my first top down... with pics

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abby4000

New Member
Oct 6, 2009
54
Ontario, Canada
Decided to try a top down fire for the first time. I must say they are much better and initial burn times are hotter and longer.
I think I am hooked on this method of lighting fires. Splits north south with some small pine kindling on top of the splits then paper knots on top of the kindling.
 

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I may have to revisit trying top-down, having a hard time lighting my not-seasoned-enough wood. Thanks for the pics!
 
My own experience with top down fires was a miserable failure the first few times . . . but the one time it worked and worked well I was hooked . . . and now it is a pretty easy thing to do.
 
You call that pine "kindling"? Holy cow, unless there is something I'm not seeing I call those "small splits" if they were split wood.
 
Nice pics pine is great for starting fires.
 
Good thing you were talking about your fire.
 
Highbeam said:
Good thing you were talking about your fire.

You beat me. ;-)

Done the top down - sideways - bottom up - flame thrower - inside out and right side up fire starting. I still go back to fire starter two N/S kindling (for air gap) and load the stove up. Light. I have timed them all - and I still go back to the boyscout days.

Nice pics

Note: if you used less kindling, you could get more splits in there. :lol:
 
Looks good. For every task there are countless ways to get it accomplished. Glad you found a method that worked for you.

firefighterjake said:
My own experience with top down fires was a miserable failure the first few times . . . but the one time it worked and worked well I was hooked . . . and now it is a pretty easy thing to do.

yep, me too. Now I wouldn't do it any other way. I found I was failing my first few times because I didn't have my kindling close enough together.

Jags said:
Done the top down - sideways - bottom up - flame thrower - inside out and right side up fire starting. I still go back to fire starter two N/S kindling (for air gap) and load the stove up. Light. I have timed them all - and I still go back to the boyscout days.

Agreed! I'm an eagle scout and I can tell you first hand that all the years of camping and the fires we started as a kid, and the experimenting we tried along the way, nobody once suggested going from the top down. Had they, I could only assume this would be the result.

7814_5260_thumb.jpg


Today, I wouldn't go back. Although I can't convince my wife to even try it despite her seeing my success. She's always afraid she'll fail and stink the house up.

pen
 
joefrompa said:
You call that pine "kindling"? Holy cow, unless there is something I'm not seeing I call those "small splits" if they were split wood.

Joe, I'm with you. Those 2 x 2s are too big to be kindling in my book. I lay down some large quarter round hickory or oak splits on the bottom, then some small splits (about like those in the pics or slightly larger? Then some kindling, pencil size sticks of cedar I cut myself from cedar fence posts. Then I tuck six to eight newspaper knots around and on top of the kindling. It fires right up and gives me a great start every time. I leave the one side of the stove door open about an inch and the venturi effect gets a blaze going quickly. I really like this method.
 
pen said:
Looks good. For every task there are countless ways to get it accomplished. Glad you found a method that worked for you.

firefighterjake said:
My own experience with top down fires was a miserable failure the first few times . . . but the one time it worked and worked well I was hooked . . . and now it is a pretty easy thing to do.

yep, me too. Now I wouldn't do it any other way. I found I was failing my first few times because I didn't have my kindling close enough together.

Jags said:
Done the top down - sideways - bottom up - flame thrower - inside out and right side up fire starting. I still go back to fire starter two N/S kindling (for air gap) and load the stove up. Light. I have timed them all - and I still go back to the boyscout days.

Agreed! I'm an eagle scout and I can tell you first hand that all the years of camping and the fires we started as a kid, and the experimenting we tried along the way, nobody once suggested going from the top down. Had they, I could only assume this would be the result.

