# Fat wood



## xpertgreg

I drug home about a 40 pound piece of fat wood today.  is there anything special I need to do to keep it usable or can i just leave it next to the fire pit and just cut off a piece when I need it to light a fire?  I figure by Home Depot standards I probably got about $200 worth for free

gw


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## Slayer

just bust up into small pieces...great for starting a fire, but be careful about burning to much, it can and does add to buildup inside your chimney.......


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## Ed in North Ga.

when I first heard about "fatwood" upon moving up here, I was kinda skeptical- a wood that burns with just a match? Lighter wood?  My  old 8th grade Ag teacher said its was "good stuff"!
 I thought it was another teacher trick- They sent me to go get a "left hand hand saw" from the vocational wing- which I promptly did (that one put them on guard)- a skyhook- which I did, I had one in the truck, and asked them where they wanted to mount it- then asked me about snipe hunting, to which I replied "why would anyone hunt little snipe marsh birds?" A can of compressed air- had one of those too-use it for filling tires-I wasn't fun for them at all.  (then the Ag teacher failed me anyway for being a smart alec).

 Once we found out what lighter wood  was, I got every single chunk within a mile of Pops house- boy, that stuff burned HOT! and no more gas/kerosene tinder to get the fireplace going in the winter!..but I sure did miss the WHOOOMMMP of a good gas fire exploding.

[COLOR="Red] Edited for typing around the censor. [/COLOR]


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## clent586

If you are using in a pit, i am assuming you will be outside. Pine Lighter (fat wood) will weather as good as anything. No need to cut up unless you want to. Just cut off what you need when you need it. Clent


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## xpertgreg

yeah, we don't have a fireplace, but do have a fire pit outside.

gw


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## Vernon Holt

If you are going to refer to this material, you may as well learn the real name for it.  The term is "lightwood".  This is derived from the fact that this rich, resin filled wood was first used as torches to furnish light before lanterns and flashlights existed.

It was first used as a means of shining the eyes of deer when hunting at night.  This is where the term "fire hunting" was derived.

In areas where pine forests prevailed, the term lightwood was shortened to "lightood" with the w silent or completely left off.  The wood ultimately became known to most country folks as "lightard."  Out of respect for country folks, please do not call it lighterwood or fat wood.  It makes you appear to be a novice.

Best way to process the wood is to take a chainsaw and block it up in 12 inch long blocks then split the block into "splinters" to use as you need them.


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## Havana Dude

Mr. Vernon, I'm glad you stated the use of the word,"lightard". That is what I grew up calling it. And the only thing I could add to your post is to tell him to clean the bar on the chainsaw after cutting lightard. It will surely gum up the bar as the resin heats up during the cutting. At least it always has with me. May want spray WD40 on it liberally prior to cutting.


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## knifemaker

I'm quite sure y'all er talkin bout rich pine, right.


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## xpertgreg

Sorry, just thought more folks would know what I was talking about if I called it that.  Henceforth it will be refered to as lightood.  I grew up hearing it called fire starter.  
gw


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## Twenty five ought six

We had a drought in SE Georgia along about 1980. There was a tract of land on our club that hadn't been timbered in 75 years or so, and it dried up enough that they were able to get into it, but they still had to pull up some dirt, and build some raised roads.

The shoulders were covered with old, old lightered stumps.  I filled up a PU truck in a little less than 2 hours, just picking it up and throw it in. Burned nothing but lighter that winter, felt like the richest man in the world.  A little bit goes a long way in a fireplace.


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## DLS

we aways called it fat lighter --- & still do----


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## codeeb

DLS said:


> we aways called it fat lighter --- & still do----



That's what I've always called it .


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## buckmanmike

Fat lighter, Only name I've ever used. Thats what my grandfather told me the name was 50 years ago.


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## General Lee

Fat lighter is the name for it in these parts.You would get some strange looks asking for "lightwood"


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## hunter_58

always heard it called lighter and/or lighter wood.


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## KDarsey

" splinters" or " lighter", sometimes "fat lighter", thats what my Grand Daddy  & Grand Mother always said


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## dawg2

I have called it fat lighter.  I usually take a Machete, and split it long ways into strips and then break those long strips into smaller pieces.


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## jav

we called it lighterknot, since i was big enough to drag it through the woods, so i guess we will keep on


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## MCBUCK

lighter pine


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## discounthunter

just be aware ,not all fatlighter is created equal. look for the one that actually feels sticky after its cut.the higher the pitch content the easier its lights and stays lit,and the hotter it burns.


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## THREEJAYS

jav said:


> we called it lighterknot, since i was big enough to drag it through the woods, so i guess we will keep on



Same here,maybe cause we are in the same county.My grandpaw had been here since the teens and that's what he called it.


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## Davis31052

*"Fat Literd"*

That's what I’ve called it all my life. Sure lights easy and makes a hot fire. Reminds me of a time back in the mid 80's up at Fort Bragg. My old unit, 2nd Btln/10th Marines out of Camp Lejuene, NC, would go up there every year to qualify with the 105 mm towed howitzers. Never in the summer, always winter.

 The last time I went was a particularly cold February and the old diesel fired heater in the maintenance tent just wasn’t up to task.   I and a fellow Marine from NY went out in the woods looking for some different “fuel” to put in the stove. We can across a whole fallen tree that had completely turned to “literd”.  We both got arm loads and high-tailed it back to camp.  

 I snuffed out the diesel fire, pulled the burner out with some welding gloves, and stuffed the little stove with the “fat literd”.  Needles to say, in about twenty minutes, that little stove was red hot and standing up on one leg. We were all warm and toasty ‘till someone outside yelled in that the “boot” up top was smoking and melting.  A bucket of water into the stove brought the flue temp back down, and we slept with no heat that night.


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## ellaville hunter

Vernon Holt said:


> If you are going to refer to this material, you may as well learn the real name for it.  The term is "lightwood".  This is derived from the fact that this rich, resin filled wood was first used as torches to furnish light before lanterns and flashlights existed.
> 
> It was first used as a means of shining the eyes of deer when hunting at night.  This is where the term "fire hunting" was derived.
> 
> In areas where pine forests prevailed, the term lightwood was shortened to "lightood" with the w silent or completely left off.  The wood ultimately became known to most country folks as "lightard."  Out of respect for country folks, please do not call it lighterwood or fat wood.  It makes you appear to be a novice.
> 
> Best way to process the wood is to take a chainsaw and block it up in 12 inch long blocks then split the block into "splinters" to use as you need them.



also known as fat lighter


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## greene_dawg

fat wood, lighter wood, fat lighter, lighter knot...


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## 60Grit

I have a piece of fatwood stump that I have kept outside for 8 years now. Whenever I need some I just split off a little.


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## xpertgreg

60Grit said:


> I have a piece of fatwood stump that I have kept outside for 8 years now. Whenever I need some I just split off a little.





that's looking like what I'm gonna do.  I have thought about sawing it up, but don't want to put my saw through that and I feel that too much would be wasted as well.

gw


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## Dug

Any one ever heard of it called kindling(sp)? I pulled up many old pine stumps growing up and thats what we always called it.


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## ronmac13

Dug said:


> Any one ever heard of it called kindling(sp)? I pulled up many old pine stumps growing up and thats what we always called it.



thats what ive heard it called,dont know if its the same stuff tho?


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## Twenty five ought six

> I have thought about sawing it up, but don't want to put my saw through that and I feel that too much would be wasted as well.





Real men split it with an ax.


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## Milkman

Lighterd or lighterd knot were the names I always heard it called growing up in NE GA.


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## Vernon Holt

Kindlin' is what you buy at the store in cute little bundles.  The term kindlin' can be applied to any soft, dry wood that ignites readily.  Anything that will "kindle"a fire could rightly be called kindlin'.


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## Jake Allen

I have always known it a s lighter knot too.
A whole lot of old fence posts in the woods where I grew up were
lighter knot. Made dang good camp fires when I was a kid.
(We keep a good sized pile by the fire pit at deer camp).

Are not some kinds of gun powder made from lighter stumps?
(As in the old Hercules plant that used to be in Glynn County).


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## DLS

jampton said:


> (deer camp).
> 
> Are not some kinds of gun powder made from lighter stumps?
> (As in the old Hercules plant that used to be in Glynn County).



They Used To buy fat lighter stumps here in columbus, the nitro glycern plant bought them to make dynomite 
 Some of those "HOT " fat lighter stumps brought a good price . they used to put them on rr cars & tote them some where.. the guy had cash for the stumps. I know where there are a few of the old heart wood stumps from days gone by are HUGE LIGHTER STUMPS! . But I will let them be for another hunderd years so the youngins can see them. I have quite a pile of lighter wood . I will give y'all a piece so you can try it


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## Hogtown

It was lighter-pine to my great-grandparents, my grandparents, and my parents...so, it will always be lighter pine to me. [I do however consider fat lighter , fat wood, and lighter knot to be perfectly acceptable].


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## Dug

Vernon Holt said:


> Kindlin' is what you buy at the store in cute little bundles.  The term kindlin' can be applied to any soft, dry wood that ignites readily.  Anything that will "kindle"a fire could rightly be called kindlin'.



The first time I ever heard it called Fat Wood was when I saw a cute little bundle labled fat wood on the shelf at Wal-Mart. Call it want you want it's still just an old pine stump that will start a good fire.


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## Vernon Holt

Don't be too highly influenced by what a Walmart "associate" might label a product.


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## crackerdave

Very useful stuff to get a fire goin',whatever you want to call it.We used to go around on lighter-wood hunts,just for something to do.


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## Snakeman

xpertgreg said:


> I drug home about a 40 pound piece of fat wood today.  is there anything special I need to do to keep it usable or can i just leave it next to the fire pit and just cut off a piece when I need it to light a fire?  I figure by Home Depot standards I probably got about $200 worth for free
> 
> gw


If it is a solid piece, it will keep outside in the weather for several lifetimes.  My father-in-law has several stumps that he drug up in front of his home that were blown out of the ground when his father cleared the farm.  They were blown using distillate fuel and fertilizer, probably close to 70 years ago.

Here's another thread on the subject:

What is it?

The Snakeman


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## No. GA. Mt. Man

Rich Pine


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## dawg2

Vernon Holt said:


> Don't be too highly influenced by what a Walmart "associate" might label a product.




I didn't know they knew anything, they have never helped me


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## danmc

xpertgreg said:


> I drug home about a 40 pound piece of fat wood today.  is there anything special I need to do to keep it usable or can i just leave it next to the fire pit and just cut off a piece when I need it to light a fire?  I figure by Home Depot standards I probably got about $200 worth for free
> 
> gw



I figure that any I've carried out of the woods looks like its been out there for a pretty long time and another few months lying in my yard won't make a difference.  Never tried to prove that though.


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## drhunter1

jav said:


> we called it lighterknot, since i was big enough to drag it through the woods, so i guess we will keep on



Thats what I have always called it.


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## Paymaster

I dug up a many a Lightard Knot in my day. Kindlin is what we called old planks split into splinters.


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## Fuzbo

Always called it Fatlighter. PaPa died 20 yr ago at 92 and thats what he called it.
Just for info: theres a business on Hwy 247 betwixt macon & W. Robins thats uses it to make Nitro.


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## Vernon Holt

As information, here is an exerpt from a U. S. Forest Service publication dated May, 1921.  The section entitled "Lightwood, Cut-over Lands, and the Naval Stores Industry", authored by Dr. L. F. Hawley, who had spent his entire Forest Service career working in research supporting U. S. Naval Stores Production.

He states, "Lightwood" is a term commonly applied to a very resinous or "fat" piece of wood from certain of the pine trees, especially from the Longleaf Pine."

"It is often referred to by the term "light'ud".  This material has been used for fuel in the South for many years.  Its name was probably derived from the custom off using its resinous splinters for torches since the name could certainly not come from it being light in color or weight."

A further point of interest taken from my own experience:  In the early 1950's I was employed as a timberland management Forester located in S.E. GA.

In those days the incidence of forest fires was probably 100% greater than it is today.  It was not unusual for fire crews to have to crawl out and suppress arson caused fires at all hours of the night.

My point in mentioning this is that even though we had lights on our suppression tractors, they seldom were needed.  The woods were so filled with burning lightwood stumps that even after the fire was secured, the stumps continued to burn for several hours, thus lighting up the woods so brilliantly as to make the area look like Broadway.

In later years these stumps have been extracted and utilized by the Hercules Plant at Brunswick, Ga.


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## SWAMPFOX

I passed by the Brunswick Hercules plant some years back and saw train car loads of stumps in their yard.


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## jrpace25

Hercules in Brunswick still uses pine stumps but I believe that use it for different purposes now.  The use it more in the chemical industry.  A guy that I work with previously worked over at Hercules.  I will ask him.


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## Vernon Holt

People have presumed that because they were always known as "Hercules Powder Company" that they were manufacturers of gun powder and/or other explosives.

This has never been the case.  They have always been in the Wood Chemical business of converting pine stumpwood to various and valuable chemicals.  They formerly used the wood fiber residue as fuel to fire the necessary boilers.

They are listed as manufacturers of gum & wood chemicals;  plastic materials & resins; manufactures chemical products,Polyaryletherketone resin, Polybenzimidazole resin, Polymethylpentene resin, Polyvinylidene Fluoride, Epoxy, Phenolic resin.

I have been told that with the passing of the "lightwood stumps" that they now use Tall Oil as their raw material.  Tall Oil is the residue left over in the manufacture of pulp and paper.  It contains the same basic ingredient as does "lightwood", but is less concentrated and readily available.

If interested, here is a link to the history of Hercules, Inc.
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Hercules-Inc-Company-History.html


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## contender*

No. GA. Mt. Man said:


> Rich Pine



Rich Pine is what I've always heard too. Never heard it called those other terms.


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## Twenty five ought six

> I have been told that with the passing of the "lightwood stumps" that they now use Tall Oil as their raw material.



I worked in Jesup for a few years, where the Rayonier is located.  Rayonier uses an alkaline process to produce "chemical cellulose",(God forbid that you call if pulp), that is different from the acid process that most mills use.

The saying at Rayonier was that tall (pronounced "toll" ) oil paid the bills and chemical cellulose was the profit.  Tall oil is extremely slippery.  They had  a leaking tanker truck leave Jesup one night, and it caused wrecks all the way to Savannah.  Very expensive for Rayonier.

For decades the folks at Hercules could not figure out what caused certain stumps to "lighter" and other not.  Somewhere in the early eighties, they figured it out.  If I'm not mistaken, they can inject the trees with sulfuric acid.  Anyway, Hercules started contracting with landowners to inject the trees and harvest the stumps-- the injection doesn't interfere with the timbering, and the lighterd income is additional.  Interesting note is the folks at Hercules always referred to it as "mining lighterd".


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## Johnny Dahlonega

I'll check in with "fat lighter".  Thats what they called it in Fort Valley.

But what I want to know is why do some pine trees just rot very quick, while some make fat lighter?  I guess in terms of heartwood, the outside has rotted, but it seems some pines rot all the way through.  Often have wondered if it had something to do with the time of year the tree died and the temperature or something like that.  Also, most that I get on my property in Dahlonega was made I guess 50-100 years ago.  Wonder if it is still getting made or has this changed as so many other things have changed.

Sorry to butt in. ;-)  I read mostly but don't post a lot.  But this is something that I often ponder.


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## crackerdave

Hey,Johnny D. - if nobody butted in,we wouldn't HAVE a forum!
I've often wondered the same thing - what makes one pine lighter and another not? I'm sure Mr. Holt knows.


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## Buckhunter

Alright from what I can gather "lightood" or any of the other names is a pine stump highly concentrated with resin. It also seems most of you guys are in the mid to southern part of georgia. My questions are 1) How do you find it. 2) Why do some trees have it and others dont. 3) I have a tmple inland lease west of atlanta could it be found there or in this region. Sorry for my ignorance but I would love to get my hands on some and quit giving wally world my money for starter sticks. Thanks guys!


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## General Lee

Buckhunter said:


> Alright from what I can gather "lightood" or any of the other names is a pine stump highly concentrated with resin. It also seems most of you guys are in the mid to southern part of georgia. My questions are 1) How do you find it. 2) Why do some trees have it and others dont. 3) I have a tmple inland lease west of atlanta could it be found there or in this region. Sorry for my ignorance but I would love to get my hands on some and quit giving wally world my money for starter sticks. Thanks guys!


If you want to make the drive to Glascock Co,I can give you stumps that will last for decades............


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## Vernon Holt

*Fat Wood*



Johnny Dahlonega said:


> "*what I want to know is why do some pine trees just rot very quick, while some make fat lighter"*?
> 
> The formation of "Lightwood" has two prerequisites. (1). It is a function of age. Relatively young trees never have lightwood. It begins to form in trees that are older than 90 years of age. Pine trees today are harvested well before they reach that age (most cut before age 25). Pine wood without heartwood or lightwood has little decay resistence.
> 
> (2). Formation of lightwood only occurs in certain species of Pine Trees. Longleaf Pine leads the list of lightwood forming trees with Slash Pine being a close second. This explains why the Naval Stores Industry was first established in the upper limit of the range of Longleaf in coastal NC. The industry migrated south as the supply of Longleaf timber was exhausted.
> 
> Faster growing species of Pines form little to no lightwood. Slower growing species have a greater tendency to form lightwood. Some pines form no lightwood in the trunk of the tree, but will form small amounts in the knotwood of the tree. This explains why knots in pine boards are so conspicious. Pine knots are simply limb stubs that have healed over after the limbs prune themselves by the natural process self pruning. This is why the upper logs in a pine tree always contain more knots than does the bottom log. (The upper part of the crown had more limbs)
> 
> "*Also, most that I get on my property in Dahlonega was made I guess 50-100 years ago. Wonder if it is still getting made or has this changed as so many other things have changed*".


 
Johnny: Virginia Pine is generally the most common of the Southern Pines found in the mountains of N. GA. It happens to be one of the pines that does produce a light to moderate volume of lightwood. A fifty year old VA Pine that dies of natural causes and rots away will usually leave some knotwood (usually small knots) and four to six inches in diameter stick of lightwood. I suspect this is what you are finding at Dahlonega.


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## Win 30-30

Lightard is what I grew up hearing my parents refer to it as.


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## Twenty five ought six

> "what I want to know is why do some pine trees just rot very quick, while some make fat lighter"?



That was the question that Hercules was researching back in the 70's.  Nobody knew what made one stump "lightered" and another rot.  Hercules found a way to chemically induce the process, but as far as I know no one has explained why the selection occurs naturally.


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## dawg2

Twenty five ought six said:


> That was the question that Hercules was researching back in the 70's.  Nobody knew what made one stump "lightered" and another rot.  Hercules found a way to chemically induce the process, but as far as I know no one has explained why the selection occurs naturally.




I was under the impression it was a better quality of lighter when the tree died or was felled in the winter.


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## Woodscrew

Well all I ever known it called was Fat Lightard.


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## Branchminnow

rich pine is what dad told to go get while he was falling trees.


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## potsticker

When i wuz a child my grandmother told me to go out and fetch some stump candy, just a local term i think.


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## Jranger

DLS said:


> we aways called it fat lighter --- & still do----



Ditto


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## nkbigdog

One thing that has not been mentioned about Fat Liter is that if you shave off more than you need for one fire the remaining shavings will evaporate (Dry out and not be as good when used later.  I also shave some off and put it on the dash of my truck adds a great scent of pine..


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## 56willysnut

Sombody post a pic of a stump, this 'ol Texas boy ain't never seen any. Mesquites don't have it.


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## redlevel

56willysnut said:


> Sombody post a pic of a stump, this 'ol Texas boy ain't never seen any. Mesquites don't have it.



Lightard Stump.






Lightard knots





Lightard fence post


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## 56willysnut

Thanks, is the lightard the whole stump or the heart of the stump. is it at ground level or buried? Now I have one more thing to find while wondering around the woods.


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## maker4life

The whole thing is lightard . Just under that gray surface is a pretty amber color with a smell like no other .


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## gnarlyone

*the differences....*

There are lightard stumps and lightard knots. There is a difference. The lightard stump is just that...the base or main"trunk" of the tree that has not rotted and turned to lightard. A lightard knot is where a limb came out of the main tree where the tar is very rich and has turned to lightard,you can always see where the limb went into the trunk. A lightard stump is not a lightard knot...but they are both lightard...LOL
The lightard knot is even harder than the stump...just like the old saying goes...:"Harder than a lightard knot"


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## gnarlyone

*Also..*

The word "Fat" refers to the pitch or tar in the tree remains...the "Fatter" the the stump , the more pitch or flamability it has....If someone says a stump ain't very fat...that means it won't burn good...if it's real fat....it's dang near flamable.


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## dawg2

gnarlyone said:


> The word "Fat" refers to the pitch or tar in the tree remains...the "Fatter" the the stump , the more pitch or flamability it has....If someone says a stump ain't very fat...that means it won't burn good...if it's real fat....it's dang near flamable.



There are definitely varying grades of fat lighter.  Some look like a deep yellow.  But if you split it and it is a deep orange and look like it has been soaked in butter, almost greasy that is the BEST.  USE SPARINGLY!


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## TurkeyCreek

I live on the lake and it has been down as much as 13 feet this year.
Several stumps have been exposed that have been underwater for the most of the time since 1974 when the lake was flooded. A couple of stumps right in front of my dock needed cutting off as low as I could get them so I wouldn't keep hitting them with my motor.

This past Sunday I cut them and was somewhat surprised at the strong smell of lightard resin once the chainsaw fumes went away. Even after being underwater for over 30 years, they will make some good fire starters.


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## Vernon Holt

*Fat Wood*



gnarlyone said:


> "the old saying goes...:"Harder than a lightard knot"


 
Gnarly: The ol' saying in former times was, "Tougher than a lightard knot"


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## saltysenior

*lighter...*

down here it is called lighter...most hunt camps burn alot of it and it it getting harder to find....my question is ,does anybody know how to make more of it for the future???


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## Sterlo58

*lightard knot*

I grew up knowing it as lightard knot . I have also heard it called fat lighter, and a number of other strange variations. I will always know it as lightard knot !!


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## Hunter Blair

saltysenior said:


> down here it is called lighter...most hunt camps burn alot of it and it it getting harder to find....my question is ,does anybody know how to make more of it for the future???



just wait for more pine trees to fall over and die, then wait a few more years for nature to take its course..... I would guess that as long as we have pine trees, there will be some fat lighter (or lightard) around.....


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## Big Mike

The first time I saw it was in the boy scouts when we were canoeing and camping in the Okefenokee swamp and they called it "pitch pine."  That's what I've always called it. Being around other folks I've heard it called just "lighter" or "lighter log." There's even a lake in the town that I work called Lake Lighter Log.


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## saltysenior

Hunter Blair said:


> just wait for more pine trees to fall over and die, then wait a few more years for nature to take its course..... I would guess that as long as we have pine trees, there will be some fat lighter (or lightard) around.....



we had a few million fall over during 4 hurricanes....as far as i can tell, all that i come across are just slowly rotting


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## jimbo4116

Woodswalker said:


> seems like many many years ago the commercial naval stores folks used a chemical called paraquat to increase resin flows. it's long been deemed persona non grata by the EPA.
> 
> the idea was to increase resin flow, and much rich pine resulted from this.



Never heard that before, paraquat is a general herbicide.

Unless it has been taken off the market in the last couple of years you can still buy it under the name Gramoxone from Syngenta.  It is some pretty powerful stuff.

As someone else said there are lightered knots and lightered stumps.  I may get corrected, but the slash and loblolly pines grown today do not produce pine rosin or turpentine in the quanity of the old longleaf yellow pines and they rot verses "lightering". So the finding lightered knots and stumps is going to become more rare.  

The rosin is in the hard rings in a pine log. As the cellulose rings shrink due to mosture loss the rosin becomes more concentrated.  The stumps and limb knots are usually left behind by the loggers and turn to "lighter".  Any part of the trunk or limbs of long leaf yellow pine can turn to lighter.  This is what makes heart pine timbers and flooring so hard or you find old fence posts that have "lightered". 
Old heartpine beams in old mill building around the state have become valuable for this reason.

When I run across a knot or hit a stump, I try to save at least a piece of it. No better way to safely start a good fire.

We still call it fat lighter, lightered stumps and lightered knots.


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## Auchumpkee Creek Assassin

fat lightard is what we always called it as well. LLBean is Maine sell it as Georgia fatwood
http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/st...langId=-1&categoryId=38687&sc1=Search&feat=sr


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## Russ Toole

May dad called it Lighterknot back in florida.


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## 60Grit

Anybody need some splinters?? I keep a small bundle of fat wood toothpicks in my survival kit. I'd be glad to share a few, (for a very small fee of course) just can't supply the entire state....


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## GunRights4US

saltysenior said:


> down here it is called lighter...most hunt camps burn alot of it and it it getting harder to find....my question is ,does anybody know how to make more of it for the future???



In some areas it may getting scarce, but the property where I hunt in Washington county is absolutely LOADED with it!  In fact, I've never seen so much fat lighter in all my life.  On one trip up there I gathered a pickup truck load in no time.


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## Vernon Holt

Paraquat was never used as a stimulant to increase gum flow in pine trees.  A solution of 50% Sulphuric Acid and water was successfully used for a number of years as a stimulant to increase gum flow.  The use of acid was good for the overall (as in blue denim)business since a pair would only last about one month before disintegrating from the effect of the acid.

Prior to the use of acid, a new "streak" was applied weekly to each "face".  With acid, a streak was applied every two weeks.  This reduced the level of labor required significantly.

Lightard does not form after a pine tree dies.  Any lightwood that exists in a given tree is revealed after all of the sapwood has decayed and fallen away.   Young trees seldom if ever contain any lightard.  Lightard formation is a function of age of the tree.  Old growth trees (over age 100) are likely to have lots of lightard.

Paraquat was used on a limited scale by Hercules, Inc. to determine if the herbicide would induce the formation of lightard in young trees that normally would contain no lightard.  The Paraquat was injected at stump height with the hope that pulpwood stumps would yield enough lightard to justify harvesting them as raw material for their Brunswick GA plant.

As far as I know the project was abandoned as not being economically feasible.


----------



## saltysenior

*about the future availability of lighterwood*

I'll just get in touch with somebody at Clemson U.    They will know


----------



## Vernon Holt

*Fat Wood*



saltysenior said:


> ..."my question is ,*does anybody know how to make more of it for the future*???


 

Salty:  The answer is simple.  Declare a moratorium on the cutting of any and all pine trees until they are at least 125 years of age.  After this period of time, every tree will contain a decent percentage of lightwood (lightard).


----------



## dawg2

Vernon Holt said:


> Salty:  The answer is simple.  Declare a moratorium on the cutting of any and all pine trees until they are at least 125 years of age.  After this period of time, every tree will contain a decent percentage of lightwood (lightard).


----------



## Woodscrew

Anyone got any around Middle, Ga. they want to get rid of for free? I had a couple of stumps that got burnt up in a grass fire a couple of months ago. I haven't been aboul to find any to replace it with yet.


----------



## Outdoors

In Arkansas it was 

pine
pine lighter
pine knot
kinlin
starter


----------



## redlevel

Woodscrew said:


> Anyone got any around Middle, Ga. they want to get rid of for free? I had a couple of stumps that got burnt up in a grass fire a couple of months ago. I haven't been aboul to find any to replace it with yet.



Do you know where my wife's place at Crowell is?   Bring a lowboy Saturday, some chains, and a strong back and I'll try to load you a dug stump with my front loader, if it ain't too heavy.  We might have to saw it up, cause its a big 'un.


----------



## Woodscrew

Sent Ya  PM. Thanks



redlevel said:


> Do you know where my wife's place at Crowell is?   Bring a lowboy Saturday, some chains, and a strong back and I'll try to load you a dug stump with my front loader, if it ain't too heavy.  We might have to saw it up, cause its a big 'un.


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## westcobbdog

South of New Orleans during the civil war the Confederates filled a raft with fat lighter and what they termed rosin and would set em' ablaze and float them on fire down river towards the Union ships...most rafts missed the target. A few would hit and one raft ignited Faurraguts(sp) ship but it was extinguished.


----------



## redlevel

Woodscrew, I got a good sized stump loaded in the loader-bucket this afternoon.  I can dump it on your truck one afternoon this week.

pm sent


----------



## Vernon Holt

*Fat Wood*



Outdoors said:


> "*In Arkansas it was *
> 
> *pine*
> *pine lighter*
> *pine knot*
> *kinlin*
> *starter"*


 

Arkansans have always been contrary.  Try "lightard", you'll like it.


----------



## O-Country

ever herd it called rich pine?(tough as a pine knot)


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## DCHunter

jav said:


> we called it lighterknot, since i was big enough to drag it through the woods, so i guess we will keep on


That's what we've always called it too.  I guess it depends on where you're from.


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## SWAMPFOX

My daddy always called it rich pine to designate it from kindlin. The kindlin was placed on top of the rich pine but underneath larger pieces, usually hard wood when he built the fire in the fire place.


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## redlevel

Woodscrew's lightard stump.  I had a bigger one to give him, but I never could get it in the loader bucket.


----------



## fishbum2000

Hunter Blair said:


> just wait for more pine trees to fall over and die, then wait a few more years for nature to take its course..... I would guess that as long as we have pine trees, there will be some fat lighter (or lightard) around.....



 works the best if the tree dies during the spring when "the sap's a risin'" heartwood pine or yellow pineis better than today's white pine. hear it called many names
fat wood and fat litard are the most popular but seen it refered to as "lightwood stump, (or stake)" in several old property deeds
anyway just put it in the yard it wont go bad before you can use it up


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## letsgohuntin

xpertgreg said:


> I figure by Home Depot standards I probably got about $200 worth for free



I actually thought about selling it on E-Bay, but there is a ton of it on there already so I didn't bother with it.

I have always heard it called "fat lighter" or "fat lightered"


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## Luke0927

I've always called it Pine Lite...only thing i have every heard it called?


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## bigman88

*Fat Lighter*

To each his own.... But I always called fat lighter!


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## gahawker

Vernon Holt said:


> The wood ultimately became known to most country folks as "lightard."  Out of respect for country folks, please do not call it lighterwood or fat wood.



Mr. Holt,

Where I grew up (and still live) in south middle Georgia everybody called it "fat lighterd". We burned oak at home and used lighterd to start it. Many is the time I was sent to the woods with a croaker sack to pick up fat pine knots to start our fires. 
When the turpentine industry was big in our area and the trees later cut, the "catfaces" or "butt cuts" were not used as timber or pulpwood and were cut off and left in the woods. These were mainly fat lighterd. My granddaddy burned these almost exclusively in his fireplace. I can remember going with him to the woods many a time to saw up butt cuts for firewood with a crosscut saw and ax and an RC bottle full of kerosene with green pine needles wedged in the top. A few slings of the bottle every few minutes would lubricate the saw so the blade would not gum up. The pine needles would allow the kerosene to kind of spray out.
I have often wondered why my granddaddy didn't burn his house down. The black smoke coming out of the chimney looked like he was burning tires. Every now and then he would fill a croaker sack with straw, let a rope down the chimney, tie it to the sack and pull it up the chimney. That's how he eliminated the buildup.
We have a house in Blairsville with 2 wood-burning fireplaces and I keep a good supply of middle Georgia fat lighterd splinters up there to start our fires.


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## jrry

fat litter wood or whatever - maybe I am typeing the wrong saying.  fat litter is the word we used, I am 60 years old and grew up in middle ga. - we used cooking stove, fire place and pits to make bbq.  We also had outside fires - always started the fire with fat litter wood.  I got a pile of it in my yard, looks like pine trees that have been in the woods for a long long long time.  You can hardly cut it with an axe, it is so hard.


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## Timberman

The smell of fresh light'd is as pleasant a smell as there is.

I read a question or two earlier about how and why light'd forms to begin with. Forgive if I rehash cuz I didnt read all the posts...

I have seen light'd made from all the southern pine species as well as virginia pine. My experience has led me to believe light'd is formed when a slow growing tree with a very dense and tightly ringed center portion of heartwood  dies. The juvenile wood on the outer edges rots away and the sap or rosin settles and collects in the heart wood of what stump or trunk may be left and as well the larger roots. Over time it hardens and becomes what we know as light'd. Depending on many factors a tree needs to be 50 or older and have grown slowly to have formed enough heart to turn light'd. Planted pine typically grows too fast and is cut too young to form light'd but that said I have seen light'd in pines that were planted. It is not just in the roots I have seen light'd that was 20-30 feet tall and rock hard top to bottom. Tracts that had been turpentined were rife with the stuff. During my stint through Florida and south Georgia I contracted many times with Hercules and another company whose name escapes me for the sale of light'd. After all the standing timber was cut, they would bring in d4 to d6 sized dozers with a blade that looked to be a modified KG blade,angled and serrated with a long spike, or "stinger" as it was called sticking forward out of it. Larger stumps were split in two first with  the stinger then grubbed the smaller ones were just grubbed. They were loaded on flatbeds with stakes on the sides. Great care was made to get all the dirt off the stumps as the stumps were sold on the ton basis. If memory serves me I remember getting upwards of 2.50/ton for the light'd. It doesnt seem much but it would add up over the tract and was often something many landowners wanted removed anyway because of the damage they caused when run over with rubber tired equipment. I remember some tracts where we had many skidder tires punctured by light'd. I've seen fires built by logging hands  that were wastefully piled high with beautiful light'd till they had a great roaring blaze nobody could get close to. I also seen it like Mr. Vernon has when I was in Gulf Hammock where after a fire had passed thru the woods the light'd stumps and snags would continue to burn throughout the woods, some for days. In those days we foresters alternated fire duty on weekends. I remember Ocala  calling on occasion and going out and ground checking the fire and finding just a lone light'd snag burning to blue blazes. Mostly we'd chainsaw it down and put it out. We stayed worried bout fire down those woods.


----------



## Vernon Holt

Thanks Timber for taking time to share your vast knowledge and experience with us.

Your experience tracks much of my own.  We were lucky to have had the opportunity to practice Forestry in the purest sense.  This practice ranged from timber harvesting and utilization (including lightard stumps), planting site preparation, tree planting, prescribed burning, fire protection, public relations (science of getting along with neighbors, where possible), and then completing the cycle by once again harvesting the crop.

I suppose that I would not be held in very high regard by the "tree hugging" fraternity of today.  I participated in harvesting the second growth natural pine, as well as the harvesting of two rotations of the "Third Forest".  Forestry once was involved in a business of growing crops of trees which were converted to essential and high valued products.

My, how things change.

Hope the hardwood lumber business is holding up for you.  I would guess that the demand for hardwood flooring has leveled off for a while.  This should allow you to get out in the woods and waters a little more frequently.


----------



## Danny Leigh

*regarding Virginia pines*

TM, very interesting obersavations.

I have seen virginia pines up near Cartersville that have been blown over and pretty much most of the tree turns to lightard from the main trunk out to fairly small limbs. What is left is a skelton of the tree. I have not yet noticed that in other parts of the state in my limited travels with other varieties of pine.


----------



## raymrt

I've spent a lot of time in the woods with a lot of different people and have always heard it referred to it as "Lighterknot".  Whatever you call it....it works wonders...will burn in the rain.  At our hunting property all members are always on the lookout for a good Lighterknot log....


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## kletzenklueffer

Here's my little story about fat wood or rich pine as we called it.

Back in 1993, I dug up an old stump in my ex wifes back yard. In the stump was a section of very rich pine. I dug the stump up and pulled out this rich part. 

I typically camp, or build a fire using this piece of stump maybe a dozen times a year. I still have about 70% of the chunk left. Keep in mind, it was only aobut the size of a mans foot and ankle when I pulled it 15 years ago. I have had three different trucks in that time and the piece of rich pine has been  carried in all of them.

So as far as storage goes, it isn't necessary except to keep it dry.

My fire kit consists of a swiss firesteel, some dryer lint and my hunk of rich pine.


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## Woodscrew

Don't know how you streched a little piece out that long. I use more than that in a months time durring the winter building fires in the wood burning heater.


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## Vernon Holt

It may be that you are just extravagant.


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## AnesMerc

Learn something new everyday. Thanks guys. Now I need to figure out how to find it, id it when I see it, and try it out.


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## kletzenklueffer

I just use it like a long match. I get my tinder set up, get the kindling ready to add. Put my lint in with a couple thin strips of rich pine and strike the lint and start adding the kindling as the tinder lights up. 

but I'm the type that takes a lot of pride in getting a fire going the first time. Preparation is what makes it burn right from the start.

Last year I bought my son (9 yr old) a firesteel and started teaching him to light with it, and how to use the rich pine. Back at Halloween, I went out on the porch and he had set the pumpkin on fire! Now I have TWO firesteels.


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## crackerjack

I think I am the only person making furniture out of fat lighter. I have been a professional woodworker for almost 40 years, working with a wide variety of wood and have never worked with any thing quit as interesting as fat wood. I have developed and am still developeing new tools and processes for cutting, joining,and finishing fatwood. It is unique to the south as far as I know. I live most of the time on Daufuskie Island South Carolina and the plentiful amount of sun, rich sandy soil (source of Sea Island Cotten)grows some pines with lotsa resin.I have read all of the material that I can find related to fat wood and thats how I found out about this source of info.I have gleaned a little info from many sources.When I have more time I will send some photos of my work and include some more practical discoveries of this unique product. Also I wanted to remind yall about how when Cracker Barrell first started up, they served their baked potatoes after baking them with pine rosin.   Cracker Jack


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## 4wheeling4life

my grandfather told me once when he was a kid he would sell small split bundles of "lighter" for a nickle. he is 78 so give or take a few years it would have been 1936-1940ish. after a chucklehe would tell about all he could buy for a nickle...


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## saltysenior

Danny Leigh said:


> TM, very interesting obersavations.
> 
> I have seen virginia pines up near Cartersville that have been blown over and pretty much most of the tree turns to lightard from the main trunk out to fairly small limbs. What is left is a skelton of the tree. I have not yet noticed that in other parts of the state in my limited travels with other varieties of pine.[/QUO
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> up the road from my house there are 2 separate [by 2 mi.] 40 ac. tracts of pine/palmeto...both had about a 7 ac. burn within the tracts years[???] ago.......as you drive by,one can see about 25 dead pines standing inside the area of the fire on both pieces of woods....the dead trees standing on the north tract are just rotten pine w/ MAYBE a  sliver of liter in the middle.......every dead tree standing in the south tract is solid liter ...............................
> ..as Tatoo would say ''esplane that one boss''...


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## Pobuckra

Hi guys,
I'm new here and wanted to throw in my observations on this subject.  My old family farm is in the Sandhills of SC with a lot of Longleaf.  By the way, most folks around there say lighterd,  lightard or lighter.  On our farm we have a lot of huge old lighterd stumps that are remnants of the turpentine days.  They still have the boxes chopped in them. These trees were cut down 90 years ago or better.  Other large lighter logs lying around with many still standing and have been standing dead for years.  It almost seems like the main factor is just how long a tree stands under stress in some way. i.e. turpentining, disease, bugs or lightning strike. I think that may be why a healthy tree blown down or broken suddenly doesn't seem to have as much, if any, fat in it.  A longleaf will definitely pump out the pitch to try and heal a wound.  If you've ever climbed a longleaf with a climbing stand, you'll know how much of it can pump out in short order.  I sometimes find old loblolly, shortleaf and slash lighterd and I know that it sounds crazy, but the "fat" from each of them all smell different to me.  It is an interesting mystery.


----------



## GeorgiaTrout

I/we call if fat lighter or lightered knot and we have plenty of it on or farm. All of the old fences rows had pine/fat lightered fence posts. Through the years I have taken down all of the old lightered posts and stored them. I didn't want any of them buried of pushed up when we have logged in the past.

I had 33 acres of 25 year old slash pines thinned last October and there are fat lighter stumps throught these plantation pines. When this area was clearcut in the late 70's my GGrandfather had it stumped, but they missed a lot or the freshly cut pine stumps have seen turned to fat lightered stumps.

Down in the creek bottom we have lots of big pines that still have some the metal on them from back in their turpentine days.


----------



## hogmorton

The lightered knot is just that. It's the knots where the lower limbs that of course died  and fell to the ground. It is actually a knot and there isn't much splitting to it as the grain is sorta circular around the knot.  The rest is the lightered wood that can be split into pieces.


----------



## Bobby Jackson

Rich Pine


----------



## LJay

Just Lighter.


----------



## Steve762us

How does fat lighter/rich pine/etc compare to "red heart" pine--the structural timber used in 1900 and earlier builds, that termites wouldn't touch?  Same stuff, or different?


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## win280

Steve762us said:


> How does fat lighter/rich pine/etc compare to "red heart" pine--the structural timber used in 1900 and earlier builds, that termites wouldn't touch?  Same stuff, or different?



True Heart pine was cut from 1st growth longleaf pine.Heart pine was usually cut while the tree was living.
Fat lighterd/fat wood/fat lighter/lighter.whatever you want to call it is typically the stump of the tree with all the hardened resin(sap) in it after the rest of the stump has rotted.IMO.


----------



## grasshopper33

Please don't take any advice from anybody that is over the age of 5 and stillllll wears a diaper and totes a pacifier. somethings wrong with this pic.


----------



## xpertgreg

huh?


----------



## Bill Mc

Lighter  wood. I kinda giggled the first time some yankee called it "fatwood" 

If you're gona use your chain  saw, use an old or dull chain. Sometime those stumps will have grown around a rock or two. Then you can resharpen.

If you're ever in the woods and everything is wet, you can still start a fire using "lighter"


----------



## Cornelia_Hiker

How 'bout some of you fellas with some post a variety of pics ?  Thanks!


----------



## kletzenklueffer

Recently my son and I were burning off some debri in our burn pit. My son asked if he could thros some stuff in it. I asked him "what ya got?" He said "there are some stumps over here", so I went to look. There were three stumps of rich pine, about 20 pounds each that had been dug up and leaned up against a tree (we've only lived here for a year, but the house is 110 y/o.) so I grabbed two to take and store to dry a bit since the bottoms were moist. I turned around and he had thrown the third stump in the burn pit!  I says "Man! what're you thinking!?" He said he thought we were gonna throw all of them in there. It was too late for that piece. It was already burning good. The next day I went out to check that the pit was out and all around where the stump was there was white ash where it'd gotten superhot and scorched everything. 

So I split the other pieces up and put them in a bucket. It should last until he's 20 (11 now).

When I go hiking, hunting, fishing, camping, etc., I always keep and eye out for the fallen trees and usually bring back several pieces.

There is a company selling stuff called Maya Dust. It's basically saw dust from rich pine. The container says it's from some latin american conifer, but I can't imagine it being stronger than southern pine.


----------



## Dr. Strangelove

We always called it fat lighter, as far as storing it, it's been sitting out in the woods uncovered for many years.  Just leave it somewhere convenient and chop off a chunk with a hatchet when you need to light a fire.  Weather will not hurt your "stash".


----------



## drippin' rock

I know I am coming to the discussion a little late, but I grew up calling it what my Grandaddy did which is "lighterd".  I suspect this is southern slang for lightwood or lighterwood.  Words light these were probably run together because it gets too darn hot in Middle/South Georgia to expend the effort saying the hole thing!  Of course I also grew up thinking if anyone called it anything else they were probably Yankee transplants and shouldn't be trusted.  Our family land in Upson county has stumps around 200 lbs that have soot marks.  Grandaddy told me they burned the land in the 
50's to clear it for farming.  Now those stumps are part of a hardwood forrest that I deer hunt.  I spent my entire youth pulling lighterd out of those woods and never made a dent!  I walk by those stumps now and memories of a lifetime spent hunting and exploring come rushing back.  Good stuff.


----------



## 00Beau

Fat lighter! I think it is multiplying on my farm, I have piles laying everywhere, I will pile it up when I am plowing or working on skidsteer. I will never run out!!


----------



## eddie123

at our club the guys call it electric wood!


----------



## Firewalker6

We've always called it heart pine around here


----------



## Big7

jav said:


> we called it lighterknot, since i was big enough to drag it through the woods, so i guess we will keep on



Me too...


----------



## Willjo

*Another use*

Here is a wall full of lighter knots, this is another use for them.


----------



## 00Beau

That is a good use for it, nice pictures!


----------



## jmm

message deleted by pbradley for innuendo


----------



## Randy

If I posted this I would have been banned!


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## dawg2

Randy said:


> If I posted this I would have been banned!



Just proves "they" are after you and you aren't paranoid!


----------



## pbradley

Randy said:


> If I posted this I would have been banned!



What do you think we ought to do to you for quoting it?


----------



## moodman

Born and raised in GA never heard it called Fatwood. Pine KNOT


----------



## iwatmi

In south Brooks county on the 'cochee right at the florida line is a spring just on the edge of the river. Right over the "boil" of the spring is a lighterd tree, stump and all it must be 75-80 long. It's just right for sitting on in the spring. 90% of it is always under water with the stump end resting above the water on a rock ledge. Forty years ago when I was a little boy an old timer that must have been in his eighties told us that his grandfather told him that the tree had been there as long as he could remember. All I know for sure is that lighterd log is a good place to spend a hot July day.

I know the name of the spring and I'm sure some of you do also but I'm gonna leave that part out as a courtesy to the land owner.

One other point I'd like to disagree on is that lighter knots can come from the stump as well as the limbs. There are many lighterd knots where the roots come out of the stump. IMO that is the fatest part of the whole deal.


----------



## Captain413

Yeah, i'm from the country and we all call it fat lighter to


----------



## shakey gizzard

Where is the poll? This thread is gonna burn hotter and longer than lighterknot


----------



## pkp844

Its called fatlighter, but a stump of it could be called a lighterknot. But no matter what you call it, it is invaluable in the winter.


----------



## Fletch_W

Help a guy out. 

What is it?

Here's what I've gathered.

1: Stump of pine tree
2: Old
3: The roots and stump are full of old sap
4: The sap burns like jet fuel

Is that right?


----------



## Nicodemus

Fletch_W said:


> Help a guy out.
> 
> What is it?
> 
> Here's what I've gathered.
> 
> 1: Stump of pine tree
> 2: Old
> 3: The roots and stump are full of old sap
> 4: The sap burns like jet fuel
> 
> Is that right?




You`re right, and include the heart of it too.


----------



## Fletch_W

So, my neighors have a pine stump from a tree that fell during the blizzard this year, how long until it is considered LightarD?


----------



## Fletch_W

Is this a good example? (taken from the rabbit forum)


----------



## Vernon Holt

*Lightard ( Lightwood)*



Fletch_W said:


> So, my neighors have a pine stump from a tree that fell during the blizzard this year, how long until it is considered LightarD?


 

This tree will never contain Lightard unless it is 100+ years old.  The formation of lightard is a function of age.


----------



## Fletch_W

Thank you Mr Holt!


----------



## gracat123

call it fat lighter , most will reconize the name


----------



## 00Beau

I respectfully disagree with the 100 year old theory, I pull up small stumps on my property all the time from trees well less than 22 years old and the stumps are no more than 5-6 more years old, pulled one today, knock off the edges and dirt and middle is all fat lighter.


----------



## shakey gizzard

300 short mag said:


> I respectfully disagree with the 100 year old theory, I pull up small stumps on my property all the time from trees well less than 22 years old and the stumps are no more than 5-6 more years old, pulled one today, knock off the edges and dirt and middle is all fat lighter.



X2! I always thought when the tree is dieing the sap/energy of the tree went to the roots as a form of self preservation.


----------



## saltysenior

i researched  liter wood both on the internet and in the woods and talking on the phone to experts...after about 4 years of this,i still can't find out why liter is formed....many people give me answers,but they all vary.........more to come someday...


----------



## scoggins

shakey gizzard said:


> X2! I always thought when the tree is dieing the sap/energy of the tree went to the roots as a form of self preservation.



i am not 100% but i think that it has alot to do with the time of year when the tree died and not the age.


----------



## Misfire270

fat lighter it is for me too growing up in fla and now in north carolina still hear it called fat lighter


----------



## Woodscrew

I can't beleive this thread is still going. It was started in Nov. 2007. Thats got to be some kind of record for this site.


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## Fletch_W

I was at J and J flea market yesterday, there was a guy selling kindling that was chock full of sap and look pretty old, split up in typcial kindling fashion: would that have been Fat Wood Lightard Pine or "Pitch Pine" as Thoreau mentions in "A Winter Walk"?

I think I'll buy some next week if he's still out there, if it's what yall describe it should last me about 5 years, what he was selling for $5.


----------



## chiefsquirrel83

grandfather, father, and uncle(by far novice), and myself have always called in lighterwood....and in the country....I have always heard it called that too....


----------



## greg_n_clayton

I brought home some "rich pine" today !! I usually bring home some every time I go to the woods for a load of firewood. With all the pines dying off around here, it is plentiful !!

Wouldn't need to bring home so much, but the little lady says" Man, that stuff burns good and hot , tooo  !!!


----------



## greg_n_clayton

saltysenior said:


> i researched  liter wood both on the internet and in the woods and talking on the phone to experts...after about 4 years of this,i still can't find out why liter is formed....many people give me answers,but they all vary.........more to come someday...



It has to do with the concentration of pine sap aging in some way I would say. But.....why is it so hard to get a green piece of pine wood to burn ??

as you said.......more to come someday.....


----------



## letsgofishin62

My FIL keeps me supplied from the lot across the street from him. I also have got some from boards on top of skids of paper at work.


----------



## bnew17

just came across this old thread..read all the post and thought it was very interesting..gonna bring it to the top.


----------



## MadDawg51

Fat wood or fat lighter is what I use to light kindling.  Kindling is just smaller splits of the wood from what I will burn in bigger pieces.  But, kindling should not be fat wood - that's just a waste of good lighter.

