I have been reading here about guys saying how nice it is to start the wood stove with a ceramic fire starter, so i made one tonight and tried it and yes ,it is so much better than newspapers.
If you are not a DIY , you can get one at www.northlineexpress.com for 15.oo & 7.95 shipping.
The same one that woodlanddirect.com wants 40.oo for.www.bedbathstore.com has them too for 23.95
For you DIY ers, buy a round steel 9 inch cake pan, or a rectangular steel cake pan or find one in your kitchen. You can even use the empty tin that the 2 lb or 5 lb ham comes in, as long as it is steel & has no solder joints to melt & come apart.
Now find some splinters from pallets or break up a furring strip with a sledgehammer to get splinters & place the splinters in the cake pan along with a handfull of sawdust from under your table saw or from your chain saw.
Save & wash out the first squeeze ketchip bottle you empty because you will be using it every day to squirt starting fluid in the cake pan onto the splinters & saw dust.
I use #2 fuel oil but lighter fluid,keroscene,desial fuel or any charcoal starter fluid will work as well, even mineral spirit paint thinner or you can buy The $9.oo alchol starter gel ,if you like wasting your money or have a pellet stove too & so have some of it around to use.
The saw dust makes it a solid instead of a liquid so you dont have to worry about flamiable liquid spilling near your stove.
The cake pan must be steel to withstand the temp inside your stove because aluminum or plastic will just melt & make a mess.
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Build your fire different for this lighting system.
Place 2x4 or 1/4 split rounds on right & left side of stove, then the cake pan in the valley between them. Now, 3 or 4 cross beams over the top of the pan to support your wood load.
looks like below:
0000000 <firewood
---------- < 3 crossbeams
I _ _ I < 2 large splits with cake pan between them
Make sure your cross beams are only 1 or 2 inch diameter so that they dont choke off your draft
& leave at least 3/8 inch space between your firewood so the flames can lick around them.
STARTER FLUID: dont use too much!! 2, 3 or 4 onces depending on size pan and how much kindling wood & sawdust it contains. Smaller pans with less wood & sawdust 1 or 2 onces.
9 inch pans with 6 pieces or more of kindling & a heaping handfull of saw dust ,use 3 or 4 onces. If you put too much starter fluid just add saw dust to soak it up.
You will get the hang of it inside of 2 tries. Less is better than more, or at least safer.
What 2 expect when you light it off.
expect 11 inch to 14 in flames that last about 8 to 12 minutes.
expect your entire load to be well caught in 6 to 8 minutes with stack temp of 450 to 600 deg.
if you leave your primary air wide open on start up or crack open your door 2 inches like I do.
Expect not to ever have to spend 10 minutes crumpling up newpaper again 4 each fire.
Expect to get rid of that big pile of newpapers you have been saving up.
Expext not to have to shovel so much ash out of your stove.
AND EXPECT TO GET YOUR FINGERS BURNED when you take that hot pan out of the stove to
refill it with more kindling, saw dust and starter fluid. That is ,unelse you use fireplace gloves like I do.
Final thoughts, If you use too large splits on the right & left bottom, a 9 in round pan might not fit between them. You can bend the pan a little bit, to make up about 1 inch of clearance.
Maybe a rectangular pan would be better for some folks, but tape measure your clearance before you buy a pan.
The hieght of the pan need not be more that 1 inch , but 2 or 3 inches is ok if you have the clearance, so measure first. 1 inch will fit better than 3 inch.
try this,it worked very nicely 4 me, tonight. I never burn newspaper again.
If you are not a DIY , you can get one at www.northlineexpress.com for 15.oo & 7.95 shipping.
The same one that woodlanddirect.com wants 40.oo for.www.bedbathstore.com has them too for 23.95
For you DIY ers, buy a round steel 9 inch cake pan, or a rectangular steel cake pan or find one in your kitchen. You can even use the empty tin that the 2 lb or 5 lb ham comes in, as long as it is steel & has no solder joints to melt & come apart.
Now find some splinters from pallets or break up a furring strip with a sledgehammer to get splinters & place the splinters in the cake pan along with a handfull of sawdust from under your table saw or from your chain saw.
Save & wash out the first squeeze ketchip bottle you empty because you will be using it every day to squirt starting fluid in the cake pan onto the splinters & saw dust.
I use #2 fuel oil but lighter fluid,keroscene,desial fuel or any charcoal starter fluid will work as well, even mineral spirit paint thinner or you can buy The $9.oo alchol starter gel ,if you like wasting your money or have a pellet stove too & so have some of it around to use.
The saw dust makes it a solid instead of a liquid so you dont have to worry about flamiable liquid spilling near your stove.
The cake pan must be steel to withstand the temp inside your stove because aluminum or plastic will just melt & make a mess.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Build your fire different for this lighting system.
Place 2x4 or 1/4 split rounds on right & left side of stove, then the cake pan in the valley between them. Now, 3 or 4 cross beams over the top of the pan to support your wood load.
looks like below:
0000000 <firewood
---------- < 3 crossbeams
I _ _ I < 2 large splits with cake pan between them
Make sure your cross beams are only 1 or 2 inch diameter so that they dont choke off your draft
& leave at least 3/8 inch space between your firewood so the flames can lick around them.
STARTER FLUID: dont use too much!! 2, 3 or 4 onces depending on size pan and how much kindling wood & sawdust it contains. Smaller pans with less wood & sawdust 1 or 2 onces.
9 inch pans with 6 pieces or more of kindling & a heaping handfull of saw dust ,use 3 or 4 onces. If you put too much starter fluid just add saw dust to soak it up.
You will get the hang of it inside of 2 tries. Less is better than more, or at least safer.
What 2 expect when you light it off.
expect 11 inch to 14 in flames that last about 8 to 12 minutes.
expect your entire load to be well caught in 6 to 8 minutes with stack temp of 450 to 600 deg.
if you leave your primary air wide open on start up or crack open your door 2 inches like I do.
Expect not to ever have to spend 10 minutes crumpling up newpaper again 4 each fire.
Expect to get rid of that big pile of newpapers you have been saving up.
Expext not to have to shovel so much ash out of your stove.
AND EXPECT TO GET YOUR FINGERS BURNED when you take that hot pan out of the stove to
refill it with more kindling, saw dust and starter fluid. That is ,unelse you use fireplace gloves like I do.
Final thoughts, If you use too large splits on the right & left bottom, a 9 in round pan might not fit between them. You can bend the pan a little bit, to make up about 1 inch of clearance.
Maybe a rectangular pan would be better for some folks, but tape measure your clearance before you buy a pan.
The hieght of the pan need not be more that 1 inch , but 2 or 3 inches is ok if you have the clearance, so measure first. 1 inch will fit better than 3 inch.
try this,it worked very nicely 4 me, tonight. I never burn newspaper again.
