Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

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Bruce
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Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by Bruce »

This has got to be an unusual question, but here goes anyway. Where I live (north Florida), we have access to natural fat lightered wood. It is known as fat wood, fat lighter, lightered wood etc. It is a heavily resin (sap) filled pine piece that has set for many years and is used primarily as a fire starter or for really big/hot fires. One little piece can work wonders and will even light and burn when wet. If you have never seen/used it - it is fascinating. It is so tuff it will ruin a saw blade if you try to cut it. You can split or cut it with an axe if you hit right.

I have accumalated quite a collection (a few tons) in the back of my property. I collect it every day. Most of what I have is from yellow pine trees that died naturally, was lightning killed or was cut around 100 years ago and used for the logging trams and railroad beds when the natural timber was being cut from Florida. I have knots (we call them buzzard eggs), stumps, logs, limbs etc..

Some of my friends keep trying to convince me to sell it for fire place starter in the areas where wood is used as a primary home heating source. I have researched and found that there does appear to be a market for it from about Tennessee north. Some lesser grades of lightered wood (fresh pine stumps) are commecrcially used/processed for everything from drink additives to chemicals, but that would be a waste for this old stuff. Lightered wood can not be used to cook with because the resin smoke would ruin food. You can not fill up a wood stove or fireplace with it as the primary heat source, as the fire would be way too hot.

I am looking for a lead/contact to a large firewood supply operation that would like to buy quality lightered wood - bulk. I can find some operations on the internet that sell cut up small bundles, but I have no desire to bust up this much wood and sell by the bundle. Thanks for any leads you may know of.
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.45colt
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by .45colt »

Bruce, I heat with wood and hard coal and if I were selling lighter knots I would try to find a way to bundle them. It may be a pain to start the operation but the profits in the long run would be way better. Good Luck .
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by adirondakjack »

LOWES sells little boxes of "fire starter wood", or as my NW FL friends would say "Fat lie-ter" for like six bucks a box (weighs maybe a pound), so yeah, there is a market. Who to contact is beyond me. Google up "firewood/forest products wholesale" for a clue maybe.

The stuff they sell is cut to 12" long and split down about like shingles, maybe 1.5" wide. Works great!

My first experience with fat lighter was a beach bonfire. A friend had some cut and split like normal firewood, maybe enough to fill a wheelbarrow. Burned like it was drenched in kerosene and smells great.
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Bruce
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by Bruce »

Yea, splitting and bundling the wood would bring a lot more money - but I really don't want to deal with any mail order/internet sales to get rid of it. It won't rot, so I am hoping for a buyer who wants all of it.

My little bit of research is revealing that it brings about $1 a pound and up if split. Quality seems to determine value. One funny thing is the leading standard seems to be the split amount that it takes to fill a large coffee can, about 8-12 inches long - bundled - for about $10 or so.

I think the stuff being sold at Lowes and similar stores is actually some type of rain forest wood coming from Central America that has some type of resin in it. It appears to be cut in almost perfect squares. If someone tried that with our lightered, they would be buying a lot of new saws and blades.

I do agree about the smell. One wiff and you will never forget it and that is in a good way. Very distinctive. When I was a kid, we used to burn it by the truck load on weekend nights and at the hunt camps. The old original Cracker homes were often built out of lightered as were the split rail fences. We burnt those also. Looking back, all I can think of is - How stupid we were. I know of only one lightered split rail fence that is left and I want one bad. It is mostly gone now and the time is not far away when we won't have anymore of the old stuff.
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geobru
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by geobru »

In the northwest, we call that pitch wood. It will not rot, will burn when wet, and with a little chunk, you can start many fires. I always carry a small piece when hunting. In the wet side of Washington, that can be a life saver if you are caught out in a storm or have to spend a night in the woods without shelter.
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by Blaine »

geobru wrote:In the northwest, we call that pitch wood. It will not rot, will burn when wet, and with a little chunk, you can start many fires. I always carry a small piece when hunting. In the wet side of Washington, that can be a life saver if you are caught out in a storm or have to spend a night in the woods without shelter.
Those little bubbles of sap on the young fir burn like gasoline.....
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Nath
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by Nath »

BlaineG wrote:
geobru wrote:In the northwest, we call that pitch wood. It will not rot, will burn when wet, and with a little chunk, you can start many fires. I always carry a small piece when hunting. In the wet side of Washington, that can be a life saver if you are caught out in a storm or have to spend a night in the woods without shelter.
Those little bubbles of sap on the young fir burn like gasoline.....
Yep, one spark n' it's away. Common and or Silver fir, IIRC??

N.
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1894
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by 1894 »

I use the stuff I can buy at places like home dumpo . Usually called " Fatwood" on the lable. They sell it in bags that hold a little more than a coffee can would , I catch the close out sales when spring nears. Mostly split into 1 1/2 " x 1" x 12" pcs. I split them up even finer before using them to start the wood stove. I search thru the bags to get the strongest smelling bag on the shelf , love the stuff.
All that and I can't give any advice for where you could sell in bulk , Don't even remember the company name on the bag and it's 100 miles away. :oops:
But , sometime near the end of March , first week of April I'll be driving north from st pete beach to NYS and if you haven't sold all of your stock by then I'd gladly pay you whatever the going rate is for a single 12" - 15" block :wink:
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by stretch »

I know some big mail order outfits like LL Bean and Plow & Hearth
sell the stuff as firestarter. You might inquire at one of those
companies and see if they'd steer you to their supplier. Maybe he's local
and you could make a deal.

I've found that sort of wood in pallets before, and it does make a GREAT
firestarter!

-Stretch
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by Charles »

Some years back Eddie Bauer sold bundles of that stuff and did so for a number of years. So, there must be a market.
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by Blaine »

Nath wrote:
BlaineG wrote:
geobru wrote:In the northwest, we call that pitch wood. It will not rot, will burn when wet, and with a little chunk, you can start many fires. I always carry a small piece when hunting. In the wet side of Washington, that can be a life saver if you are caught out in a storm or have to spend a night in the woods without shelter.
Those little bubbles of sap on the young fir burn like gasoline.....
Yep, one spark n' it's away. Common and or Silver fir, IIRC??

N.
Douglas Fir out here. I expect it's all real good.
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by Nath »

BlaineG wrote:
Nath wrote:
BlaineG wrote:
geobru wrote:In the northwest, we call that pitch wood. It will not rot, will burn when wet, and with a little chunk, you can start many fires. I always carry a small piece when hunting. In the wet side of Washington, that can be a life saver if you are caught out in a storm or have to spend a night in the woods without shelter.
Those little bubbles of sap on the young fir burn like gasoline.....
Yep, one spark n' it's away. Common and or Silver fir, IIRC??

N.
Douglas Fir out here. I expect it's all real good.
Yeah we got them too, very straight grain, makes good arrows I believe!

N :D
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Bruce
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by Bruce »

Thanks for all the information given so far. I will follow through. Any more tips will also be appreciated.

Phil,

I feel real sorry for anyone having to go back to NYS from Florida that time of year. :D You find a way to swing by close (Mayo, Florida) and I'll give you a piece (block) that will make you happy for awhile.
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BenT
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by BenT »

I use that stuff for the house (when I run out of pine cones) and camping in the summer.Good stuff , I buy it when it gets marked down in the spring.
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by 66GTO »

Bruce wrote:Thanks for all the information given so far. I will follow through. Any more tips will also be appreciated.

Phil,

I feel real sorry for anyone having to go back to NYS from Florida that time of year. :D You find a way to swing by close (Mayo, Florida) and I'll give you a piece (block) that will make you happy for awhile.
Didn't know you were from La-Fay-ette County :D. That's God's country over there. Ya'll had a pretty good quarterback that went to U of F a few years ago, Kerwin Bell. A small town boy made good.

I'm from a little further west in Florida than you. Lighter'd knots, as we called them, were prized around my parts. When I still cut and split my own firewood I picked up all I could find while out in the woods. Nothing smells as good when you split it.

There used to be a chemical plant in Pensacola that processed the whole stumps for various chemicals. I think they would heat them with steam to extract the chemicals. You would see train car loads of stumps that had been dug up being hauled to the plant. I can't recall the name of the plant, but it was close to the intersection of Pace Blvd. and Barrancas Ave. just south of the RR overpass.
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1894
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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by 1894 »

Bruce , I also feel sorry for folks that don't get the full enjoyment of 4 seasons :lol:
Hope you find a good buyer for your lightered wood . No reason to rush into selling , I hope . As you said " It won't rot "
Great stuff , I keep looking for the stuff where the logging was done 50 ++ years ago in the Adirondacks , never had much luck though .

Even ( probably ) hand sawed trees cut in the '30s like this , I can't find that whatya call it smell . Like paint thinner / turpentine .

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Re: Wood Heating Question - Fat Lightered Wood

Post by Bruce »

66GTO,

Yep, I am from Lafayette County. Retired four years ago and moved back to stay. Kerwin is my cousin and to be honest, I did not even know he played football until his career was over. Even though I played sports in school, I don't care much about them on TV. I have the woods all to myself when the big games are on.

Phil, we have four seasons in Florida. Archery, Muzzle Loading, General Gun and Spring Turkey. :lol: You can even fish then, but we don't. We save fishing for when it warms up in June, July and August. Then back to hunting for 9 months again.
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