At the last Boy Scout Troop meeting the boys worked on starting fires. The Senior Patrol Leader brought some wood (like the grocery store sells), a hatchet, sharpening stone, a magnesium block and a hand made bow and drill.

The first event was to show the boys how to sharpen a hatchet. The hatchet was then used to chop some useable kindling. Then he moved on to using the magnesium block and bow and drill. The shoe lace on the bow got thin and broke; end of bow and drill.

With the magnesium block and a Swiss Army Knife the Senior Patrol leader was able to make a pile about the size of the tip of your little finger. It barley made a fizz. Then he had some of the other boys try making a pile and lighting it. While this was going on I went to my car and got a large fatwood stick (18? x 3?) I chopped off of a pine tree stump in northern Arizona a few months ago. About this time one of the adult leaders come out and suggested that they check their pocket for lint and mentioned that their dryer at home had a lot of lint they could get. The magnesium and lint were not very impressive and did not give the boys any confidence that they could start a fire with a ferro rod and those things. One of the boys said: why can?t we just use matches and lighters? I told him they do not work when it is wet, cold, and windy. My son spotted the fatwood and scraped some into a pile. He used his County Comm ferro rod he got for Christmas. He got a real flame that lasted for at least half a minute. The boys were impressed and wanted to try this fatwood stuff. I sawed some off with my Leatherman Ti. They wanted to whittle off the fatwood instead of scrapping the side to get the fine pieces that catch a spark. One of the boys was taking the magnesium bock?s ferro rod and making a continuous stream of sparks by scrapping it fast up and down. This was not producing ignition. I pointed out that the ferro rod had to be within ?? for it to work. After awhile all the boys were able to get a flame with the fatwood and a ferro rod.

Latter that night I was talking to my son on how to use the ferro rod and had one of those head-slapper moments: the boys were making sparks in the air and some of it might touch the tinder. This was a tedious and uncertain teqnique. I have gotten into the habit of using a scooping motion on the ferro rod that flings out some of the material from the ferro rod and burns for a fraction of a second in the tinder and makes it light. When I am standing and use my ferro rod I get a cascade of sparks that reaches the floor and bounces before it goes out. That is what I should have taught the Scouts to do. Stay on the last ?? of the ferro rod and make a scooping motion with the scrapper as they pull the ferro rod away from the tinder.

I also had my twins (11) with me at the Troop meeting. One of them had a nice pile of fatwood shavings. He had been working the ferro rod for several minutes. I told him that if he didn?t get a flame in 5 tries he was doing something wrong. I used my ferro rod. One big spray of sparks and the pile lit up. He left in tears. I made another pile of fatwood for him to continue. I apologized to him, got to watch that ego thing all around.

To start a fire with a ferro rod: make a scooping motion and get a shower of sparks and bits that will keep burning as it hits the tinder. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Great story. In 6 weeks I'll be giving a bunch of brand new Boy Scouts MagFires as cross-over gifts. Owning the tool is just the first step in learning to use the tool.

I still don't understand what "fat wood" is. At one time I read of someone who had found a bag of it at Home Depot. For a while I thought it was a specific type of tree or bush, but you say you got some from pine tree stump. Hmmm. Can you provide a layman's explanation of what fat wood is and exactly where it can be found?

As far as I know it's any easy to light wood. Really dry pine that has a lot of sap residue should go up pretty fast, but finely shaved wood or plant fibers should catch if enough heat is applied. But I *think* there may even be a species named fatwood because it has so much easy to catch fire resin. Hopefully a better woodsman than I knows on here.

Fatwood is that part of a tree that collected pitch. In conifers such as pine, fir and spruce, it's typically from areas of the tree where limbs grow out of the main trunk (calles a pitch knot) also scars, lightning strike areas from partially burned trees that recovered.
Fatwood is typically heavy nd dense. If you were to try to saw it it might leave melted resin on your saw blade. Natural fuel; good stuff

KenK,

My understanding of what should be called fatwood or pitch wood is from pine tree stumps. When a pine tree is cut down or struck by lightning the roots are still intact. The tree pulls moisture from the ground and pumps it into the trunk. After some time the sap collects in the trunk.

The next time you are in a pine forest look for stumps. Scrape the wood. If it has a Pinesol smell then you have fatwood. Split off some and give it a try. If you scrape the side with the blade at 90 degrees you will get a pile of tinder that will light with a spark and burn for about half a minute. If you split off some for kindling it will start burning with a match. A few fatwood sticks in your fire lay will assure an easy fire. I have found fatwood at our Albertsons in a box called StarterStikk for about $3. Also our WalMart grocery store sells fatwood in a plastic bag for about a dollar.

Good survival lesson. After watching "Castaway," I ran out and bought the magnesium block/fire starter thing.

At home, I pulled it out and generated a shower of sparks in the air. That was the end of my training (until now). Now, I'm going to do a real fire making test.

Craig,
First off, a hardy 'Well done!' for working with the kids. Unfortunatly not enough parents are as involved with their childrens lives as you are, let alone involved with other childrens lives.

I am the Exec. Dir. of a youth oriented non profit and work with kids on a daily basis. I see the results of parental noninvolvement. Again, 'Well done'

Scott

Down here in the south, Fat wood is called "lighterd" as in :

Bubba, I'm gonna hit you up side the head with a lighterd knot if you don't leave my grits alone. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Fat wood, lighter wood or "lighterd" is pine wood that has a large amount of accumulated resin. In the deep south, old long leaf pines will have very "fat" heart wood. When the tree dies or is cut down the sap wood rots away leaving the fat wood. Many types of pine tree will produce some fat wood as the result of injury. When the sap rots away you are left with the "lighterd knot".

There is so much tar in the wood that it preserves the wood. In my grandfather's days, long peices were split into fence posts. I have cleared old fence rows where the wire had rusted away and the "lighterd" posts were still sound.

Fat wood stumps and knots are very common in the deep south. Back when county folks all had wood stoves and fire places it was the main source of kindling for starting fires. It is easy to light and burns fast but it smells and produces a dense black smoke, so it was used to get your oak or hickory started.

Fat wood is also known as tar wood. If you heat it in a closed vessel the tar will run out. This was the source of tar used in sailing ships. One of the major reasons the British government was interested in establishing the southern US colonies in the 1700's was to establish a secure source of Naval Stores.

My only question is...how'd that guy become senior Patrol leader? <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />