Quick Product Review
I know many people here have been raving about Supercedars - I got a sample a while back and thought they were good. I certainly saw the utility of firestarters (over the use of paper + kindling) and was sold on that. I did find that supercedars still require a fair amount of kindling and, while not difficult to break, it does tend to break apart. I was not overwhelmed with the product but thought it was good.
For Christmas, someone gave me a box of Timberlite firestarters. For $20 (cdn), you get 144 squares which are good for approx. 72 starts (2 squares are recommended per use - 1 would probably be fine if you use kindling). The product looks like a compressed "sheet" of wood, about 1/2 inch thick. The sheet is indented so that you can basically break off as many squares (about 1" x 2" each) as you want with minimal fuss and no mess. Inexpensive, easy to handle (break pieces off), low volume for high number of starts... So far so good.
You essentially build a fire by putting the square on a bottom piece of fuel and build a house around and overtop of it. The squares are easy to light. The biggest difference that I saw between this firestarter and supercedars is that this one seems to burn a lot faster and hotter. Two squares will last about 10 min or so - hard to tell, because the fire is really going by then. I have yet to use kindling with this firestarter and have not had any problems getting a good blaze going. Granted, I am not using huge splits but they are by no means kindling (mix of splite, range of about 2 -6 inches).
Not sure if this product is sold in the US but it can be found in Canada at Rona. Just to be clear, I am not knocking any product - I thought supercedars were good - but for those that don't have easy availability, Timberlite is an excellent product.
I know many people here have been raving about Supercedars - I got a sample a while back and thought they were good. I certainly saw the utility of firestarters (over the use of paper + kindling) and was sold on that. I did find that supercedars still require a fair amount of kindling and, while not difficult to break, it does tend to break apart. I was not overwhelmed with the product but thought it was good.
For Christmas, someone gave me a box of Timberlite firestarters. For $20 (cdn), you get 144 squares which are good for approx. 72 starts (2 squares are recommended per use - 1 would probably be fine if you use kindling). The product looks like a compressed "sheet" of wood, about 1/2 inch thick. The sheet is indented so that you can basically break off as many squares (about 1" x 2" each) as you want with minimal fuss and no mess. Inexpensive, easy to handle (break pieces off), low volume for high number of starts... So far so good.
You essentially build a fire by putting the square on a bottom piece of fuel and build a house around and overtop of it. The squares are easy to light. The biggest difference that I saw between this firestarter and supercedars is that this one seems to burn a lot faster and hotter. Two squares will last about 10 min or so - hard to tell, because the fire is really going by then. I have yet to use kindling with this firestarter and have not had any problems getting a good blaze going. Granted, I am not using huge splits but they are by no means kindling (mix of splite, range of about 2 -6 inches).
Not sure if this product is sold in the US but it can be found in Canada at Rona. Just to be clear, I am not knocking any product - I thought supercedars were good - but for those that don't have easy availability, Timberlite is an excellent product.
