Spark-based Firemaking with Fatwood

Practicing a little firemaking while in the Colorado mountains with Dave Hoots.
Found a rotting stump from a downed tree. Kicked it apart and found this piece of fatwood in the center. Fatwood has a very high resin content which makes it a terrific kindling.
Fatwood can even be used with spark-based firemaking. I use the saw from my Swiss Army knife to create fatwood sawdust. As mentioned above, it has a high resin content. You can smell the resin.
Here I use a ferrocerium rod to send a heavy stream of sparks into a small pile of fatwood sawdust.
As you can see, even a quarter-size pile of fatwood sawdust burns hot and bright!
Finally, here's a picture of fellow Hoodlum Dave Hoots. Yes, Dave, nice rock.
Copyright © 2002 by Bill Qualls. Last updated November 2, 2002. Back to Bill's survival page.