What is Punky Wood?

What is "punky wood" and why should you care?  Punky wood is cited as a useful item in several fire starting articles on this blog and is frequently mentioned in survival articles and on shows like Survivorman. We're all familiar with pine, poplar, cedar, cottonwood and willow trees.  But ever seen a punky tree? Didn't think so.  So -- just what the heck is "punky wood"?

Punky wood is a the partially decayed wood you find in dead trees and logs (of any species).   It is usually light in weight and quite dry.  It usually appears checkered or alligatored and is soft so it can be easily scraped away for use.   Often it is white or a reddish brown in color, soft to the touch, and spongy..  It makes good tinder for starting a fire and when a lot is used (like a whole log), creates a lot of smoke that purportedly has medicinal properties for treating foot fungus and for use as a "smoke shower" to kill bacteria on the skin.   It should be dry and should be easily crumbled between your fingers.  Sometimes you will find damp deposits on the bottom of a log.  Don't despair.   You can scrape some off and set it aside to dry before you use it.  You might use damp punky wood for smoke shower or signal fire as long as it isn't so wet it puts out your fire or just won't burn.

Punky wood is recommended as a target for sparks when using flint and steel and as one of the preferred substances for use as tinder in a fire piston.  It would also make good tinder for optical fire starters like magnifying glasses. For best results grind it into a fine pieces or almost a powder when attempting to light it with a spark source.

One of the advantages of punky wood is it is usually readily available in many wilderness situations.   Look for a log laying on the ground or a broken off or hollow tree or dead branches and there is a good chance some of it will be partially decayed.  Punky wood sources are usually not good for any kind of construction use.   The decay will have weakened the wood and it may contain insects you wouldn't want crawling out of your walls or bed frame!

Punk up!