Me and my stepson went for a day hike last Sunday and part of the path went through a burned out area from an old forest fire. I'm always keeping an eye out for good fatwood but didn't expect to find something this good. I was walking by an old rotting Douglas Fir log and saw something poking out that looked suspicious. This photo was taken after clearing away some of the bark and other dead wood to get a clearer photo:
I sawed the log in half with my 18" Corona saw (lots of work!) and look what popped out, two beautifully dark fatwood seams:
Closer view of one of the seams:
I've only just begun to split all this up, but here are some samples:
This stuff is so strong that I've gotten sick twice from the fumes, no kidding. It's a sweet, pitchy-like smell mixed with the smell of paint thinner and starting fluid. In small amounts it's smells good but too much and it just about makes you pass out. There is so much resin in these that it sticks to everything and the ends occasionally "sweat" just from sitting around. Some of the bars I cut after these pics were taken are solid black resin. I lit a very tiny pile of shavings in my my work area on a normally safe large metal pan that I use to test fatwood and it almost caught the rug on fire because it was shooting small roman candle-like flares out! It's the first time that fatwood ever made me sick from the fumes. It's like somebody poured flammable Hershey's syrup on the wood
Definitely the best fatwood I've ever seen.
I have a lot more to go through but I might need a breathing mask to get through it!
Cheers, CW
Closer:
Different angle (note the end is solid resin):
Different angle (note the end is solid resin):
I sawed the log in half with my 18" Corona saw (lots of work!) and look what popped out, two beautifully dark fatwood seams:
Closer view of one of the seams:
I've only just begun to split all this up, but here are some samples:
This stuff is so strong that I've gotten sick twice from the fumes, no kidding. It's a sweet, pitchy-like smell mixed with the smell of paint thinner and starting fluid. In small amounts it's smells good but too much and it just about makes you pass out. There is so much resin in these that it sticks to everything and the ends occasionally "sweat" just from sitting around. Some of the bars I cut after these pics were taken are solid black resin. I lit a very tiny pile of shavings in my my work area on a normally safe large metal pan that I use to test fatwood and it almost caught the rug on fire because it was shooting small roman candle-like flares out! It's the first time that fatwood ever made me sick from the fumes. It's like somebody poured flammable Hershey's syrup on the wood
Definitely the best fatwood I've ever seen.I have a lot more to go through but I might need a breathing mask to get through it!
Cheers, CW
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