Fat wood

[CPH]

Hi, I collected some lovely nuggets of fat wood earlier today and would like to ask a couple of questions if I may please.
Does it have a sell by date? I mean does it lose its potency over time? And if so, do I need to keep it somewhere airtight?

 

[stonepark]

They are still digging it out of bogs and icecaps from 5000 years ago. It will keep basically for ever.

Melting ice reveals millennia-old forest buried in the Rocky mountains

Trees dating back almost 6000 years have come to scientists' attention due to ice melting in the Rocky mountains, offering a "time capsule" into the past

www.newscientist.com

 

[C_Claycomb]

More specifically but less dramatically, no, it does not have a use by date. I have some I bought and some I collected from at least 15 years ago, probably more. The resin is solid at room temperature. One is not relying on volatile compounds that evaporate.

What it does benefit from is being dried out. The resin infused stripes tend to be pretty good, but there are often less resinous zones and if they are dry, they will burn happily too. I split off bits about the thickness of one or two kitchen matches and scrape cotton bud size clumps of fluff off them, lights with a ferro rod and gives me an effective match.

 

[CPH]

They are still digging it out of bogs and icecaps from 5000 years ago. It will keep basically for ever.

Melting ice reveals millennia-old forest buried in the Rocky mountains

Trees dating back almost 6000 years have come to scientists' attention due to ice melting in the Rocky mountains, offering a "time capsule" into the past

www.newscientist.com

Ok that’s good news thank you.

More specifically but less dramatically, no, it does not have a use by date. I have some I bought and some I collected from at least 15 years ago, probably more. The resin is solid at room temperature. One is not relying on volatile compounds that evaporate.

What it does benefit from is being dried out. The resin infused stripes tend to be pretty good, but there are often less resinous zones and if they are dry, they will burn happily too. I split off bits about the thickness of one or two kitchen matches and scrape cotton bud size clumps of fluff off them, lights with a ferro rod and gives me an effective match.

Thank you. I will give the match tip a go.