Starting a fire

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glenncz

glenncz

Member
Oct 12, 2012
20
Here is how I start a fire and it has worked foolproof for many years. I buy a box of firestarter nuggets and a box of short Dixie cups. I wrap a nugget in half a paper towel and stuffing it into the cup. I make up the whole box at one time. When I need to start a fire, I have a spray bottle with kerosene and I give the paper toweling a couple squirts before putting it in the hearth. The kerosene sprayed toweling will light easily and start the nugget. You can now load your wood on top of the burning nugget and it will start just about anything. You don't need to worry about using kindling.

I have an insert. Most mornings, If I loaded up before bed, I won't waste a nugget. I have a box full of splitting scraps that I throw on top of the coals, then add a few pieces of wood on top. I open the drafts and then I usually close the door but close the latch before shutting it and this let's a little more air in to give it a quicker start. After about 20 minutes I properly close the door.
 
Kerosene in a woodstove? No thank you.
 
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I've got some sorta phobia about flammable liquids in my insert, even the slightest amount. Me, a couple of small chuck of Fire Starter, a thin Pine split or two as Kindling, a couple of smaller spits with a bigger one draped across the top.
 
kerosene - just a couple of squirts to wet the paper towel so the firestarter catches.
 
glenncz said:
kerosene - just a couple of squirts to wet the paper towel so the fire starter catches.
Click to expand...

Glenn, Good Idea on the fire starter , On this public board they dont talk about Kerosene as there are too many newbie lurkers that are not safe using things like that. Yes in the hands of a experience person , but on this board they all ways go for Safety First. Old Timers used Kerosene all their lives with no problems but its not for just any person new to wood burning as they could blow up the stove.

For any newbies, I will elaborate here for a moment, if a person puts kerosene in the stove and some of it mistakenly drips on a hot coal a gas or smoke will come off that coal and if the door gets shut you now have a more enclosed area and more gas builds up then a spark in the stove ignites it all and kaboom or if your door is open it might blow stuff out at you.

Another thing is if kids watch a person squirt kerosene in a stove and then one day they think they are big enough to try it while no ones home and bad things can happen.
 
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I push a button on the wall ;)
 
White birch bark, tucked under neath your kindling...and a few small splits on top of that. Light the bark and sit back and enjoy a trouble free fire with little effort. No chemicals, no buying stuff at the store. Give it a try.
 
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Here is how I start a fire and it has worked foolproof for many years. I buy a box of firestarter nuggets and a box of short Dixie cups. I wrap a nugget in half a paper towel and stuffing it into the cup. I make up the whole box at one time. When I need to start a fire, I have a spray bottle with kerosene and I give the paper toweling a couple squirts before putting it in the hearth. The kerosene sprayed toweling will light easily and start the nugget. You can now load your wood on top of the burning nugget and it will start just about anything. You don't need to worry about using kindling.
Click to expand...

Show us one manual that endorses that method. I can show a dozen that say don't ever do this without even trying hard. It's mentioned multiple times in your Hybrid-Fire manual.

Screen Shot 2014-10-28 at 7.39.47 AM.png
Screen Shot 2014-10-28 at 7.41.13 AM.png
 
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Personally, I use kindling with Birch Bark. However, I have not had to use anything since I got my new BK Chinook 30...there are always coals. I used to take a half-sheet of news paper and twist/tie into a knot. My wife and I would make hundreds of these at the beginning of the season and store them in a box. Then I would split a large pile of kindling. I would make a cradle with two 1/4's and put three of the knots in the middle. Then I would take 4 pieces of kindling across the top and stack 3-4 more 1/4's on top....light....off she goes. (the fire, not the wife).
 
a few sheets of newsprint and a few pieces of shaved cedar siding (saved from when i resided my house). few small pieces of oak splitters or branches and shes up and running. Well seasoned wood is a burners best friend!
 
I don't see why in the world anybody would even keep a spray bottle of stinking kerosene in there house for fire building. Honestly, it's just not that hard to build a fire. By the time this thread is done there will probably be over 40 good suggestions and none of them involving flamable liquids.
 
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tarzan said:
I don't see why in the world anybody would even keep a spray bottle of stinking kerosene in there house for fire building. Honestly, it's just not that hard to build a fire. By the time this thread is done there will probably be over 40 good suggestions and none of them involving flamable liquids.
Click to expand...
It's stinky too. This thread is closing. Been discussed already many times here.
 
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