7814_5260_thumb.jpg


Today, I wouldn't go back. Although I can't convince my wife to even try it despite her seeing my success. She's always afraid she'll fail and stink the house up.

pen

Is that a power or atomic wedgie??
 
thanks for the replys all

yes the "kindling" is quite big. However every year i get a big load of off cut 2x4's from my truss plant then rip them down to what you see in the pics. to be honest, I am too lazy to cut them even smaller. They do work great! I get them in the summer and dry them right out, even though they are cutt from KD lumber i dry them so much that I can literally get them light with just a match.
I also think i used to much kindling and have adjusted my quantities on subsequent starts.
This method is really working well for me.

thanks again
 
abby4000 said:
thanks for the replys all

yes the "kindling" is quite big. However every year i get a big load of off cut 2x4's from my truss plant then rip them down to what you see in the pics. to be honest, I am too lazy to cut them even smaller. They do work great! I get them in the summer and dry them right out, even though they are cutt from KD lumber i dry them so much that I can literally get them light with just a match.
I also think i used to much kindling and have adjusted my quantities on subsequent starts.
This method is really working well for me.

thanks again

So long as it works, you are safe and you are warm, you have hit the trifecta. Nice work.

pen
 
I have always been a bottom up type, mainly because I have had so many open fires in the past.

However, having seen your pictures, I am willing to give this a try.

Thanks for putting the pictures on!!!!!
 
Is that considered a true top-down fire? Looks like the paper is under the kindling to me.

Seeing others discussions, a true top down would have the paper on top, fine kindling under that, thicker kindling, small splits, then normal splits. Light the thing off and it starts to burn like a candle. In my experience, it does seem to work as long as you have 4-5 sizes of wood to keep the burn going. But if you make too big of a jump, the fire can stall or go out completely.
 
Top down is not for me. I got it to work a few times but when it does not work, what a pain to try to light a fire with a full box. Also now that I am hearing all the issues with paper in the chimney screen causing clogging and I can only believe this method would add to that problem. The way I start a fire is rake the coals forward, put a big split in the back. Lean two small splits teepee style in the front, put 1 piece of paper or fire starter over the coals, a couple of little twigs or wood chips from bringing in wood, and I got a fire going really fast, add two splits and I am done. But to each their own.
 
GolfandWoodNut said:
Top down is not for me. I got it to work a few times but when it does not work, what a pain to try to light a fire with a full box. Also now that I am hearing all the issues with paper in the chimney screen causing clogging and I can only believe this method would add to that problem. The way I start a fire is rake the coals forward, put a big split in the back. Lean two small splits teepee style in the front, put 1 piece of paper or fire starter over the coals, a couple of little twigs or wood chips from bringing in wood, and I got a fire going really fast, add two splits and I am done. But to each their own.

If you are referring to the thread titled something like "lighting with paper clogged my cap" if you continue reading you'll find his cap plugged again w/out using paper.

I light my fires exclusively w/ paper and have never seen any evidence of any piece of that paper even looking like it's going to exit the stove.

pen
 
pen said:
GolfandWoodNut said:
Top down is not for me. I got it to work a few times but when it does not work, what a pain to try to light a fire with a full box. Also now that I am hearing all the issues with paper in the chimney screen causing clogging and I can only believe this method would add to that problem. The way I start a fire is rake the coals forward, put a big split in the back. Lean two small splits teepee style in the front, put 1 piece of paper or fire starter over the coals, a couple of little twigs or wood chips from bringing in wood, and I got a fire going really fast, add two splits and I am done. But to each their own.

If you are referring to the thread titled something like "lighting with paper clogged my cap" if you continue reading you'll find his cap plugged again w/out using paper.

I light my fires exclusively w/ paper and have never seen any evidence of any piece of that paper even looking like it's going to exit the stove.

pen
Pen, I know what you are saying I am one of the people that had a clogged cap. Especially with the EPA stoves with baffles I think it would be hard for paper to make its way up to the cap. Although I think it was Carbonneutral said he could read newsprint the one time, so I guess some people do get paper to elevate. Still i am not a big fan of top down.
 
Nice pictures! I've posted it before, and I'll do it again. Love top down fires. Also, they are are good for air quality since there are reduced particulates. Better for our indoor air quality, since we don't have to open the door so often, so less backdraft. Some research says that woodstoves can cause problems for people with asthma or other respiratory problems. Less particulates matters to me, we have a daughter who may have asthma.

Top down also really makes sense for me because the hottest part of the flame is making contact with the splits you want to ignite.

I like them too because once you learn how to do it, it is really easy. I've taught my teenagers how to do it, and they can start a fire now. That's a big deal when the house is cold and especially if something happens, and the parental units get stuck in town. We get very cold weather and sometimes lose power for days on end. Top down for us is a sure deal. It took a couple of tries and then I had to show my husband, but it was well worth the learning curve for us.
 
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