The Texas Fire; a different way to start a fire

[Skier76]

I stumbled across this the other day. Anyone ever heard of it? I'd imagine your wood would have to be very very very very dry for this to work: http://rvewong.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/how-to-start-a-fire-in-a-wood-burning-stove/

 

[Pagey]

I thought this was going to involve super dry kindling from the Bush ranch! :coolgrin:

 

[gpcollen1]

Not that far off from basic top down burn. This wood have to be done with dry wood - pine or some other resinous wood would be great for sure...

 

[Skier76]

I'm thinking this probably only works well in Texas....or any other place it's really really dry. :lol:

 

[Slow1]

Note the comments about smoke being produced during startup. Vanessa would NOT approve

Then another practical point - you have to add more wood once the structure collapse has happened. Seems like a nice opportunity to get smoke in the house. I think I'll stick to trying to master top down first.

 

[Corey]

Dry and stringy on the split face probably wouldn't hurt. I guess I do a variation on that ..."The Kansas Fire"? I don't bother cutting my wood so small that it can be put in the stove front-to-back so all I have are ~22" lengths. But I usually put one log in the back of the stove and another in the front - leaving a trough which I fill with wadded newspaper, scraps from around the splitter, bark or what ever else happens to be around. I then lay 1-2 additional thinner splits on top in a slight diagonal direction so they don't immediately collapse on the trough. Reach in from one side or the other (or both if you want a lot of heat quick) and light the paper at the ends of the trough.

Though I don't understand what the big deal with not using kindling is. I guess maybe if someone bought a $6 bag of wood at the C-store and took it home for the night, they might not have any. But kindling just seems to 'show up' if you actually process wood. I burn slivers of wood from around the splitter, bark, sticks, cropped ends of wood, the 'frisbee disks' from the ends of the 'oops it's too long' cuts, and could probably get piles more kindling if I needed.

 

[gpcollen1]

Dry and stringy on the split face probably wouldn't hurt. I guess I do a variation on that ..."The Kansas Fire"? I don't bother cutting my wood so small that it can be put in the stove front-to-back so all I have are ~22" lengths. But I usually put one log in the back of the stove and another in the front - leaving a trough which I fill with wadded newspaper, scraps from around the splitter, bark or what ever else happens to be around. I then lay 1-2 additional thinner splits on top in a slight diagonal direction so they don't immediately collapse on the trough. Reach in from one side or the other (or both if you want a lot of heat quick) and light the paper at the ends of the trough.

Though I don't understand what the big deal with not using kindling is. I guess maybe if someone bought a $6 bag of wood at the C-store and took it home for the night, they might not have any. But kindling just seems to 'show up' if you actually process wood. I burn slivers of wood from around the splitter, bark, sticks, cropped ends of wood, the 'frisbee disks' from the ends of the 'oops it's too long' cuts, and could probably get piles more kindling if I needed.

Not one thing wrong with kindling my friend. My trees even drop it into a pile for me - but sometimes it all does not land in one pile and I have the kids give me a hand...

 

[cmonSTART]

Actually I thought it was going to involve gunpowder.

 

[BrotherBart]

Actually I thought it was going to involve gunpowder.

Or jalapenos. :ahhh:

BB - Native Texan who has always believed that food should not hurt.

 

[Archie]

Never heard of it, but it looks like it works. I think you just need super dry wood.

 

[DiscoInferno]

Or jalapenos. :ahhh:

BB - Native Texan who has always believed that food should not hurt.

As with other things, a little pain can be good... ;-) I'm a sort-of-native Texan (born in Wichita Falls, moved when I was 2) that doesn't think food should moo. Go figure.

I thought the Texas fire would be started with a branding iron and/or a gallon of oil.

 

[Ratman]

Note the comments about smoke being produced during startup. Vanessa would NOT approve

Then another practical point - you have to add more wood once the structure collapse has happened. Seems like a nice opportunity to get smoke in the house. I think I'll stick to trying to master top down first.

Skier76 Sir,

SMOKE !
ARE YOU CRAZY?
TOP DOWN FIRES ARE THE ONLY FIRE STARTING METHODS ALLOWED BY MEMBERS HERE!
Remember Vannesa showed Tom how to load the 16 sheets of twisted newspaper. Look Tom, no smoke!
Now start twisting some more newspaper before Vanessa comes to your house and makes you watch the video, again.

