. This stuff makes a great fire starter. It burns like a stick dipped in fuel oil. the pitch/sap in it works very well to start fires

 

[ex-hunter]

So - what do you do with the stuff?

If you want to warm up the kitchen quickly on a cold morning, throw a knot of that stuff in the stove.

It'll cook you outa there!

 

[scienceteacher]

eastern fatwood?

What type of pine in the blue ridge /Appalacian area makes the local fatwood?

 

[Raider Bill]

ANother name is lighter knot