kindling and firestarters

[Avitare]

after 30 years of using my JOtul Combi (midget) ,..
I am using some store bought fire starters with a little guilt. Seems like cheating
Still just break off a chunk to get the scrap wood going ,.. but I tire of the newspaper roll-ups

btw: there was a day (when I didnt have grey hair) and we didnt have anyother source of heat,..our woodstove went 24/7 and I
HONESTLY recall one match winters. But that was a lot of focus attention and like having a puppy at home that needed attending by the
clock.

But, now, I have central heat and a much bigger home. Same stove but we tend to stoke the fire when we get home or get around to it.

What is your favorite fire starters ??
tc

 

[ClydesdaleBurner]

Super Cedars are my favs. You can get 4 starts out of 1 firestarter disk/puck.

They light super easy and last a while. It kind of is like cheating, but its nice to know that once I light that super cedar I can leave the stove alone for a couple hours without having to worry about it not getting started.

 

[SWNH]

Firestarter gel from Walmart. Good for starting the draft also.

 

[firefighterjake]

I'm cheap so I generally use kindling from white cedar . . . although this year I've also been using the remains of my camp which I converted into a woodshed (or as I call it Firefighterjake's Love Shack Camp Version 2.0).

As for the gray hair . . . be happy . . . at least you have hair . . . my wife is always giving me weekly reports of how my bald spot is growing at an alarming pace . . . before long I suspect my pate will be as deforested as the Brazilian rain forest.

 

[Tfin]

I get the cheap ones from Wally World and break each stick into quarters. This gives me 96 fire starters for like $10.

I'll never go back to newspaper again......unless I had to of course. Guilt in this case is over rated.

 

[wendell]

I use SuperCedars. Not only do they work great but you are supporting a sponsor of this site which makes it possible for us all to be here!

 

[Bigg_Redd]

I still split kindling. Western Red Cedar needs little more than a match to start which is why I hit it for a few seconds with the MAPP gas torch.

 

[spirilis]

cheap StarterLogg's from walmart, those don't light by themselves with a match though (maybe I got a bad batch?) so I use a tiny squirt of firestarter gel from walmart and light that. but those starterlogg's don't light my woodbrickfuel by themselves, so I use them to light some kiln-dried kindling pieces and pallet wood pieces (those burn hot & very fast). That starts the inferno. Once the woodbrickfuel chars underneath the top brick (on top of the teepee), it lights off and voila.

One of these days, I should see if the pallet wood lights off by itself with firestarter gel... I know the kiln-dried kindling doesn't, at least larger pieces don't. Oh well, just working with what I have at the moment

 

[Tfin]

You must of got a bad batch then.....mine light right up with one match and burn long and strong.

 

[Danno77]

has anybody figured out how much fatwood would cost if it was a full cord worth? OK, a 50lb box of fatwood is 67.50 online (didn't search this out) a cord of pine weighs something like 2700lbs that means 54 boxes would be equal in weight to a cord of pine. so you'd spend $3645 for a cord of pine, lol.

I know it's more complicated than that, but has Fatwood been discussed more thoroughly around here? why does it look nice and fresh if it's from a stump of a tree that was cut down decades ago? Does it really ignite easier and get a fireplace/woodstove going faster than pine split very small and dried to perfection?

 

[WES999]

I have been using the $10 box of fire starters from Wall Mart.
I use 2 pieces,1 in sq, one on each side of fire box, and some pallet wood.
Light with propane torch. Works like a charm.

 

[Slow1]

With a warm (fire out, might be a spark in the coals, but stovetop is like 90 and warm to the touch) stove lately I have taken to putting a few (like 4) pieces of 1" square, 12" long pieces of pallet wood kindling on top of the the chunks I have filled the bottom 1/3 of the stove with. Lots of air gaps and edges down there. Then I smash an egg carton, tear the top and bottom of it apart, place the two pieces on top of the kindling, light the carton and close the door. That has done the trick for me the last two fires. Generally I start out with air at 4, then once the egg carton is burned up the kindling is burning bright and some chunks have started so I reduce air to 2, (5 minutes or so), then shortly after, maybe another 10 minutes I have air down to 1.5 and it is just wait until temp is ready for cat engagement.

