Running the stove video?

Is the info good or bad?

That is how i start my fires.

Although it sounds completely crazy, try building your fires upside down. Couple of splits on the bottom with lots of criss-crossed kindling on top. Bigger kindling lower down and smallest stuff on top. Throw a couple of knotted (not scrunched) newspapers on top and watch it go. Better yet, skip the newspaper and use a 1/4 super cedar. It really does produce less smoke while catching just fine.
PJ

I tried the top down last winter and had a smoking mess. May try it again cause now i have seasoned wood.

I watched that one several times just not gave it much thought great tips.

Do you think i would have better luck then my first try? Also i have a big box of fire starters called strike a fire from lowes.

What he said! The trick is dry wood with lots of air space and a super cedar.

Thank you begreen.

I may check in on the superceders i used the ones i have now before i run out of seasoned wood last year. I could start fire with normal splits with the that brand last year before running out of seasoned wood.

That may be my problem.

15-20 pieces of kindling? WTH?
Never. Not here.
And, the larger pieces/splits go in when everything else goes in. No prob, Bob.
Dry wood is key.

When i do use kindling but just 10 maybe 12.

Sincei have a thread going got a Q that just came up. I have a cast iron steamer that i just cleaned is it ok to season it with oil in my oven like cast iron pots.

I'm with BeGreen. 3-4 pieces of kindling is plenty. If you run out of kindling, no problem. A super cedar will still start the fire nicely.

I also do not use a top down fire but not a bottom up either. Just something I played around with over the years. I usually lay 2 splits in the bottom and try to form a slight Vee. On that goes a super cedar and it gets lit right away. Then I lay 2-4 pieces of kindling and on top of that goes another split. Fire is all set for several hours.

I have plenty kindling probably wont use it much since i have fire starter.

First time or two I tried a top down it didn't work well for whatever reason . . . third or fourth time I think was a charm . . . have never looked back . . . now I forget that "normal" folks don't light fires this way and I get weird looks when I light a fire like this while camping, in the fire pit, etc.

Edit: It works best if you dance Gangman Style in front of the stove while the fire is starting.[/quote]

Your funny BB.

Ill try and get some pics of my fire when get it going still not cold enough in here. I guess that will wait till in the morning.

I sucked at the top down method for the first two years for some reason. Probably a combination of less than optimal wood, using too large of splits, and a lack of patience on my part. The last two years the top down method worked very well for me.

Looking at that video again since it was brought up on another thread, for what seems like it should be a professional produced video, you would think they would have cleaned the glass.

Yeah they could have cleaned the glass before the video.

I've been using the top down method as pictured here: http://www.woodheat.org/top-down-steps.html

Works great!

I now use 1/4 of a super ceder and 3 splits and 5 peaces of kindling.