What, you haven’t seen the video? Were you out that day?
Here you go…
http://www.ec.gc.ca/cleanair-airpur/videos/Woodstove_mgt-Eng.wmv

 

[crazy_dan]

Actually I thought it was going to involve gunpowder.

Or jalapenos. :ahhh:

BB - Native Texan who has always believed that food should not hurt.

so the move really wasn't your idea after all? IE ran you out did they lol :coolsmile:

 

[Skier76]

LOL! I do like the top down myself...but I do find it smokes a bit...I must be doing something wrong. :lol:

I want to name a fire starthing method.....I'm going to call it "The Vermonster Draftstine"....It's when you try to start a fire in January, in a cold stove, in a semi draft sensative Jotul....with a 6" exit, hooked up to an 8" exterior metal chimney that disobeys the 10/3 rule. I don't know what exactly will happen, but I bet it will be interesting.

If you can't get things going with the "Vermonster Draftstine", you may have to open the door to rebuild/retry. You may be greated with a "BeGreen/MountainStoveGuy: I told ya so!" smoke rollout. Again, only time will tell. ;-)

 

[Corey]

...
I want to name a fire starthing method.....I'm going to call it "The Vermonster Draftstine"....It's when you try to start a fire in January, in a cold stove, in a semi draft sensative Jotul....with a 6" exit, hooked up to an 8" exterior metal chimney that disobeys the 10/3 rule. I don't know what exactly will happen, but I bet it will be interesting.

Though I have not tried it, after 4 years of reading these forums - I'm firmly convinced that combination would simply blow up in your face - or worse - if you were ever to attempt to light a fire in it!

But, seriously, though - I know what you're talking about. I've got only ~13' of exterior flue and let the fire go out every morning (no one is home) which means coming home to a cold house / stove / flue. Originally I had some trouble with smoke backing up from the cold flue, but then I learned a trick...i call it the 'light the fire and close the door' move. As long as I get enough stuff in the firebox so the fire will actually start burning before I have to open the door again - no problems.

 

[PunKid8888]

Top Down works the best for me. Mine is similar to the texas but I go with two big splits at the base and then some smaller splits on the way up, then one or two split again peices followed by some newpaper. 9 time out of 10 I can do it with one match.

I would like to give it a try tho

 

[Skier76]

I used the "light the fire, shut the door" this past weekend. It actually worked really well. Once that paper gets going, it heats things up nicely in the box and out goes the smoke.

 

[wendell]

Remember Vannesa showed Tom how to load the 16 sheets of twisted newspaper. Look Tom, no smoke!

Actually, I think it was John, as in John Gulland, world famous wood heat expert.

 

[gpcollen1]

I used the "light the fire, shut the door" this past weekend. It actually worked really well. Once that paper gets going, it heats things up nicely in the box and out goes the smoke.

The 'light the fire and close the door' method will yield smoke pouring out the air inlet on the back and into your house when conditions are right. Ask me how I know...though I only had the stove for a week...

 

[Skier76]

Yikes! :grrr:

 

[Ratman]

Remember Vannesa showed Tom how to load the 16 sheets of twisted newspaper. Look Tom, no smoke!

Actually, I think it was John, as in John Gulland, world famous wood heat expert.

Wendell you are correct I mis-spoke it is John not Tom.
You actually remembered his name was John not Tom; you have been affected by watching this Canadian propaganda video more than the nightmares I've experienced.
As Vanessa told you; "Roll up some single sheets corner to corner into tubes, then tie a knot in each tube. JUST DO IT!"
That's the part that echos in my head. That and the "See no smoke!"
I'm seeking a support group for theropy.

"Time to light the newspaper."

(5 full sheets of newspaper to light my friggin stove. Are you friggin kidding me?)
What ever happened to using natural tinder? Not good enough for the EPA techno-weinees I guess.
Author: Ratman - world famous old crappy tried and true cast iron wood stove expert.

 

[Skier76]

I'm going to try some birch bark this weekend....we'll see what happens.