Ornery Goods Fire Starter

Ornery Goods natural fatwood fire starters can be placed under your kindling or wood and lit at the ends as-is and will result in a great fire — below are some additional tips that may improve your results.

For the best results, do not simply try to light a thick piece of fatwood directly. Increasing the surface area makes ignition much faster.
  • Create Shavings: Use a knife to scrape the fatwood, creating a pile of fine, resinous dust or thin slivers. These fine particles can catch fire from just a spark.
  • Make Feather Sticks: Carve thin curls into the side of a fatwood stick while leaving them attached at the base. This "feathering" creates a high surface area that catches flames easily and holds them long enough to ignite larger pieces.
  • Splint into "Matchsticks": Split larger fatwood pieces into small, pencil-sized or matchstick-sized splints. These are useful for sustaining heat while transitioning from a spark to regular kindling.

Build your larger kindling and wood over the top of the shavings or sticks and then light with a match

Best Practices and Safety
  • Wet Weather Strategy: In saturated conditions, use a larger quantity of fatwood. Since the resin is waterproof, fatwood will light even if the exterior is damp.
  • Avoid Cooking Over It: Fatwood produces thick, black, oily smoke due to the high resin content. It is recommended to let the fatwood burn out completely (usually 10–15 minutes) before cooking over the fire to avoid a turpentine-like taste on food.
  • Indoor Use: While safe for most fireplaces and wood stoves, use only 1 or 2 small sticks at a time. Because it burns extremely hot, excessive use can potentially damage a wood stove or cause a chimney fire.
  • Storage: Keep your fatwood in a cool, dry place away from open flames. It has an indefinite shelf life because the resin hardens and preserves the wood.