Kindling now or later?

I get a fair amount (probably a few months worth) of kindling ready before the season. I split mine to about an inch too. I also have a pile of stuff that's about 2-3 inches that I lay N/S in the stove. Put paper between and kindling on top. I also burn top down every so often. The reason I get my kindling done in advance is convenience--I am able to select rounds that are very easy to split and I don't have to worry about the weather. Additionally, I can be sure that my kindling is as dry as can be.

I use splitter trash, and pallets for my kindling, ready to go before season starts.

We use certain trees mother nature brings down for kindling, basswood,quaking aspen and white pine. I usually have it done about a year ahead, because of the wamer winter....burning 24-7 we had three quarters of our kindling left over from last year so I split some dead pine early one this summer to fill the rack.

zap

I have one of those 4 foot diameter metal hoop wood racks inside the house that is totally full of kindling. I use a small one inch square chunk of the walmart firestarter block to ignite the kindling so the kindling can be split pretty large. Mine is actually 1x2" stuff and a little twisty since it was just the less knotty red alder splits. If all goes well, I may be able to significantly reduce my kindling consumption this coming year.

I have a small chopping block and hatchet on the stone hearth for the fireplace, which is near the wood storage for the stoves. I split some kindling when I need to start a fire. I also collect splitter chips and other kindling-sized stuff and keep it in a five-gal. plastic bucket which then sits in the wood storage bin I have built under the stairs beside the fireplace. So, whatever. I don't split kindling ahead of time, takes fifteen seconds to get enough for a fire start.

I have a wood shop, so lots of cutoffs to use, after I make 'em the length I need.
I also pick up small branches every time I take a walk out back. I usually have a hand-full by the time I get to the woodshed. Three seasons of doing that and I can have more kindling than I'll need.
Still working through the pile of stuff from a few years ago when I had some trees milled. Lots of slabs and strips/stickers.
Splitter trash too. Plenty of that to pick through.
I made my own firestarters this year with sawdust/chips from the shop and melted wax inside an egg carton. Egg carton is one of those compressed paper things. Tried one a month ago and it burned well for over 10 minutes. You can buy the wax in the grocery store, or get old candles from garage sales really cheap.

I split it when I split everything else. It gets tossed on the top of the stacks. I'll fill up a Rubbermaid trash can in the fall, and leave it in the garage.

Since we use slab-wood from a local pallet maker and it gets delivered in a dump truck, we usually end up with about a face-cord of kindling per load. It's all the odds and ends, pieces, chunks, bark and splinters that don't stack gracefully from the milling process. We keep it in a separate pile and utilize it along with Super Cedars to get the fire going fast and hot!

joecool85 said:

For those of you that have to cold start their stoves a lot, do you get your kindling all split and ready before the season or as you need it?

Also, what size do you split your kindling to? I normally try to get it down to 1" or so square-ish and then a few pieces about twice that size.

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Yes and yes . . . some kindling I split ahead of time and ferret it into my woodpiles . . . and some of it is stacked in a shed.

Other kindling I split when needed -- these are typically softwood slabs I have placed in my regular stacks in the woodshed. During the course of the winter when bored or when needed I will take the slabs and split up some kindling.

Size -- 1-2 inches in diameter . . . typically.

I use Super Cedars, but cannot shake my Kindling Habit . . . the Super Cedars just get the kindling going that much faster.

Forgot to add size.
Small branches up to about 3", and the stuff from the garage is a variety...

I tend to make my kindling as I go. I will take an ash split and hack it down into one inch or so sticks of wood about 6-8 of them. I use kindling because when I tried to use small splits and fire starters I noticed it took awhile longer for those small splits to catch fire and they would smoke more during start up (smoke is something I hate to see coming from my chimney). Kindling burns hot because its smaller and smokes less. I did find in the mail the other day my free trial of Super Cedar firestarters so I will try those out this fall.

Kindling is quick, easy and sort of fun to make using a hydraulic splitter. We've used lots of soft maple for kindling for many, many moons. We still use it but tend to use much less once we started using super cedars.

As for making the kindling, we simply make it at the same time as we are splitting the years cutting. To stack it, it works really nice to shove into the cribbed ends and then it is also handy for getting when it is needed. I also have a box that we fill with kindling every so often when we cut a lot of soft maple.

When I get wood there are usually a couple of really large maple rounds. I tip the driver a couple of dollars and ask him to make some 6"cookies for me. He uses his commercial saw and chops them up in no time. I save them for when I'm a little sore from too much splitting. Once I use the maul to quarter the cookies I use a hand axe to do the final splitting. They get split into 1", 2", and 3" square kindling. Fill a bunch of milk crates and leave them stacked in the garage. The kindling is split at about the same time as the the full size splits and has a year or so to season.

KaptJaq

I use my splitter trash and bark depending on tree species. If I need more than that I split it as I go.

I still have a pallet full from last year and after last years snow storm, I cut the small branches and got another pallet full. I like to have it ahead of time so its nice and dont have to worry about it thoughout the winter.

I use the dead branches off the trees I fell. I figure I have to either haul it off chip it or burn it. MIght as well burn it.

PapaDave said:

I also pick up small branches every time I take a walk out back. I usually have a hand-full by the time I get to the woodshed. Three seasons of doing that and I can have more kindling than I'll need.

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Small branchwood works as kindling? I've thrown away at least 9 utlitly trailer loads of that stuff in the last two weeks alone! Any good thunderstorm brings down at least a few trailer loads in my lawn, so I'm out there picking up branches about once a week, this time of year.

A woodworker, and ever working on additions / modifications to houses, I always seem to have just about as much framing and trim lumber scraps as I need for kindling. When that runs low, I just grab my hatchet and split some off the straightest / easiest splits in my main pile. Like SteveKG said, it only takes a few seconds.

Always best to get things done when you can...never know what the future holds.

I like getting the kindling ready now, so it's tinder dry and lights up really easy when the cold weather comes.

I often use old pallets for kindling, the thin pine just lights up almost like fatwood.......

I never specifically split kindling. I just pick up the small pieces lying around after I split wood and toss that in a bucket or box in my garage (or ask my little helpers to do that). I also pile up smaller branches and twigs under my deck which will also make good kindling. There was not any shortage the last winter despite frequent cold starts.

I got an electric splitter like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Pow-Kraft-655...=1345152055&sr=8-8&keywords=electric+splitter

And have been using it to make kindling. Jimmy rigged some foot pedals to run it, and it works great. Inevitably I have some logs that are shorter than my usual length (say, 12-14" instead of the 18") and I cut these down to kindling size. I would recommend doing it sooner since they continue to dry.

Sam