Tired of starting fires

Long shoulder season here in TN, too. Going through a ton of kindling for a before-bed fire and a warm-up-the-house fire in the morning. Of course when it's cold I'll be b**ching and moaning about that, too. :lol:

What I liked most about Michigan was how much it reminded me of NH. But you folks have better salmon fishing!

We've had one heck of a warm November. Right now I'm sitting in the stove room with a fan blowing cold air on me. We're doing the same thing, start at 5pm, stoke at 10pm, and that keeps the house warm all day. The heat has yet to kick on (grateful) but I'm curious how we'll do this year. Last year was the 1st with the stove/wood. NOW I'M READY!

Same here. Baskets of kindling and small rounds....stacks of newspapers....and just a few big splits in the wood rack. When cold sets in for good, there is no newspaper or kindling to be found near the stove and the wood rack is heaped with long, hot burners!

My garden cart is filled with newly scrounged kindling and kept in the garage to stay dry. My big old under the tarp heap is nearly exhausted already!

The upside is getting to have the door open and fresh, chilled air blending with the warm circulating air. That I really enjoy.

Me too, luckily I have the back of my pickup loaded with kindling I picked up from a co worker who has tons of scraps from wood working projects.

btuser said:

What I liked most about Michigan was how much it reminded me of NH. But you folks have better salmon fishing!

We've had one heck of a warm November. Right now I'm sitting in the stove room with a fan blowing cold air on me. We're doing the same thing, start at 5pm, stoke at 10pm, and that keeps the house warm all day. The heat has yet to kick on (grateful) but I'm curious how we'll do this year. Last year was the 1st with the stove/wood. NOW I'M READY!

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It has been a bit warmer than normal around here, which is great for the firewood supply!

With my little VC I've been knocking the chill off in the evenings and then filling it all the way up around midnight, shortly thereafter closing the draft and engaging the down draft. I don't touch it in the morning, and when I get home from work after 5pm I open it up and it still has a decent bed of hot coals to get started on the next cycle.

Good source for super dry kindling is old abandoned barns. They were usually built from hemlock or pine. Boards are super dry and easy to cut with a skilsaw and chop with a hatchet. Dang near get them goin with a match - no paper.

Kindling a wood at the ready. I have fired the VC Resolute three times so far. It just doesn't seem cold enough here in AsheVegas to bother.

But I have a lot of wood laid in for when it does get cold.

Bring it on. I am ready.

Pagey said:

Long shoulder season here in TN, too. Going through a ton of kindling for a before-bed fire and a warm-up-the-house fire in the morning. Of course when it's cold I'll be b**ching and moaning about that, too. :lol:

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Found a great source of kindling a couple of weeks ago - martial arts schools that use pine boards to practice breaking with. Once broken they are done and make excellent kindling. One board can be split into about half a dozen nice sized kindling pieces. One class can fill up a huge trash can (55gal.)....All free.

I've been wearing out the pine kindling as well, though my source isn't nearly as novel! :lol:

schortie said:

It has yet to get cold in Michigan - still in the low 40's at night. I've been starting a fire nearly every evening just to take the chill off. I stoke it before bed and that's it. It seems like I'm going through more kindling than real splits. Can't wait for roaring fires and piles of red hot coals. My wife even asked when we would be able to get the stove really rolling. Bring on the cold!

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Well, I guess COLD is a relative term, but here in MY neck of the woods (Mi, too), I've gotten up in the a.m. to 19* as the lowest so far. Not COLD, but gettin' chilly.
24* the last couple nights. It'll be here before you know it, then the "geez, when's all this cold gonna' be gone" comments will start.
Got a pretty good fire going right now, with stove @ about 550* and 70* in the house. Definitely going thru some splits. Started with small fires in the evening, and again in the morning. First one was on Sept 28th. I like to be warm. :cheese:

definiteLEE said:

Good source for super dry kindling is old abandoned barns. They were usually built from hemlock or pine. Boards are super dry and easy to cut with a skilsaw and chop with a hatchet. Dang near get them goin with a match - no paper.

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I'm starting to eyeball some rooms here - been a while since we gutted one - can't beat lathe for kindling.

szmaine said:

I'm starting to eyeball some rooms here - been a while since we gutted one - can't beat lathe for kindling.

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I've heard of people burning their wood furniture when times get tough but never heard of anyone tearing apart a room just to burn the lathe!

Shari

1 - I got me a mini-maul just for splitting wood into kindling in the garage. Only take a few minutes to split a few pieces up into kindling. Sure I use the scraps in my yard and other scraps from wood processing but this is easy as it gets once that runs out. This is only what I found quickly with a search. Mini has a hard plastic handle and the head is a bit different. Besides, just making the kindling warms me up.

http://www.gardenerstoolshed.com/mini_maul.html

2 - I don't know about you guys but i only add wood at night and then in the AM. If there are not enough coals when I get home - I make some kindling to get a fire going before bed. This keeps the house warm enough right now. In another month I am sure the wife will be adding wood when she gets home and we will keep that sucker roasting away.

3- The kindling process does not stop for me, as when I start burning the Jotul, I need kindling every day after work and sometimes in the AM.

You can never have too much kindling on hand. Making kindling:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/41171/

In the interest of being "green", I'm using my roof for kindling. I had my 33 yr. old cedar shake roof replaced this summer. They did the tear-off, I did the clean up. So, I have a spare shed filled to the roof with old cedar shingles. Don't need paper to light this stuff up, burns beautifully. - Contact your local roofing companies, see if anyone is replacing a cedar shake roof? I'll bet they'll give it away.

Last night I pretty much kept the house warm with about 8 pieces of kindling at a time and the house was still 74 in the lower level. I did load up 4 small splits before bed since I didn't care of the lower level was too warm since the bedrooms are upstairs.

szmaine said:

definiteLEE said:

Good source for super dry kindling is old abandoned barns. They were usually built from hemlock or pine. Boards are super dry and easy to cut with a skilsaw and chop with a hatchet. Dang near get them goin with a match - no paper.

Click to expand...

I'm starting to eyeball some rooms here - been a while since we gutted one - can't beat lathe for kindling.

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+1. Old lathe is what we've found to be the very best of the best.

As for the cold, wait just one more week.

Tons of red cedar (actually a kind of juniper) in the 5-10 acre lot subD where I live.
I split em, bring 'em in the house and store 'em so they get really dry. Being cedar,
bugs aren't much concern with keeping it inside.