Through the years I have heard people refer to Fatwood by a lot of different names including maya wood. Some of you will recognize the name Maya as part of a product name from Light My Fire. I know a few folks that swear MayaDust is the best tinder ever sold. On the flip side of that I also know folks with the opposite opinion of it.

I tend to side with the later group for two reasons: 1) Cost: At an average price of $5 for 1oz its too expensive to justify its the purchase and 2) Ease of lighting: As Jason over at Gear Talk demonstrated, it is extremely difficult to start with the typical scout sized firesteel. If you have lighter its not a problem but then again it is also not needed.

If you are an advocate MayaDust then you may be relieved to know that you can make it yourself for next to nothing.  This video shows you how.

If you are looking for a wood rasp to do this you should take a look at the Curved Multi-Rasp from Harbor Freight Tools. At the diminutive price of $2.99 it costs less than a single package of MayaDust and will pay for itself after you use less than an once of DIY MayaDust. The rasp I use is called the Surform Pocket Plane from Stanley but I only use it because I already had it on hand.

There have been a several folks that have asked how I split my fatwood matchsticks. I put together this little video that takes you through the process. If you’re not up to making your own matchsticks or are having a hard time finding you can hope over to my new Shop and order some up.

I’m excited because I filmed this video from my newly built overhead camera rig and there was no tripod in my way.

There are tons and tons of fire starters out there that you can use but none quite as good as fatwood. It’s long burn time, natural waterproofing and easy availability (at least in the southeastern US) make it the ideal fire starter. Put together a simple tinder box and you are set.

By the way, this is my first video if you hadn’t noticed.

Fatwood, also known as “lightwood,” “lighter wood” or “maya wood,” is derived from the heartwood of pine trees. This resin-impregnated heartwood is hard and rot-resistant; the stumps or heartwood centers of fallen pines that last for decades after the rest of the tree has rotted away. Although most resinous pines can produce fatwood, in the southeastern United States the wood is commonly associated with Longleaf pine, which historically was highly valued for its high pitch production.

Because of the flammability of the pine resin, fatwood is prized for use as kindling in starting fires. It lights quickly, even when wet, and burns hot enough to light larger pieces of wood. The pitch-soaked wood produces an oily, sooty smoke, and it is recommended that one should not cook on a fire until all the fatwood has completely burned out.

Taken from Wikipedia – slightly modified.

I have collected fatwood many, many times over the years to be used as kindling for fire starting: mostly in fireplaces. My grandfather preferred it over all other materials for starting domestic fires. A bit of nostalgia struck me recently, so off to the plot of woods behind the house I went with a few select tools. I scouted about until I found a pine stump that seemed the perfect candidate to yield some wealth. This was not a difficult task since the woods had been selectively logged a number of years back.

I decided that I wanted to do minimal visual damage so as not to detract from the beauty of the area. I set to work while carefully preserving the sides and surroundings of the stump. The series of photos below shows the progression of the harvesting process.

The pillar that is sticking up in the center is the Fatwood. I will harvest a portion of this section.

Using a Kukri as both a shovel, chopping, and prying tool I exposed the fatwood pillar and started to split off sections.

I removed portions from both sides. Here you can see how resin-laden the wood is.

Once I had collected all the fatwood I wanted, I restored the stump to as close to its original condition as I could.

This is the wealth I collected. It’s not much, but you will be surprised at just how long it will last and the amount of uses it has.

There are quite a few things that fatwood can be used for beyond my Grandfather’s preference. This post is just the beginning of a series of posts on using it to its greatest potential. Stay tuned…

Meet “Cooper” my new companion. He was adopted from a vet’s office just around the corner on Friday.

Cooper is a 7-month-old, short-haired collie mix. My wife’s dog has decided that he is alright, though the cat’s have gone into hiding.  I’m hoping that he will become my bushcraft and outdoor partner. I seem to suffer from the same problem that Pablo used to suffer from: my lovely wife is just not into being in the woods.

Today while I was out running a few errands my wife (Tara) took the kids out in the woods behind the house. They had to use the partially completed foot bridge that my 3-1/2 year old son and I have been building to get there. Here a few pics from the excursion.