When stove is cold I use a few more pieces of kindling, and maybe another egg carton. We saved them all summer. I find they burn nice and hot and are easy to stick in there without any mess, bow tying etc.

I've also used a piece of SC, but it adds about 5 minutes to the startup time unless I am careful about how I stack the kindling around it to get it to light off quicker.

 

[tiber]

Well in my FIREPLACE (sobs quietly to himself) I use the little twigs and other crap which comes off the trees I haul out. Also if I get lazy and use the chainsaw to break something up, I usually have a pile of sawdust to pack between the twigs. Goes up real quick.

My wife also makes candles as a hobby, so sawdust/dryer lint into an egg carton with wax poured over it burns like you can't believe. With a layer of ash in the bottom of the box, I'm not concerned about drippings.

 

[Stevebass4]

clean the ash out of the insert when i get home

1/4 super cedar, some kindling and a few new paper rolls - she's blazing in 30 minutes

 

[bfunk13]

I have 3 trash cans full of small splinters that accumulate at the bottom of the wood splitter.
One piece of newspaper, few splinters and some good dry wood and whala.

Brad

 

[Archie]

Don't know if it's my favorite yet, but so far so good. I'm using empty milk and juice cartons made of waxed cardboard. I remove the plastic ring around the spout first.

 

[shredd_guy]

This might be bad but I clean out the lint trap from the dryer and put cedar scraps on top with some junk mail and payed bills.

 

[katwillny]

I use the 10 box from Wal-Mart, i break them into 4 pieces and go from there. I also use pine cones that i get the kids to gather up in the backyard. As long as the cones are fully open and not too much wax on them Im usually ok with using them. Dont laugh, but sometimes when is really cold out and or windy, i use the wife's blow drier to get the draft going. Id rather spend 40 seconds with the drier up the chute than smoke backing in.

 

[North of 60]

I use lint from the dryer and lightly stuff it into an empty toilet paper role. I never make kindling. I just take the normal size wood (pine & spruce) out of the pile and criss cross it for the 1st burn on a cold stove and put the TP role with the lint at the front base. Light it and keep the door cracked until I can feel heat from my double wall pipe and close the door. I usually only start a new fire from scratch about 2-4 times during the heating season.

 

[tiber]

This might be bad but I clean out the lint trap from the dryer and put cedar scraps on top with some junk mail and payed bills.

Oh that's what I'm doing wrong - PAID bills!

 

[northwinds]

I use Rutland Firestarter Squares. It only takes one little square to light a fire, and the box comes with 144
squares. A box lasts a long time.

I like the dryer lint idea though. I'm going to start saving the dryer lint and toilet paper tubes. Give my family
another reason to think I'm crazy.

 

[crazy_dan]

This might be bad but I clean out the lint trap from the dryer and put cedar scraps on top with some junk mail and payed bills.

works great with a flint and steel too lint takes a spark really well.

 

[maverick06]

Well I use 2 different things
1) birtch bark! (surprised noone mentioned it). I cut a birtch tree down and pulled the bark off of it before burning the wood.
2) starter logs cut into small 1" cubes. Bought the box at BJ's, makes about an infinite amount of starters.

And yes, I use natural kindling (sticks and whatnot), but after getting home from work I dont want to put the effort in. birtch bark is great!

 

[Avitare]

Seems like many creative ideas that I have never thought of (like dryer lint and propane torches)

there was referance to sawdust. We have lots of sawdust in our workshop but anytime I tried to burn a pail full-- it just smoldered
Does anyone have suggestions of making sawdust a good firestarter ??

I a now looking for those free pallets !!
And I have mounds of bark that fell off while splitting next years wood--

I will have to stop a wally world for that gel

tc

 

[Valhalla]

Use natural kindling here. Branches and twigs are collected into some cardboard boxes and kept in the shed. Starts great and no chemical odors.

When we take a summer or winter walks, we bring back a branch or two. Then break them up into the boxes. Use the oldest as the dryest. Unlimited supply.