fatwood

thumb|Slivers of fatwood, used for starting fires. thumb|Fatwood holder made of clay with fatwood stump, lower Rhine area, Germany, 18th or 19th century thumb|Holder for kindling stick, Källsjö parish, Halland – Nordiska museet, Stockholm Fatwood, also known as "fat lighter", "lighter wood", "rich lighter", "pine knot", "lighter knot", "heart pine", "fat stick" or "'''lighter'd'", is derived from the heartwood of pine trees. The stump (and tap root) that is left in the ground after a tree has fallen or has been cut is the primary source of fatwood, as the resin-impregnated heartwood becomes hard and rot-resistant after the tree has died. Wood from other locations can also be used, such as the joints where limbs intersect the trunk. Although most resinous pines can produce fatwood, in the southeastern United States the wood is commonly associated with longleaf pine (Pinus palustris''), which historically was highly valued for its high pitch production.

==History== thumb|Using fatwood lighters while working in Olaus Magnus' Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (1555) The commercial use of fatwood from stumps stemmed from the production of pitch and pine tar. In 1648, a company was formed in Sweden called Norrländska Tjärkompaniet (The Wood Tar Company of North Sweden), and was given exclusive export rights for pine tar by the King of Sweden.