What are the pro's using to start the fire ?

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firefighterjake said:
I go old school like Woodjack . . . kindling, newspaper and a match . . . although I do a modified top down fire . . . and once in a while to mix things up and make things really exciting I will add a small cereal box or Pop tart box on top . . . and a few times I have even used a Bic lighter when I was feeling really wild and crazy.

Whoa Jake - slow down. Sounds like your burning your candle from both ends.
 
I use only 93 octane gasoline and the fat drippings from animal sacrifices. :coolgrin:

If that doesn't work, I quarter a Super Cedar.

If that doesn't work, I call Brother Bart.

If all that fails, I consult Tsar Bomba. :lol:
 
logger said:
Im not spending money on cedars when the newspaper and small splits are free.

Not only was the local paper not free, it was lame as well. I saved a bag of them for future use, bought some Supercedars, and deep-sixed the subscription. :)
 
Not only was the local paper not free, it was lame as well. I saved a bag of them for future use, bought some Supercedars, and deep-sixed the subscription. :)[/quote]

That is a great point, that even the newspaper is not free...I didn't think this post was going to pump up Super-cedars really thought it was going the way of Bic lighters and torches. I figured someone was going to post about their Acetylene torch set up in their living room...Oh well. I thank everyone for your input great ideas to try, never heard about the candle wax and we all know about SC so thanks. I think I 'll stay with my Ranger days of paper and a Bic for now...Oh and my cup of coffee...of course.
 
Lighting Up said:
Not only was the local paper not free, it was lame as well. I saved a bag of them for future use, bought some Supercedars, and deep-sixed the subscription. :)

That is a great point, that even the newspaper is not free...I didn't think this post was going to pump up Super-cedars really thought it was going the way of Bic lighters and torches. I figured someone was going to post about their Acetylene torch set up in their living room...Oh well. I thank everyone for your input great ideas to try, never heard about the candle wax and we all know about SC so thanks. I think I 'll stay with my Ranger days of paper and a Bic for now...Oh and my cup of coffee...of course.[/quote]
Most of my pro firestarting is with a Zippo OUL, otherwise I just use a Bic. Your topic might of given you a better response if you requested it from no pro's! Just for starters.
 
Paper, then cardboard, then pallet wood, then splits stuffed North/South. We burn one fire a night and its usually hot in the morning. Weekends I get a burn from Thrusday night to Monday morning, but during the week its not worth heating the house for the dog.

I tried buying the little wax squares, but its just another processed thing. Kinda like Lunchables vs making your kid's lunch. I throw out enough fire starter without spending money on it. Dry wood helps too.
 
Most of my pro firestarting is with a Zippo OUL, otherwise I just use a Bic. Your topic might of given you a better response if you requested it from no pro's! Just for starters.[/quote]


No, very happy with the response received, have new ideas. Your point well taken... just thought we are all Pro's...at least in our own minds. thanks again
 
Lighting Up said:
Most of my pro firestarting is with a Zippo OUL, otherwise I just use a Bic. Your topic might of given you a better response if you requested it from no pro's! Just for starters.


No, very happy with the response received, have new ideas. Your point well taken... just thought we are all Pro's...at least in our own minds. thanks again[/quote]
OK, I am fine with all this. I wanted to make sure it didn't look like you were giving a plug for Super Cedar with the topic. I can't afford any more endorsments!
Thomas
 
:lol: kerosene!
 
summit said:
:lol: kerosene!

Laugh if you wish. For many years in the old stove I used one of those smallest size Dixie Cups with a little kero in it to fire off that stove. Worked like a champ. Two N/S splits with the cup between them and one split on top over it.

The Super Cedars cost about the same and don't make your fingers stink.

They are my retirement luxury expense.
 
When I started the stove back in October, I used half a Super Cedar. I'm saving the other half for a cold night in April.
 
