How to Start a Fire w/o Kindling

[Martin Strand III]

Numero Uno (aka #1) Primary Importance: Make sure you have dry seasoned wood
* Splits stored in sunlight and wind at least 6 months (smaller splits dry faster)
* Bring a few days to a weeks supply of splits inside for a week before burning (for extra dry wood)

#2: Stack large splits on bottom of firebox in layers with smallest splits on top ("top down" method)
* "Largest" split keep no larger than 5" or so thickest section
* "Smaller" splits 2" diameter on top
* Criss-cross pattern with adequate air space in between pieces in each layer

#3: Put homemade "green'' firestarter under top layer and ignite
* Use cardboard plain or grease/wax impregnated
* Dried (dried hard) citrus rinds and spent microwave popcorn bags work very well

#4: Give extra air until fire is well established (about 10 minutes), then decrease air to desired heat

#5: Sit back and enjoy

Aye,
Marty
Grandma used to say, "Work smarter, not harder."

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

yep, i never use kindling. I just stick a pice of fatwood below my 3 splits and up they go!

 

[Martin Strand III]

Friend:

Fatwood "is" kindling. Moreover, it's pricey. "Green" (see above) is lean. Green and lean is "in". Fat is "out".

Get hip.

Aye,
Marty

 

[mackconsult]

I collect waste vegetable oil for my diesel vehicles. I collect the sluf that comes off this collection.

When I cut wood I gather up and keep the sawdust. Also I collect the cups from fast food restaurants (those waxed cardboard cups).

When I want a fire starter I fill the cup with sawdust, and then the waste oil that I save. The sawdust absorbs the waste oil, and know you have a fire starter. Just put it in first before you put your wood on. It even starts my some what not dry logs ....

 

[Martin Strand III]

I collect waste vegetable oil for my diesel vehicles. I collect the sluf that comes off this collection.

When I cut wood I gather up and keep the sawdust. Also I collect the cups from fast food restaurants (those waxed cardboard cups).

When I want a fire starter I fill the cup with sawdust, and then the waste oil that I save. The sawdust absorbs the waste oil, and know you have a fire starter. Just put it in first before you put your wood on. It even starts my some what not dry logs ....

Yea! Now here's a green mean lean machine...

I dig your efforts.

Aye,
Marty

 

[BrotherBart]

One inch splits ARE what I call kindling.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

i consider the fatwood a firestarter.. i consider newspaper and small splits kindling

 

[Martin Strand III]

Ah. Semantics. Definitions. Details. Opinions. "What works for me". "Here's how I do it".

Not on same page. Chaos.

Aye,
Marty

 

[Martin Strand III]

Maybe we can agree on this: Everything is relative.

Aye,
Marty

 

[Stevebass4]

1/4 super Cedar

 

[begreen]

Everything's relative, including what is called "green". Make sure your cardboard/paper is not plastic impregnated. FWIW, using a petroleum by-product in firestarters is not "green". It is fast and frugal and can be effective. Fatwood, if just small splits of naturally resined pine is pretty green. However, if it's been transported 2000 miles to your door, then it's not. Not pointing any fingers here. I am no angel either and I appreciate Marty's tips.

Me, no problem with kindling. I use local cabinetry and flooring maker's waste. It's clean dry wood, it's kindling and with the T6, that's all she needs. Two full sized (dry) softwood splits about 3" apart N/S, 4 balls of newspaper stuffed between them, sprinkle some cabinetry scraps crosswise on the paper and light.

 

[snowtime]

Since I keep my winters supply in the basement I only use a little kindling in the beginning of the season. When I have burnt for a week or so then I have bark and chips on the concrete floor. I just take a dust pan load it up and throw it on the 2 NS splits plus a couple of balls of newspaper on top and thats all I need. Keeps the basement clean and I have no big spring cleaning job.

 

[fossil]

From the processing of firewood, I end up with tubs full of what I dub "splitter trash". A handful of that and 1/4 of a Super Cedar is what I use. Top-down, bottom-up...doesn't matter. I also have about 1/4 cord's worth of my 30 y/o cedar decking, all cut into ~16" lengths of 2" x 6". Splits when I wave the hatchet at it, and makes for great kindling. What the hell is "kindling" anyway? I think it's just whatever you use to "kindle" (get your fire going) because you can't light a decent sized split of anything with a match. I'd say "kindling" and "firestarter" are synonymous. You use cardboard (a processed forest product), I use wood (a less processed forest product). All that's important is that we get fires going when we want them where we want them. Rick

 

[gibson]

The fastest hottest fires I have had all year were started with the twigs and branches that I had my kids pick up in the yard. Boy does that stuff get rippin real fast.

 

[skinnykid]

The fastest hottest fires I have had all year were started with the twigs and branches that I had my kids pick up in the yard. Boy does that stuff get rippin real fast.

Yup!

And a blow torch works also!

 

[stoveguy2esw]

pine cones, with good dry seasoned wood a couple cones usually got me started

 

[Hurricane]

I agree those small branches that the kids pick up burn fast and hot, they do not last too long. Most of my fires are started using 1/2 firestarter and a few logs. I have never tried the super cedar before but they look good and if I get 100 they will last me for 2 generations if I only used 1/4 or 1/2 . When I start fires in the insert they usually burn for at least 5 days and up to 15 so I do not have that much need to start fires. A box of firestarters lasts me 2-3 years. Now I do use smaller wood and kindling in the morning to get the fire hot again.

 

[BrotherBart]

When we used to need to restart the stove I would just go out and break off some downed twigs off of branches and light'er up. I was out of town for a week one winter and when I got home the breezeway was full of tree limbs. Wife told me she got tired of going out in the cold and snapping twigs when she got home from work so she just dragged a bunch of branches up into the breezeway. The damn things lasted us all winter.

I did the same thing the next year.

 

[Dix]

I use the "splitter trash" (which can be quite big !), left over millwork ends, branch debris, newspapers (non glossy), fat wood, what ever is around.

Right now I have 3 garbage cans of "trash" working on more.

It works.

 

[madrone]

I've got bins to collect splitting leftovers, and branches from the oak tree in front of my house.

 

[Lowell]

I agree, 1/4 Super Cedar

 

[mtarbert]

A couple 12 inch 2x4 split small placed under a few DRY white/red/black oak splits started with a torch

 

[ChillyGator]

You can find 'fat lighter' around here just about anywhere, nearly as easy as picking dollar bills off the money tree.

I worry about storing too much in the yard, might light the whole block up in a lightning storm!

 

[JeffRey30747]

Any former boy scouts out there might recognize this but here goes...

Tinder is something small and light that has a low enough ignition point that you can light it with a match or spark. I use newspaper (and a match).

Kindling is what you light off from the tinder. I use scraps of kiln dried pine that are hatchet split smaller than 3/4" by 3/4" and usually 4 to 6 inches long.

Fuel is where the heat really comes from but is ignited by the kindling fire. The folks on this forum usually just refer to them as splits.

I don't think I'm all that old as I'm just 38, but I guess I'm set in my ways as I still build a fire from the bottom up using the three components above as I have for years and years.

BTW, "firestarter" is something you either buy in a store or make by dipping pine cones in wax. ;-)

 

[TreePapa]

You can find 'fat lighter' around here just about anywhere, nearly as easy as picking dollar bills off the money tree.

I worry about storing too much in the yard, might light the whole block up in a lightning storm!

Where is that money tree, anyway?