Lighter wood or starter wood

   / Lighter wood or starter wood #1  

sherpa

Platinum Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2004
Messages
533
Location
North Carolina Mountains
Tractor
2004 NH TC33D & 2014 NH Boomer 24
Has anyone ever heard of "lighter wood"?
I usually keep some pine here to split and use as kindlin for starting a fire.
I recently had one that I was spliting up and it was full of "Lighter wood".
It is like hard sap or something and burns like a torch.
What causes "lighter wood" which may not be the right name?

Do you find it in other kinds of trees besides pine?

How can you tell if a tree has "lighter wood" in it?
Sherpa
 
   / Lighter wood or starter wood #2  
I think all pines (and similar sappy conifers) naturally have it down at the very base, in the stump and root stem area. Some people specifically save this part of the tree and split it into kindling for this very purpose. I have no idea what the procedure is -- if you need to let it dry before splitting, etc -- but you can surely find that info somewhere. It's commonly called "fat wood" because it burns so nicely.
 
   / Lighter wood or starter wood #3  
Lighter is the right name, Its found in the stump of a "short leaf" pine,(southern yellow)I know a fellow down here that cuts, digs, an works his tail off getting the lighter out of a few stumps for his fire starter for the year.
I think there are places that sell just that in bags.
Army Grunt
 
   / Lighter wood or starter wood
  • Thread Starter
#4  
It is real heavy too.

I wonder if it dries out and looses its fuel?

I would hate to see what would happen in a wood stove with a 2 inch square piece of this wood in the fire!
sherpa
 
   / Lighter wood or starter wood #5  
Has anyone ever heard of "lighter wood"?
I usually keep some pine here to split and use as kindlin for starting a fire.
I recently had one that I was spliting up and it was full of "Lighter wood".
It is like hard sap or something and burns like a torch.
What causes "lighter wood" which may not be the right name?

Do you find it in other kinds of trees besides pine?

How can you tell if a tree has "lighter wood" in it?
Sherpa

Never heard it called lighter wood -- I have heard it called "fat wood"...

It's the resin of the evergreens that makes the big difference. Pine knots being a prime example...
 
   / Lighter wood or starter wood #6  
Has anyone ever heard of "lighter wood"?
I usually keep some pine here to split and use as kindlin for starting a fire.
I recently had one that I was spliting up and it was full of "Lighter wood".
It is like hard sap or something and burns like a torch.
What causes "lighter wood" which may not be the right name?

Do you find it in other kinds of trees besides pine?

How can you tell if a tree has "lighter wood" in it?
Sherpa

It occurs when a pine tree suffers a quick end (broken, cut down, etc). The root system is still trying to push sap up into the tree, but there's much less tree there so the sap saturates the stump. I've found some in stumps around here by hitting them with a hatchet and checking for the darker colors. I've also heard that it forms around some knots.

Keith
 
   / Lighter wood or starter wood #7  
We have always called it "Fat Lighter". The resin from the pine trees accumulates in the stumps. In earlier days, the pioneers made turpentine from pine tree resin or pine tar. I saw "Fat Lighter" for sale in a catalog once. I think it was the Orvis catalog. It was sold in various size bundles. I do recall that it was quite expensive.
 
   / Lighter wood or starter wood #8  
We have Sasafras [sp]tree here that burns hot and has good firestarting score. I like to put it in the bottom of our campfires...I have a friend that sells bundles of it from stump for Tea?
 
   / Lighter wood or starter wood #9  
Years back a pine tree fell in a storm. The tree was across a trail so I had to cut it up. It took awhile for me to get to that particular chore so by the time I cut up the tree it had been down for years. When I cut it up the smell of turpentine was very strong. I have cut up a few pines before but that was the first tree that smelled of turpentine.

To start a fire in our wood stove I keep the slivers of wood that get generated when I split firewood. I also take a big rubber made container and take a stroll in the woods pickup downed branches which I break up into small pieces. Make starting the fire real easy.

The fat or lighter wood looks interesting but I ain't paying for it. :D Cleaning up my woods is cheaper and at least some exercise. :laughing:

Later,
Dan
 
   / Lighter wood or starter wood #10  
My FIL works it the mines (dozers push it up ahead of the draglines) and he gets it by the truck load when we go camping. One week we were camping and fishing we were the only ones in the camp that had a fire going
 
 
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