TL;DR
Natural fire accelerants are materials that burn more readily than dry wood alone — they reduce friction fire difficulty dramatically, help start fires in wet conditions, and simplify the kindling stages. Fatwood is the most valuable: it finds it by the root ball of pine stumps, splits to small shavings, and lights with a lighter or ferrocerium rod in nearly any conditions.
Fatwood
Fatwood is pine heartwood saturated with accumulated resin. The same resin that makes pines smell like pine makes fatwood nearly waterproof, highly combustible, and capable of sustaining flame even in wet conditions.
Finding fatwood:
The best source is dead pine stumps — specifically, the area where the roots join the trunk below ground level. This is where resin collects and concentrates. After the sapwood rots away over years, the dark, dense, resin-rich heartwood remains.
Signs of good fatwood:
- Color: orange, red-brown, or dark amber — distinctly different from the gray weathered surface
- Smell: strong pine or turpentine odor when scratched
- Feel: slightly sticky or oily when fresh-cut
- Density: noticeably heavier than the surrounding decayed wood
- Sound: when struck together, a dense, solid sound compared to hollow or soft sounds from decayed wood
Other sources: pine knots (where branches attached to trunk), the base of old pine trunks, and occasionally the resin-saturated lower sections of pine stems.
Preparing fatwood:
Split fatwood into shavings or thin sticks with a knife. The shavings catch flame easily from a lighter or spark and burn hot enough to ignite larger kindling even in damp conditions.
Feather sticks from fatwood: Carve a feather stick by slicing thin curls from a fatwood stick without detaching them — they curl away from the stick in a spiral. The increased surface area makes them even easier to ignite.
Pine Pitch
Fresh pine pitch (the sticky sap exuding from wounds on pine trees) and dried crystallized pitch (white or yellow crusty material on pine bark) are both useful.
Uses:
- Small amount of pitch on the end of a fatwood stick creates a long-burning torch
- Pitch scraped into a tinder bundle dramatically improves fire starting
- Pitch balls (collected pitch rolled into golf ball-sized balls) are portable fire accelerant — place in a fire to intensify it
Limitations: Burns with heavy, black, acrid smoke. Avoid breathing the smoke directly. The smoke marks skin and equipment. Not appropriate for cooking fires.
Birch Bark
Birch bark contains high concentrations of oil (betulin and related compounds) that make it one of the most fire-friendly natural materials. It ignites from a flame even slightly damp and burns intensely.
How to use:
- Peel thin sheets from the outer bark of birch trees (dead birch preferred — taking bark from live trees creates entry points for insects and disease)
- Curl into cones or tubes
- Use as Grade 3 tinder or as kindling accelerant
- A single fist-sized piece of dry birch bark can ignite even reluctant wet kindling
Birch bark pitch: Birch bark can be heated to produce tar (birch tar), which is an even more concentrated flammable material with adhesive properties. Historically used to seal canoes and as an adhesive. Scraped birch bark heated in a contained metal container produces this material.
Dried Fungi as Natural Tinder
Several fungi species produce excellent tinder that burns slowly and holds a coal.
Fomes fomentarius (horse hoof fungus, tinder fungus): Gray bracket fungi on dead birch and beech. The inner spongy layer (amadou) ignites from a spark and smolders slowly. Historically used in fire-starting kits across Europe for thousands of years — amadou has been found in 5,000-year-old archaeological sites.
Preparation: Harvest the bracket fungus, slice open, and remove the soft inner layer. Dry completely. Pound the amadou flat to increase surface area. The denser, drier the material, the better it catches.
Ganoderma species (artist's conk): The dried bracket with a white underside that can be written on. Less effective than amadou but the dried interior material burns reasonably.
Other Natural Accelerants
Dried inner bark of tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera): Known for being one of the most fire-friendly inner barks in eastern North America. Shreds easily, ignites readily, burns hot.
Dried sagebrush: The oils in sagebrush make it catch fire readily and burn hot. Common in the arid West. The dry outer bark of sagebrush shredded fine is excellent tinder.
Dried cattail heads (late season): The cottony seed material is extremely flammable. Burns in a fast flash — good for catching a coal and transitioning quickly to kindling.
Petroleum jelly on cotton: Not natural, but extremely effective improvised accelerant from most household kits. Cotton ball coated in petroleum jelly burns for 3-5 minutes from a single flame — a complete fire-starting package.
Sources
- Mears, Ray - Bushcraft Survival
- McPherson, John - Primitive Wilderness Living and Survival Skills
Frequently Asked Questions
What is fatwood and how do you identify it?
Fatwood is the resin-saturated heartwood of dead conifers, particularly pine, that has become saturated with accumulated tree resins over years of decay. The sap wood rots away; the heartwood, protected by resin, persists. Fatwood is identified by: dark orange or reddish-brown color compared to surrounding gray wood, strong turpentine or pine resin smell when scraped, and a slightly oily, tacky feel when cut. It lights easily, burns hot, and works even slightly damp.
Where do you find fatwood in the field?
The most reliable locations: the root ball of dead pine stumps, where resin drains and concentrates over years. The knot where branches attached to the trunk of a dead pine. The base of dead pine trees where the wood meets the ground. Look for the heaviest, darkest, most resin-saturated sections of dead pine. A stump that has been standing for 5-15 years is often ideal — long enough for sapwood to rot, not so long that the heartwood has fully decomposed.
Can pine pitch (sap) be used directly as a fire accelerant?
Yes. Fresh pine sap is flammable and burns well, though it smokes heavily. Dried, hardened pine pitch (the crystallized sap on the surface of trees) burns even better and can be scraped off and used as a fire accelerant. Collecting pitch into a ball and placing it in a fire dramatically increases burn intensity and duration. Pine pitch torches (pitch collected on the end of a stick) are historically used for light and fire starting.