Fat wood is the stump of a pine tree that died in winter when the sap was concentrated in the lower part of the tree.  Shave some small slivers with a pocket knife, place a few very small sticks above the shavings, stack kindling on top of that.  One match = fire.

Now to a related subject.  Heart of pine flooring - Did you ever wonder why a house with heart of pine flooring burned so quickly?  It is the same resin that is concentrated in the fat wood.

Now, someone can tell me why I am wrong on this.  It's just what I understand about fat wood/lighter.

MadDawg


----------



## xpertgreg

wow, hard to believe it's been over 3 years since I posted this.  Still using the wood from the same stump to build fires with.  I actually have two stumps of it, but have never cut the second.


----------



## BriarPatch99

Lightard, Fat lightard, lighter, lighter wood ...

Lightard Stump

Lightard Log

Lightard Knot

Rose Cone Lightard Knot ... the knot with out the T on top.

Lightard Knot gun... shaped like a Glock ... even more reliable. The one we played cowboys and injuns with... our injuns even had Lightard Knot Guns.

Jimmy K


----------



## saltysenior

well ,a year of amateur research has not turned up much documented info on what causes some trees to become ''lighterwood''............one thing that seems to stand out is that when you find some there will be more in the immediate area........go to another area 1/4 mile away,w/ the same trees,soil,ect., and you'll find none...


----------



## Steve Thompson

Fat lighter --- kinlen or lighter wood if you had city folk in camp


----------



## ancienttrails

On a hill in usin club we have a pile that timber peoples left like a small hill full of rosecones and cat faces.


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## Vernon Holt

*Fat Wood*



ancienttrails said:


> _On a hill in usin club we have a pile that timber peoples left like a small hill full of rosecones and cat faces._


 

We know very well what a "cat face" is, but would like to know what  a "rosecone" is.  Can you help??


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## MrBull

Fat lighter, the more pitch the fatter it was...ex. "that piece there is good and fat."


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## Capt Quirk

MCBUCK said:


> lighter pine


That is how it was introduced to me many years ago in Fla.



Dug said:


> Any one ever heard of it called kindling(sp)? I pulled up many old pine stumps growing up and thats what we always called it.


Kindling is usually a term for smaller split up wood.



Twenty five ought six said:


> Real men split it with an ax.


I've been sawing the long logs into 8 inch chunks, then split it down into 3/8" sticks with a Froe.


Woodscrew said:


> Anyone got any around Middle, Ga. they want to get rid of for free? I had a couple of stumps that got burnt up in a grass fire a couple of months ago. I haven't been aboul to find any to replace it with yet.


You still want stumps, I'm in Washington Cty. Just come get them. Some digging may be required 



Vernon Holt said:


> This tree will never contain Lightard unless it is 100+ years old.  The formation of lightard is a function of age.


Might have to argue this point. Our property is mostly planted Loblolly, only about 15 years. We have quite a bit laying around. I read that it is caused by the tree coming down, while the remaining portion still produces the resin. The resin has nowhere to go, so it builds up, creating lighter pine.

As I'm clearing and cleaning, I'm finding pieces as long as 5 and 6 foot, and been piling it up. Now all I need to do, is find a way to sell it off


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## CAL

Vernon Holt said:


> This tree will never contain Lightard unless it is 100+ years old.  The formation of lightard is a function of age.



I agree with Mr.Vernon about the age.On some of my land where it grew longleaf pines the lightard is the best and fattest.It is my understanding that all the heart pine lumber came from the longleaf trees.All the fence rails came from longleaf trees too.


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## grouper throat

Usually call it lightered/lighter as does most everyone around me. When describing a good piece, "fat" is normally an adjective used in describing it. 

We have thousands upon thousands of acres of timberland that have seen many generations of pine on it and lighter is not hard to find anywhere. When we have a fire it's gonna be hot.


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## win280

Here is a lighter pile that a friend has collected over the years.


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## daisy102998

If you ever got hit up side of the head witha rose comb lighter know you would remember what it is!


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## daisy102998

should be rose comb lighter knot


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## Vernon Holt

*Fat Lightard*



daisy102998 said:


> "*If you ever got hit up side of the head witha rose comb lighter knot you would remember what it is!" *


 
May we presume that you have been hit up side the head with a "rose comb" lightard knot??

Sure hope it didn't cause any permanent damage.

I am experienced enough in the ways of the world to know what a rose is, and even somewhat familiar with a comb.  Even know what a lightard knot is.  As a matter of fact my Father always told me when growing up that my head was as hard as a lightard knot.  Never did understand what he was talking about. 

My path is a lengthly one, but for some reason has never crossed that of a rose comb lightered knot.

I remain curious as to what one is.


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## Nicodemus

Vernon Holt said:


> May we presume that you have been hit up side the head with a "rose comb" lightard knot??
> 
> Sure hope it didn't cause any permanent damage.
> 
> I am experienced enough in the ways of the world to know what a rose is, and even somewhat familiar with a comb.  Even know what a lightard knot is.  As a matter of fact my Father always told me when growing up that my head was as hard as a lightard knot.  Never did understand what he was talking about.
> 
> My path is a lengthly one, but for some reason has never crossed that of a rose comb lightered knot.
> 
> I remain curious as to what one is.





Mr. Vernon, I`m not familiar with the term, but if it is what I think, it is one of those short, maybe a foot long knots that are pointed at one end, and expand to a rounded end on the other. They seem to have a twisted grain. I would think that they are the extra resinous section of an internal limb that is left after the sapwood rotted away. I still see one on occasion and might have one or two in my stash. If I can find one, I`ll post a pic for you.


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## xpertgreg

Wow, hard to believe I started this thread over 3 years ago.  Still have most of that first stump I dug as well.


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## grouper throat

Nicodemus said:


> Mr. Vernon, I`m not familiar with the term, but if it is what I think, it is one of those short, maybe a foot long knots that are pointed at one end, and expand to a rounded end on the other. They seem to have a twisted grain. I would think that they are the extra resinous section of an internal limb that is left after the sapwood rotted away. I still see one on occasion and might have one or two in my stash. If I can find one, I`ll post a pic for you.



Yeah Nic that's what I was thinking they were too. My droid camera is blurry but I'll post one today if I remember it while near my wood pile.


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## Nicodemus

Is this what a rose comb is? These are what we always a "lighterd knot". They are hard to split into splinters because of the twisted grain, but they are very fat. Only a foot or so in length.  They are good for knockin` a critter in the head too.


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## Keebs

I did not know these had a name!  I swuanee, I learned something new!


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## grouper throat

Nicodemus said:


> Is this what a rose comb is? These are what we always a "lighterd knot". They are hard to split into splinters because of the twisted grain, but they are very fat. Only a foot or so in length.  They are good for knockin` a critter in the head too.



Yeah that's what I was referring to Nic. Lighterd knots are what we normally call them also. Fat, twisted, knotted pieces that normally burn hot like they are soaked in petroleum. My wife's family from North Ga. called them combs or something similar to that.


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## Nicodemus

grouper throat said:


> Yeah that's what I was referring to Nic. Lighterd knots are what we normally call them also. Fat, twisted, knotted pieces that normally burn hot like they are soaked in petroleum. My wife's family from North Ga. called them combs or something similar to that.




Yea, these things burn hotter`n a pistol ball. Definately make you step back from the fire.


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## SGADawg

It was always fat lightered in my South GA neck of the woods!

For those trying to identify it, pick up any grey, weathered piece of wood to check.  It will be a heavy, dense, extremely hard wood that if you shave off a sliver will be yellow to amber to almost red inside and will smell strongly of pine or turpentine.  One of the most pleasant smells I know.  We did away with the fireplace a few years ago, (not my idea) but I still will sometimes split a piece for the aroma.

My house is over 100 years old with heart pine floors and heart pine framing.  I have always told my wife that if it catches fire to grab whatever is important to her, whether it was me, the kids or the family pics and get as far away as possible.  Don't even try to fight it.  You won't drive a nail through any of my ceiling or floor joists without pre-drilling almost to the nail diameter.


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## mwood1985

General Lee said:


> Fat lighter is the name for it in these parts.You would get some strange looks asking for "lightwood"



my grand ma called it fat lighter every time we started a fire. i had to teach the city folk i hang out with in marietta what it was when they tried to light the burn barrel with old tpaper


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## MCBUCK

No. GA. Mt. Man said:


> Rich Pine



That's what I always called it as a little boy, and what I always heard the old mountain men call it...but all of the valley boys called it "lighter pine." I got used to hearing it called lighter pine later on.  I will refer to it as both lighter pine, or rich pine, depending on my geography.
After all...dosen't geography often dictate your intelligence?


