Speaking about kindling

Right on Brotherbart, could not have said it any better myself burn it all!

velvetfoot said:

Is it possible to burn branches in a stove for heat? I've seen some of my neighbors gathering and piling up ~3' lengths of branches <= 3" in diameter or so. Maybe they have a stove that can take 3' lengths? I'm thinking it's too much work, ie, not worth it.

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Velvetfoot,

We don't heat with per se, When processing the tree, i leave them in like 6-8 ft lengths, and have them in a neat pile by the woodshed, we go through a 1/2 cord of them a year. Fall and spring more so because of the stop/start cycle 1. our wood is big 2. we have a large soapstone stove-quick heat 3..as a matter of convenience it is a nice to have for starting and quick coals..4. Outside fire pit....

When in the 6-8ft lengths i cut it with a big bow saw in a saw horse , it is easy because if you have 10 minutes you cut a few or if your waiting for something it passes the time..keeps the pipes in shape!

I use old cedar fence posts that I have in a pile. Cut them to lenght and split them with the hachet. In our outdoor Chimnea it takes 3 narrow peices, some newspaper and a little cardboard to get 2 or 3 four inch diameter maple logs going strong. I think this should work when I get the woodstove installed. I have tons of small branchs in our woods that would work as well but the cedar is really nice. The down side to the cedar is that it pops until it's consumed.

We burn all our Coke cases and other colored cardboard in the Chimnea. Sounds like I might not to do that in the woodstove. What's a good alternative...lots of newspaper? That's colored too although I think they use non-toxic ink.

I think the concern may be that more smoke is likely to enter your indoor air space when lighting the fire than when its already burning? Yes any wood will produce harmful emissions when burned but there are much more toxic things to burn than wood so why go above and beyond?

I actually tried to track down anyone at the EPA who has done indoor air quality testing with the modern low emission stoves, but so far I have not been able to find any studies. I have talked to someone that has done interesting indoor air testing on things like candles and incense and another guy that tested woodstove emissions (outdoor), but neither of them could refer me to anyone that has done indoor air testing with modern woodstoves.

The American Lung Association doesn't seem to think burning wood in anything is a very good idea:
"Fireplaces and woodstoves, and even special equipment such as wood pellet combustors and EPA Phase II Certified woodstoves, produce orders of magnitude more particulate matter than well-tuned oil or gas devices producing equivalent heat."

BrotherBart said:

minesmoria said:

Right on Brotherbart, could not have said it any better myself burn it all!

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I think people should burn responsibly as much as the next guy. I just have to shake my head when we get excited about a few pieces of paper or cardboard and then turn around and burn five cords of oak, 26,000 lbs, that emits all of this stuff:

www.webcom.com/~bi/pdfs/WoodSmokeChemical2003.pdf

EPA or pre-EPA. The only thing missing in the clear heat flumes is the particulate matter. And yes I burn that 26,000 pounds of oak year in and year out. Except for the years that I burn 36,000 lbs.

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back to the original (speaking about kindling)
i use oak floor cut off's and the cut off's from the job site also. the oak is the best. 6 inch long and split in half or in 3's.
i'm not trying to start something here (other than a fire in a stove) but reading people's modified top down to me sounds like the same as starting from the bottom. except you have two splits below.
i do the top down method. (thank you marty)
start with 2 or 3 large splits and add smaller splits while working your way to the top with small on the top.
then criss cross kindling (oak floor cut off's) and then small twigs then 4 pieces of newspaper rolled up then tied into a knot on top then 1 or 2 pieces of newspaper rolled up into a ball, light that ball and close door down to 1/4 inch and that starts the chimney draft. once going in about 2 minutes close door and i'm all set when the stove gets hot enough my automatic spring draft control starts shutting the air down.
works like a charm.
a lot less smoke on the startup. i would say about 1/4 the amount of smoke.