Well, after what seems like a week of rain and no sun I finally cracked and had to light that first fire this morning. House was just a bit too cool and I needed something to cheer me up from this overcast misery.
But the funny part (at least I thought it was funny when it hit me as I watched it start up) that I wanted to share is that my first fire was not only top-down but also backwards in another way.
You see being shoulder season and all I had put in a few short pieces of pine that I had - splits that were cut in half because they were just a bit too long to fit in stove, now they are too short to be proper splits but too long to be chunks... Then I put a handful of splitter trash kindling on top and a piece of a super cedar on top of that and let it light up. I was watching it start up and then I realized all the splitter trash was oak so here I was starting up a bunch of pine splits using oak as kindling from the top. Oh well, the thought amused me.
First time burning pine here - it is very light white pine and very dry so it didn't last long but did burn nice and hot. Got the cat engaged about 45 minutes or so after lighting and three hours later it was down to coals but house was up a few degrees in temp and still rising so it did the job of "taking the chill off" as they say.
Of course the kids loved to see the fire in the stove again and now the pressure will be on every day (even if it is 90* out) I'm sure.
But the funny part (at least I thought it was funny when it hit me as I watched it start up) that I wanted to share is that my first fire was not only top-down but also backwards in another way.
You see being shoulder season and all I had put in a few short pieces of pine that I had - splits that were cut in half because they were just a bit too long to fit in stove, now they are too short to be proper splits but too long to be chunks... Then I put a handful of splitter trash kindling on top and a piece of a super cedar on top of that and let it light up. I was watching it start up and then I realized all the splitter trash was oak so here I was starting up a bunch of pine splits using oak as kindling from the top. Oh well, the thought amused me.
First time burning pine here - it is very light white pine and very dry so it didn't last long but did burn nice and hot. Got the cat engaged about 45 minutes or so after lighting and three hours later it was down to coals but house was up a few degrees in temp and still rising so it did the job of "taking the chill off" as they say.
Of course the kids loved to see the fire in the stove again and now the pressure will be on every day (even if it is 90* out) I'm sure.