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## Ossahatchee

Kindlin, fat lighter, lighter stump, fat wood lightwood. Whats the big deal ,could we all agree that it could be called diffrent names and still be talking about the same thing,diffrent parts of the state, diffrent names. Just aint no one common name.my grandmother always called it kindling,or fatlighter.  And dont call my grandmother a lier


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## carver

Nicodemus said:


> Is this what a rose comb is? These are what we always a "lighterd knot". They are hard to split into splinters because of the twisted grain, but they are very fat. Only a foot or so in length.  They are good for knockin` a critter in the head too.



Nic here's a carved rose comb(there's no stain on the face,its all pitch and carves like butter)This one is about 2 ft tall.


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## Nicodemus

carver said:


> Nic here's a carved rose comb(there's no stain on the face,its all pitch and carves like butter)This one is about 2 ft tall.





That is a really nice piece of craftsmanship!


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## Sirduke

I've always called it lighter wood, or fat lighter.  Pops was a forester for International Paper Co on their Southlands plantation, and would bring home truck loads of it.

In 1988 or 89, while stationed at Ft. Benning, we Scouts had to take a survival course taught by the Airborne School Pathfinders.

Some young buck Lt kept extolling the virtues of "baconwood" .  When he showed us what he was talking about, several of us Georgia boys informed him that it was fat lighter.  He seemed irked to be corrected.

Later that year, while on a field exercise, I found one of my soldiers cooking a sausage over a small fat lighter fire.  The grease from the sausage was making small trails down the sausage through the black soot.

I asked him what he was going to do with the sausage and he told me he was going to eat it and wasn't sharing.... He found out why no one else wanted any a few minutes later.
I think he set a world record for gagging and spitting.


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## simpleman30

Fat Lighter.  Family and friends always said fatwood was a yankee term for it.  

When we find some, it's a lighter knot or a lighter stump.  When we need some to build a fire, it's "Go get some fatlighter."  i've never heard anyone pronounce it with a "d" on the end of the word "lighter."  

my grandpa was known to put an entire lighter knot in a fire barrel.  i saw him melt many 55 gallon fire drums to the ground with a pure fatlighter fire.


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## simpleman30

i built my dad a tinder box for christmas a few years ago.  in the winter time he keeps it stocked with fresh split fat lighter about a half inch in diamater and 8-12" long.  one or two pieces is all it takes to get a good fire going.  he cuts off 12" sections as needed and splits it up.


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## xpertgreg

Coming up on the 4 year anniversary of this thread.  Cool weather and fires in the firepit got my mind on it, so here's a bump!


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## saltysenior

about to give up trying to find out about the mysteries of how,what,when,why lighterwood is formed....too many theories,but none can tell me how to make some from a living tree.......wish i could post pics of some of my interesting findings from the past.

 one story.....a fellow i knew bought an old fish/hunt camp in lakeport,fl. that had a huge old house....he planed to remodel and bring it back to it's original grandeur....stopped by to see him a year later and seen little changes made...when asked he replied he did not know the house was built out of fl. pine that dried,and he could not cut it or drive a nail in it without a lot of work....he showed me some scraps and they could pass as a form of lighterwood.....


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## John I. Shore

saltysenior said:


> about to give up trying to find out about the mysteries of how,what,when,why lighterwood is formed....too many theories,but none can tell me how to make some from a living tree.......wish i could post pics of some of my interesting findings from the past. QUOTE]
> 
> 
> Here's one for ya, didn't see it in the post so I'll throw it out there.  I was raised in S. Ga around the Statesboro area, we used fat lighter like everyone else, to start fires ect.
> My Uncle told me how it came about, seems it has to do with when the tree is cut or killed.  He claimed that if the tree died on the full of the moon then the stump/parts would turn "Fat" (full of pitch).
> To prove his theory we cut some pines down when there was no moon, then some were cut on the full of the moon.  The ones on the full did have fat stumps where the others did not.  We had one that was struck by lightning on the full of the moon, blew the tree to bits and split it down into the ground.  A year later the entire stump and remaining limbs was fat.
> Can't prove it, but that's an ol tail from long ago.
> 
> John I.
> Messermacher


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## flogator

*Florida cracker*

At the risk of exposing my age, Lightered wood can be formed when lightining kills a pine tree. All pine trees have lightered wood (except for the very small trees) the amount is determined by the time of the year the tree died (where the sap was in the trunk). Lightining killed trees can have lightered wood in the trunk 20-30 feet high. The lightered wood is the heart of a pine tree. Years ago before paper companies there was a lot of old growth pine that were very large trees, Hence lots of lightered. people that know their lightered only pickup straight grain wood. Now the tricky part, the prime lightered wood are the 'catfaces'. If you do not know what a 'catface' is as someone who has been in the woods for over 50 years. Hint - NAVAL STORES


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## mossyjaw

Yeah poke salit,i take about 12 poke berries every morn for my artheritous,don't chew the seeds,they're poison. Mossyjaw


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## saltysenior

l.l.bean sent me a catalog with bundles of ''fat wood''for sale. they are neatly split 1/2''x 1/2''by 14''pieces sold in two size sacks......what got my attention was the notification ....''IMPORTED"


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## shakey gizzard

saltysenior said:


> l.l.bean sent me a catalog with bundles of ''fat wood''for sale. they are neatly split 1/2''x 1/2''by 14''pieces sold in two size sacks......what got my attention was the notification ....''IMPORTED"



And its only gunna get harder to find!


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## xpertgreg

I pulled a stump the other day with the tractor.  Solid fat wood.  only problem is that it had barbed wire and hog wire all through it.


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## olcop

*Fat Wood*

In Pierce County, we always called it lightered, as in fat lightered, a lightered stump, etc, a lightered knot was just that, usually a limb joint or a knot that had gone to lightered,
(yep, that was how we referred to it, "gone to lightered",
one of my favorite memories of my grand father, is him making the comment about a big rain---"hit come a lightered knot floater"----JFI ,lightered in very dense and heavy.

Thanks to you all, this is a nice read that brought back some good memories
olcop


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## Corvus

Back when my family lived in Statesboro we had a couple fat lighter stumps on the property. We've got a big chunk of the fat lighter left after nearly 20 years and it still smells good.


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## jstreich

Want to see (and read)some memories from the King of the Lightered Knot?  Check out a new pictorial book--mostly from Georgia although there are over 80 pics from all over:
  Fat Lighter: Our Southern Longleaf Heritage
on Amazon


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## jstreich

Interesting link about fatwood: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-from-Honduras-is-NOT-the-same-as-US-fatwoods!


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## Dirtroad Johnson

DLS said:


> we aways called it fat lighter --- & still do----



Me too.


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## Miguel Cervantes

xpertgreg said:


> I pulled a stump the other day with the tractor.  Solid fat wood.  only problem is that it had barbed wire and hog wire all through it.



The wire won't hurt your chain saw any more than the lightered stump will, go ahead and get yourself two or three spare chains and get to cuttin and splittin.


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## jbfitz

Me and my folks up here in the northeast ga mountains call it pine knot


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## LDHunter

I  have a hunting lease just north of Hosford Florida and there is a crew harvesting lighter stumps off of our lease and will be for another month or so...

They have some fairly new high dollar equipment and work bankers hours so I think it's safe to assume that they're making a LOT of money doing it.  

I think they said they take it to Brunswick GA to a plant there to sell it.


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## klfutrelle

Is this the same thing as kindling?


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## Miguel Cervantes

jbfitz said:


> Me and my folks up here in the northeast ga mountains call it pine knot



Same principle, different critter.



klfutrelle said:


> Is this the same thing as kindling?


All lightered stumps can be used for kindling, but not all kindling is lightered wood.


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## David Parker

5 pages and 200+ posts on flamable wood.  Luvs me some GON


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## Artfuldodger

LDHunter said:


> I  have a hunting lease just north of Hosford Florida and there is a crew harvesting lighter stumps off of our lease and will be for another month or so...
> 
> They have some fairly new high dollar equipment and work bankers hours so I think it's safe to assume that they're making a LOT of money doing it.
> 
> I think they said they take it to Brunswick GA to a plant there to sell it.



It might be the Hercules plant in Brunswick. I can remember seeing trainloads of stumps leaving or going through Douglas on their way to Hercules. I guess they are still there.
http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/7586/hercules-plant-to-be-featured-on-history-channel-show


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