I work at a plywood mill, so we have shavings/sander dust that I mix with hot wax, only instead of an egg carton, I "borrow" a handfull of Wendy's mustard cups (the wax paper ones) and fill them up. That way, when you are out in the woods, you can throw one in your pack, and it will burn 15 min. on its own.
OR, I just use credit card offers and dry splits:)
 
Great to see all the different (and sometimes creative) ways that folks use to get their fire going. I'm a newbie and a dedicated Reduce-Reuse-Recycler, so I have a few questions for the experts regarding making your own firestarters:
- Will any kind of wax work, or does it need to be clean, unscented parrafin?
- I have two giant bags of shavings from planing cedar boards. Only problem is that the boards were painted with a water based solid color stain (100% acrylic) so some quantity of that is in the mix too. Would these shavings be okay to use as part of my firestarter concoction?
- How about using the wax-coated cardboard boxes that fruit is shipped in? I thought I recalled reading that cardboard was a no-no in wood stoves...

As always, thanks for sharing your experiences!
 
We use 'noodles' - from some overly large soft maple rounds that we had to quarter so they we small enough to lift to the splitter. We have about 5 thirty gallon bags - anyone want some?! :)

Shari
 
ChillyNoMore said:
Great to see all the different (and sometimes creative) ways that folks use to get their fire going. I'm a newbie and a dedicated Reduce-Reuse-Recycler, so I have a few questions for the experts regarding making your own firestarters:
- Will any kind of wax work, or does it need to be clean, unscented parrafin?
- I have two giant bags of shavings from planing cedar boards. Only problem is that the boards were painted with a water based solid color stain (100% acrylic) so some quantity of that is in the mix too. Would these shavings be okay to use as part of my firestarter concoction?
- How about using the wax-coated cardboard boxes that fruit is shipped in? I thought I recalled reading that cardboard was a no-no in wood stoves...

As always, thanks for sharing your experiences!

Any kind of wax will work. You will find that different sizes of sawdust/chips/shavings will require different amounts of wax to get it to "stick" together. (I prefer the fine sawdust).

As a rule of thumb, one should stay away from burning stains/paints etc. The burning process will release bad stuff up the stack and kill the neighbors dog.

When it comes to cardboard stay away from shiny print. Raw cardboard is fine in small amounts, but I am not real sure of the makeup of the "waxed" stuff, so no comment on that.

And for what its worth (about the cost of this post) - keep in mind that you are talking about small amounts of any of this stuff. Its a fire starter, not a bonfire.
 
madrone said:
logger said:
Im not spending money on cedars when the newspaper and small splits are free.

Not only was the local paper not free, it was lame as well. I saved a bag of them for future use, bought some Supercedars, and deep-sixed the subscription. :)

I dont get the paper, but take old ones from families, friends, and work. I've heard nothing but good things on the cedars and my bro uses them, but until the free stuff fails...
 
I spend about an hour on the splitter every year and make my own kindling.
My 5 year old son also collects a ton of pine cones under the tree out back.
I only use newspaper/junk mail during the shoulder season or when it's mild out (like this week)........otherwise it's 2-3 sticks of
kindling on a good coal bed in the morning with a medium split on top....crack the door.....
.....go make coffee...come back...... shut the door ......air control wide open......raging inferno in about 20 minutes.


WoodButcher
 
Never have a problem getting my stove to take right off with one of these.

DIYFlameThrower.jpg


pen
 
Pine Cones
 
neverrude said:
Pine Cones

Pine cones work great, we have a gigantic Norwegian Spruce that drop tons every year.

WoodButcher
 
I'm old school as well with lighter, newspaper and kindling, but recently modified it to a top down using fine splits with knotted newspaper to get things going. We have only had to relight twice so far this season to do maintanence. Just a suggestion for outside bonfires, we now use waxed cardboard boxes filled with newspaper, kindling and splits. Just "discovered" this method recently and it works amazing!
 
Been using the cardboard egg carton/shavings/wax method for over 20 years to make fire starters for camping in the rain, but I would never need more than the amount of dry kindling I can fit in one hand and a small glowing ember to start a fire in a wood stove. Ever since I was a kid and we read a story in school about pioneers starting the fire every day from yesterday's embers, I've been a bit obsessed with the idea. I'm not in a big hurry (I work in the home), so I grab my coffee, pull out a fist full of various sizes of kindling, three small dry splits and I'm off to the races. There's always a few pieces of charcoal and a spark of life somewhere in there.
 
birch bark works great.
 
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