There are between 105 and 125 species classified as resinous pine trees around the world. The pitch-soaked wood produces an oily, sooty smoke, and it is recommended that one should not cook on a fire until all the fatwood has completely burned out. A small piece of fatwood can be used many times to create tinder by shaving small curls and using them to light other larger tinder. It lights quickly even when wet, is very wind resistant, and burns hot enough to light larger pieces of wood. At every stage of the aging process, fatwood will burn readily, unless excessively damp.īecause of the flammability of terpene, fatwood is prized for use as kindling in starting fires. New fatwood leaks the sticky sap, while in aged fatwood the sap has hardened and is no longer sticky. Over time the evaporation of the terpene changes the state of the sap it slowly gets thicker until it hardens into resin. Composition Ĭoniferous tree sap is a viscous liquid that contains terpene, a volatile hydrocarbon. In 1648, a company was formed in Sweden called Norrländska Tjärkompaniet (The Wood Tar Company of North Sweden), and was given exclusive export rights for pine tar by the King of Sweden. ![]() ![]() The commercial use of fatwood from stumps stemmed from the production of pitch and pine tar. Using fatwood lighters while working in Olaus Magnus' Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (1555)
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