Stacking Kindling in with your pile

[ControlFreak]

This time of year I always find frustrating because as the weather warms, I have to transition to intermittent burning. This means frequent restarts, which requires a nice handful of kindling with each one. In the fall, I have always accumulated a nice pile of kindling from various projects throughout the summer, but by this time of year, the kindling is always gone. I have always intended to strategically bury a bunch of kindling into my woodpile toward the bottom so that when I reach this point of year, I break into that much-needed kindling.

Do any of you people do that?

 

[jbrown56]

Hi, I understand what you're saying. In the fall, I saw all the waste I have made and fill two plastic trash cans. This amount will get me through the shoulder seasons.

Jim

 

[gpcollen1]

Well, I do stack all the littlest splits and splinters that come from splitting. So when i do not need them, I toss them in a can in the garage. Then I use them in the woodstove or in the fireplace to get it going.

when I am out of those, I just split down some of my existing splits. I have a nice and heavy splitting hatchet that will split those ones up nice. No need for scrounging for kindling.

 

[milner351]

we keep a yard waste bag full of bark pieces and smaller chunks that start easy -- we keep that in the garage, in the spring we put it out to the curb as yard waste and start over again in the fall - we get lots of wind here in the fall - the poplar out front usually leaves us plenty of sticks to use as kindling - if the dog doesn't chew them all up first.

 

[Corey]

I stacked some in with the pile once....once! The small stuff is never where you need it, always wind up shifting logs to get to the kindling, etc. Now I just throw all of the small junk in a pile next to the main stack. I try and use it sparingly through the fall and winter, then as spring comes on, I can burn more and more to get rid of the pile for the next season. The small stuff doesn't last too long - so it's best not to try and keep piles around for several years.

 

[lvfd50]

I have an old wooden shipping crate that I picked up from a previous job and I keep it under my carport near the door. I just pile any kindling that I have in there. I don't stop finding it until the crate is full and even then I somtimes put more in plastic tote. I use the totes first and then the tote. I have never even come close to running out. Then in the summer it makes a nice spot to set stuff when I'm working around the house or outside grilling.

 

[lvfd50]

I have an old wooden shipping crate that I picked up from a previous job and I keep it under my carport near the door. I just pile any kindling that I have in there. I don't stop finding it until the crate is full and even then I sometimes put more in plastic tote. I use the totes first and then the tote. I have never even come close to running out. Then in the summer it makes a nice spot to set stuff when I'm working around the house or outside grilling.

 

[babalu87]

I actually make it a point to pick up every shard from splitting and put it in the pile. It makes a good game with the kids , find a place for this LOL

 

[slowzuki]

I have a sawmill, so the problem is, how do I get rid of all the kindling (softwood slabs) it produces. Last winter I burned slab wood as the main fuel. What a lot of work.

 

[Wolves-Lower]

I just have a kindling pile in itself.
I am fortunate to have a pallet making business down the street.
Drop off your trailer, pick it up full of scraps the next day.
Of course then you become a scrap wood junkie. Makes quick hot fires and ohhh so nice.

 

[RedRanger]

I built a seperate shed that holds a half cord of kindling. Tried the stacking with the pile trick,that only worked so-so. You can never have too much kindling,at least that`s what the wife keeps telling me. :lol:

 

[Martin Strand III]

Kindling use, I've found over the years, to be inversely proportional to the operators experience using it to build a fire; i.e., more kindling needed by the least experienced and visa versa.

I rarely use kindling now.

"The Secret" is simple: thoroughly dry your well seasoned wood before starting a fire. I do this by bringing about a weeks worth inside before I burn it.

I also use the "Top Down " method placing very dry smaller splits (pieces really; my top layer is several pieces of about 3" diameter splits which I don't call "kindling") on top of sequentially larger ones (5" - 6" diameter) that I place on the bottom of the stack. Lighting some cardboard pieces rolled and placed between some of the top layer splits and, with good incoming air that can circulate between splits in each layer, you're off to a hot start to a nice big fire.

It has always amused me to watch a so-called "expert" try to show off his/her "stuff" by balancing bigger heavier pieces of not-so-dry wood on top of smaller pieces, stuffing about all available space between splits with kindling and gobs of crumpled newspaper, igniting the thing to see the kindling and a few smaller splits burn off and then have the whole pile collapse and go out.

Aye,
Marty

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

 

[swestall]

I used to spend an entire day or two gathering fallen limbs, laying them out and cutting them (like a loaf of bread) into kindling. Then I'd load it in the truck and reload it in the basement where it would be if I needed it.
After many years of that, it was real work, actually more than cuttiing cord wood.

So..I have started to use fatwood and now I'm using Super Cedars. I just ball up a few pieces of newspaper in the stove, break half a Super Cedar into three or four pieces and then put four splits in two one way and two the other (log cabin). The splits I use are about 3 inches or so. Lite the paper and that's it.

So, I am no longer using kindling. The small stuff I do collect while cutting or stacking I just mix in with the cordwood as I stack. Then I bring it in and keep it in a separate box for using when burning down coals or for a quick flash on a slow start with big splits.

I am happy to pay for starters versus spending all that time being a cutter/gatherer.

 

[colsmith]

We get a lot of flimsy corn, green bean, etc., crates. When we are cutting or splitting wood we fling the twigs, skinny branches, bark, and little bits of wood that split off into the crates. We stack the crates at the ends of wood piles and in various locations in the pile, so we they are easy to find. We get a lot of that stuff, so we burn it more than we need to, and always seem to have plenty more. Figure to have less of it in the future since we were given a chipper-shredder and will run small branches through there. We don't make much effort to collect it except to lop branches to the right length. But it needs to go someplace since we don't want our yard full of wood droppings, and this keeps it neat, accessible, and useful. In the winter we hardly need it since we keep the fire going almost 24/7, but it doesn't hurt to fling some in each reload.

 

[elleninpa]

WE tried putting splits in with the logs but it never worked out right. Also, our woodbox was inside and the woodpile with the splits outside and I didn't like having to sort through either looking for firestarter sized kindling.

For our woodburner we get logs or even split logs delivered. There are always plenty of kindling bits to pick up after we have the wood stacked. I put the kindling bits from 3 inch x 22 inch splinters to little handsized bits into one of those giant plastic bins and keep it just outside the basement door where our woodburner is. An old fence post on top of it keeps the lid from blowing off in the winter winds.

My dds and I make little burritoes from newspaper and kindling bits.

My dh is better at starting the wood fire from coals and newspaper. He doesn't understand why we like the kindling.

We use the kindling for our woodburner and our woodburning fireplace. I gave some to my neighbor too (her dh doesn't see the need for kindling either).

I had to laugh because in LLBean they sell bundles of 'fatwood.' Looks to me like my kindling splits and probably has some parrafin added for quicker starting.

 

[Fishing Randy]

my girlfriend and i go on kindling runs....we just go out and fill the truck with kindling, it only takes about an hour every three weeks