Starting a fire via the tunnel of love®

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begreen

begreen

Mooderator
Staff member
Nov 18, 2005
104,680
South Puget Sound, WA
Started a fire this morning and thought I'd document it for folks wondering about different methods for firestarting. This method works well in stoves that allow North/South loading because the air feeds the fire down the tunnel of love®.

Started off with two medium sized fir splits placed about 4" apart. 4 balls of newspaper were placed between them. Then 4 pieces of construction scraps were placed criss-cross on top. I made the kindling by taking a hatchet to 2x6 end cut-offs. Light and let it ignite with the door open a little. These shots were taken 1-2 minutes apart.

setup IMG_1328web.jpg ignite IMG_1329web.jpg IMG_1330web.jpg IMG_1332web.jpg

split added IMG_1333web.jpg IMG_1334web.jpg add wood IMG_1335web.jpg IMG_1337web.jpg burning good!
 
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Thank you for sharing i will give that a try this weekend when the cold front passes.
 
Interesting route... Will have to keep that in mind to try.
 
Oh boy, I hope this doesn't start a top down fire debate_g . I can still remember the last one.;lol
 
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Top down works too. Sometimes I do it that way just for fun. In this case I deliberately started this fire with newspaper because some folks don't use starter. The total elapsed time was about 20 minutes.Stove top at 30 minutes was around 500 and climbing which is pretty good for this massive beast. I turned the air all the way down and it leveled out at 650F. This is not the best loading job. I'm burning irregular uglies right now so there are more air gaps than I like.

Another fast method is to stack a couple levels of kindling, lincoln log style, on the two bottom splits. Then place a quarter disk of supercedar underneath in the middle and ignite. That is also a nice fast start.
 
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Neat to see. It works better for me if I put the two logs closer together- just shy of an inch apart, then one other log across just above the 1/4 supercedar sitting underneath the adjacent logs. Works 100% of the time with no tinder, no newspaper, and no kindling. It's so easy and fuss-free that I'll never do it another way.

The only real trick to it is that the two logs need to match pretty well, sort of like if you split a half-round in two then just pulled the two splits an inch apart from one another. The flame from the supercedar running up between the two logs is what gets the fire going.
 
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I always think of this method as making a little burn chamber inbetween the two big splits. As the kindling burns up it falls in the tunnel of love and it keeps a nice hot spot of heat concentration there.

Ok here you go Begreen can you change the words a little?

 
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Patapsco Mike said:
Neat to see. It works better for me if I put the two logs closer together- just shy of an inch apart, then one other log across just above the 1/4 supercedar sitting underneath the adjacent logs. Works 100% of the time with no tinder, no newspaper, and no kindling. It's so easy and fuss-free that I'll never do it another way.
Click to expand...

Yup, that will work too. Supercedars make it easy. When I'm in a hurry getting ready for work I might just put a couple small splits over the super cedar and then a bigger one on top. Doug fir is great for starting fires, so is pine.
 
begreen said:
Started a fire this morning and thought I'd document it for folks wondering about different methods for firestarting. This method works well in stoves that allow North/South loading because the air feeds the fire down the tunnel of love®.

Started off with two medium sized fir splits placed about 4" apart. 4 balls of newspaper were placed between them. Then 4 pieces of construction scraps were placed criss-cross on top. I made the kindling by taking a hatchet to 2x6 end cut-offs. Light and let it ignite with the door open a little, let it start. These shots were taken 1-2 minutes apart.

setup View attachment 78459 ignite View attachment 78466 View attachment 78465 View attachment 78464

split added View attachment 78463 View attachment 78462 add wood View attachment 78461 View attachment 78460 burning good!
Click to expand...

This inspires some confidence for me, seeing the veterans here sanity checking the techniques. Thanks for posting the pics. I've been doing pretty much the same thing lately with a tiny variation - I separate the 2 bottom splits (maple, birch) a bit more, and add a 3rd smaller mid-size-ish piece of pine or cedar between them for 3 rows on the bottom. Couple small bits of newspaper between the pine and maple rows, then the kindling on top of that (a dogs breakfast of pine, cedar, small bits of maple or birch, maybe a small 2x4 scrap). This is probably really redundant info for those posting here for a long time, but thought I'd toss it in, fwiw...
 
