Lightning Nugget Firestarters

[Battenkiller]

Anybody tried these yet?

Lightning Nuggets

They look like they'd certainly do the job. Made entirely of pitchwood (fatwood) and food-grade paraffin. Like a SuperCedar on steroids.

* 100 fire-starting nuggets for quickly starting any fire, indoors or out
* Non-toxic and environmentally safe; pine scented; unlimited shelf life
* Made of pitchwood sawdust and food-grade paraffin wax; no residue left behind
* Only 1 needed; no need for newspaper and kindling or messy lighter fluids or gels
* Measures 11 by 7 by 5 inches

Price is right, too... just over 25 cents each, and free shipping from Amazon.

I just may try a box. They'll probably last me three or four years the way I burn, but they are supposed to keep indefinitely so at least they won't go bad on me.

 

[joefrompa]

Serious question: I've been starting fires now by crumpling up normally around 8 sheets of newspaper. I have a free subscription to the WSJ, so it's no big deal for me to always have paper on hand.

I've tried starting fires with supercedars and one other form of firestarter and neither worked as quickly or thoroughly as the newspaper route.

Granted, I'm sure I didn't set them up right, but I'm not yet sure I see the value compared to the newspaper approach....when done properly do they really launch a fire that much faster/easier????

Joe

 

[tickbitty]

I got one (or maybe two) of these free with my stove. It was OK but I prefer the supercedar quartered.

 

[Treacherous]

(4) Medium splits, no kindling and half a Super Cedar. It's almost too easy. All my newspaper is now at the recycler. I think you can increase clogging of a rain cap with a spark arrestor if you use too much paper. If you don't have an arrestor that is probably a moot point.

 

[BrotherBart]

A quarter of a SC is 16 cents. I will stick with the cheap route. :smirk:

But I would like to hear the Professor's analysis of how the Nuggets work out.

 

[Frostbit]

I ordered a box of 100 of these last week from Amazon...free shipping here, too. Price is right, we'll see how they compare to the Super Cedars and post results. Mine ought to be here in a week or so.

I'm only in because of the free shipping, btw...most sites offering free shipping exclude Alaska, for obvious reasons.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Serious question: I've been starting fires now by crumpling up normally around 8 sheets of newspaper. I have a free subscription to the WSJ, so it's no big deal for me to always have paper on hand.

I've tried starting fires with supercedars and one other form of firestarter and neither worked as quickly or thoroughly as the newspaper route.

Granted, I'm sure I didn't set them up right, but I'm not yet sure I see the value compared to the newspaper approach....when done properly do they really launch a fire that much faster/easier????

Joe

Yes.

I did it your way for many, many moons. Now it is done with super cedars and my wife can even start a fire now.

My method differs a bit from most on this forum but it seems to work our very well for us and 1/4 of a super cedar won't send us to the poor house.

 

[Battenkiller]

I got one (or maybe two) of these free with my stove. It was OK but I prefer the supercedar quartered.

Interesting. Why so? I thought with that fatwood and wax they're made of they'd burn like a mini road flare. I figured they were smaller that the SCs because of the size of the box, but I also figured that a whole one would throw out more flame than a 1/4 SC. Am I wrong about that?

They also make a smaller size called "Lightning Bugs". You can get them directly from the manufacturer for $32/250. Seems good for a guy like me because I don't even use 1/4 of a SC when I use them. The secret is in the kindling, not in the napalm used to light it, and a small fragment of SC has been enough for me. After all, I may be even cheaper than Brother Bart.

 

[BrotherBart]

If you look at their videos those suckers don't even get rocking like the red hockey pucks.

With a glass in the door SCs are something else to watch. :cheese:

 

[Battenkiller]

Ah-ha, pretty anemic burn, eh? OK.... maybe I'll pass. ;-)

 

[bboulier]

I just got my free sample of Super Cedars from Tom Reynolds this week and started a fire today with a quarter of a round. Wow! I was amazed at how quickly the fire started. Much better than newspaper alternatives. In terms of burning qualities (not necessarily news content) from best to worst: Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Washington Enquirer, Washington Post, Washington Times. Hmmm. Perhaps I am spending too much time reading newspapers.

 

[Frostbit]

Update:

I bought a box of 100 Lightning Nuggets from Amazon ($24.95 with free shipping). Have been using them for a few weeks now.

They work just fine. I've used the Super Cedars, too, so as a comparison...

No real difference. The LN's are a deal with the free shipping (still going on, I just checked Amazon). No offense to the SS folks, they make a great product as well, its just pure economics.

The LN's are molded in a half-ball shape. They cut easily through in half to make quarter-balls. No kindling or paper, set between two splits, fire in the hole.

They are working swell. I think one could even quarter them.

 

[buckstove]

Only thing i've ever used is the nuggets and newspaper. Nuggets seem to work just fine for me plus lowe's sells them so I can get them when I need them no ordering.

 

[bboulier]

Thanks for the report on the Lightning Nuggets. My eldest son got me a box of SuperCedars for Christmas, so I won't be using any new starters for awhile. I used a quarter of one on Sunday to start a chimney of charcoal for barbecuing some ribs. I'll never go back to newspaper again. No mess, no clouds of newspaper ash, and no risk of starting the surrounding area on fire. (Well, less risk - it's always best to keep a close eye on a chimney starter, especially if there is any wind.)

 

[Jagtec1]

I got some Lightning Nuggets at Lowe's not long ago for use in our fireplace. I still have some left and will use them up when our stove is installed. They work quite well, but I really have nothing to compare them to.

 

[termv]

I'll use the SS since they advertise here and I like these forums. They also sent free samples to forum members which converted me from using the newspaper method. Otherwise I would have never stopped using newspaper.

 

[bboulier]

I belong to a barbecuing/grilling forum (weber bulletin board: http://tvwbb.com/groupee?s=98110183&cdra=Y). Recommended there that they might try the SuperCedars.

 

[Battenkiller]

I got some Lightning Nuggets at Lowe's not long ago for use in our fireplace. I still have some left and will use them up when our stove is installed. They work quite well, but I really have nothing to compare them to.

Ask Tom for the free samples (I think I got two, not sure), then try them on a volume-by-volume basis and let us know. They are a superior product, and they do advertise on the forum here, so your purchase helps to support Hearth, at least indirectly.

I was set to take advantage of the Christmas special he was offering at the same time I was confronted with a large, blue tote of dry pine sawdust leftover from my chainsaw carving. I looked at the tote, looked at the 20 pounds of canning wax I'll never use since we don't make jelly anymore, looked at the tote again, looked at the junk saucepan I kept for no particular reason (except mental illness), and decided to try my hand at my own. PowerPines.

My previous attempts at these things worked, but I was using way too much wax. I noticed that my SC samples were a lot less dense than the ones I've made in the past, and then I realized what was wrong. A little too much of a good thing. Less is more with these, you only need enough wax to hold them together. Too much and it melts out all over the bottom and doesn't give you that flame height that makes the SC starters work so well. Problem is it's hard to do this on a small scale, because you have to thoroughly mix the wax and sawdust at high temps, then press it together with a lot of weight (I used plywood and a 270 pound Battenkiller), let it cool, and then cut them into small pieces.

Now that I've managed a product that I feel is the incendiary equivalent of the SC starters, I won't bother again. Not worth my time. I need all of that time to fulfill my professorial role here on Hearth, educating newbies and saving the world one dry split at a time. ;-P

'Cides.... I'm a 24/7 burner. Haven't used a half dozen of my starters so far this season.