Best way to start a fire Paper vs Fatwood vs super Cedars or make your own (from a Cedar fence)?

Super Cedars all the way. I save my splitting scraps for kindling, but that's largely because I don't have anywhere else to put them. I'm on my third season using them and wouldn't consider switching. I'm surprised some of you still get junk mail, it must be a generational thing, as I don't receive any and often go weeks at a time without receiving paper mail of any kind.

I also save toilet paper and paper towel tubes, that thickness cardboard burning hot and quickly. I'll often put one in between two little chunks of Super Cedar and light that off to get a fire going.

"Insert your fat wood into the tunnel of love ..."
Really? This thread is going downhill fast!

do you guys (using the supercedars) buy the plastic wrapped or unwrapped ones?

iron said:

do you guys (using the supercedars) buy the plastic wrapped or unwrapped ones?

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I recommend wrapped. Bought a 100pk of unwrapped this year (100 usually last me a few years)... what a mess. They'll work but I have a separate container to store the quartered pucks in now- normally I could break the puck into quarters inside the wrapper and pry them apart to open it, much cleaner.

spirilis said:

I recommend wrapped. Bought a 100pk of unwrapped this year (100 usually last me a few years)... what a mess. They'll work but I have a separate container to store the quartered pucks in now- normally I could break the puck into quarters inside the wrapper and pry them apart to open it, much cleaner.

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Otoh, the box has an epic amount of "pixie dust" in case I wanted to do something with that. I don't have a pellet stove but I can imagine supercedar crumbles with alcohol gel would work nicely to start one (if you had to manually light it).

I can say the super cedars work well but they are VERY messy with crumbs. I appreciate the fact that it's a small company with a personal contact available through hearth.com, but I've personally found that mass produced, more affordable and less messy starters are readily available and work just as well.

I've never seen them but heard good things. Maybe they can start scoring them for less mess when split.

Babaganoosh said:

I've never seen them but heard good things. Maybe they can start scoring them for less mess when split.

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No doubt. They're good. I always try to support the small business, I am one. It's a good product, but by design, it's crumbly. 1/4 of a super cedar starts a fire, if they sold them in wedges, at a competitive price (I'd pay a little more than I do now for the Rutland ones I use) I'd buy them in an instant.
Super Cedar take note....

My kids have kindling duty & hearth clean-up duty. We use a couple pieces of paper, kindling, and one 2" long, 1/2" wide piece of a waxed cardboard produce box. Works great for us.

Always been crumpled newspaper and kindling . Never used superceader.

Use 1/4 of the super cedar to start the fire. Works every time and quick. I buy the unwrapped ones ( hate having to deal with the plastic wrap) and store them in a sealed container. I scoop up the crumbles when I get to the bottom of the box and just dump a little pile in the stove to light.

I use 1/4 or 1/3 of a supercedar, and some cut/split pallet slats. Makes for very quick start and not much smoke. I keep the starters in a 5-gal. bucket with a lid and easy to just break them apart on the edge by pushing down with the heel of your hands. Yah, probably 2 seasons usage from the 100 ct. order.

BrotherBart said:

I call that Pixie Dust. Great to wake up the coals on a morning reload.

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OK on the crumbs. Water is wet and snow is cold. diesel/gasoline smells and natural gas explodes. All flammables seem to have issues. Super Cedar is the fastest cleanest burning solid paraffin/wood firestarter by design. These crumbs are crummy, but clean up without a trace. Be sure to not let the crumbs contact your hot stove surface as it might stain for a short period until it burns off. The Super Cedar is made with food grade paraffin (candle wax) which is non toxic and safe for cat combust stoves. Speaking of cat combustors why do they not last forever? They will last a lot longer if you use Super Cedars to start them! Good night to all.
Thomas

I find that there are two types of wood burners in this world: folks who tried Super Cedars and are now avid fans and folks who have not tried Super Cedars and so they cannot fathom the idea of paying for something like this.

Well in truth, I am sure there are a few folks who have tried them and opted to not purchase them . . . but I suspect it's a very, very low number.

Are they good to go with cat stoves?

How do Super Cedars compare to Rutland Fire starters? I can get a box of 144 Rutland's for $13 that will last me a year and a half. I gather all my kindling/pieces from splitting, and use a couple of them with a Rutland Square for cold stove starts. It has never failed.

Babaganoosh said:

Are they good to go with cat stoves?

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They are-http://www.supercedar.com/cattest.cfm

bwise.157 said:

How do Super Cedars compare to Rutland Fire starters? I can get a box of 144 Rutland's for $13 that will last me a year and a half. I gather all my kindling/pieces from splitting, and use a couple of them with a Rutland Square for cold stove starts. It has never failed.

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The rutlands probably work fine then for a lower price. Lots of options out there, supercedars are just one of them. That cedar does seem to burn very hot, giving off blue flames close to the puck, so it might have an edge in situations where starting may be difficult (slightly wet wood) but for all I know rutland's product might work great there too.

For those on the fence with supercedar keep an eye on the ads that show up at the bottom of the screen. There is an email you can contact and they'll send you a sample. I think mine came in at work yesterday I wasn't there though. Looking forward to checking it out.

Aranyic said:

For those on the fence with supercedar keep an eye on the ads that show up at the bottom of the screen. There is an email you can contact and they'll send you a sample. I think mine came in at work yesterday I wasn't there though. Looking forward to checking it out.

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I started with a free sample as well and was hooked. We buy ours unwrapped and keep the box out in the garage near our wood so the mess doesn't bother me. At the end of the box I have the crumbs to use for the next fire.

Coupon Code "Hearth15" was working for a 10% discount on Super Cedar.

We use Super Cedar too. We used to spend plenty of time trying to light fires with paper & scraps. Some days we had great success, others not so much. With the Super Cedars it is guaranteed. I even scrape some of the cedar into my lump coals for my smoker and start it quickly.

I have so much kindling right now I cannot justify buying them.

I have a Jet Scorch Torch Lighter- although I don't think mine was called this when I bought it. But it is definitely the same thing and the best thing ever for starting a fire.