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Now, this is all started n-s....I'm supposing I could continue that E-W, get him up to temp and go about my business? I swear people have done that, or am I incorrect?
 
James02 said:
Now, this is all started n-s....I'm supposing I could continue that E-W, get him up to temp and go about my business? I swear people have done that, or am I incorrect?
Click to expand...

That is what I do now that I am burning E/W in the 30-NC. I use N/S to get a coal bed and then load E/W on top of the coal bed. For just a morning burn I use three splits the size BG used. Two on bottom and one cocked like that third one BG added with a hunk of Super Cedar under it and you get a nice fire with a small load.
 
Yes, when burning in winter I often load the next level of splits E/W once the bottom splits are fully afire. But I always use N/S for starting.

PS: That first load is still burning, about 7 hrs later. Stove top is down to 325F, but it's 50F outside so I'm letting it idle.
 
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begreen said:
Another fast method is to stack a couple levels of kindling, lincoln log style, on the two bottom splits. Then place a quarter disk of supercedar underneath in the middle and ignite. That is also a nice fast start.
Click to expand...

thats how i do it, works great for me
 
As Vanessa says (could resist) "every wood burner developed their own way." It's nice to see some alternatives. Every stove and set up is different. I was taught growing up using the "throw it in, then throw more in, then throw more in until you reach the "oh crap" level then you stop throwing stuff in. A hand full of scraps and several wads of paper, then after that gets started throw some small spits in, then when that catches throw some bigger stuff in, etc. Glad I learned other methods here before I got the stove at this house.
 
begreen said:
Started a fire this morning and thought I'd document it for folks wondering about different methods for firestarting. This method works well in stoves that allow North/South loading because the air feeds the fire down the tunnel of love®.

Started off with two medium sized fir splits placed about 4" apart. 4 balls of newspaper were placed between them. Then 4 pieces of construction scraps were placed criss-cross on top. I made the kindling by taking a hatchet to 2x6 end cut-offs. Light and let it ignite with the door open a little, let it start. These shots were taken 1-2 minutes apart.
burning good!
Click to expand...
Looks good BG! I do something similar on the T-5 except I place 2 splits NS with a small gap between them then a small scrap in that gap (optional) then on top I place 2-3 small splits EW across the 2 NS pieces. I place 1/4 of a Super Cedar onto the NS "tunnel" light it up then full air until it's ablaze.. Works very well! Love those Super Cedars!

Ray
 
Reload 12 hrs later. Not bad for a loosely loaded batch of softwood uglies.
 
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The tunnel or what some used to call here "the cave burn" can get exciting. If you have one of the stoves with "doghouse" air you load it N/S with the doghouse air shooting right between the two splits on the bottom with one on top of them. Light it off and when the stove is up around 400 stove top close the primary air down around half, go over to the recliner and buckle your seat belt. You are going for a ride.
 
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Come to think of it i have been doing the tunnel of love fire starting all fall this year.
 
Good point. Our doghouse feed (EBT) is closed for the season.
 
And all this time...I thought this was a normal method... or is there something I'm missing here. This is identical to the video shown by Jotul for starting methods on Youtube. Except....east west. Good to be confirmed by the Old/wise ones!
 
Begreen isnt old, he just knows his stuff!
 
Huntindog1 said:
Begreen isnt old, he just knows his stuff!
Click to expand...
Wise is the word that comes to mind ;).. BTW that stove you have is a heat monster! I looked at your pics and the stovetop temps were insane. My T-5 has never seen temps that high.. Rather scary!

Ray
 
Am I the only one that doesn't use kindleing or little splits?

I just throw in a stove full of birch, stick a firestarter inbetween a few logs and that's it. Stove is cooking 15-20 mins later.
 
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