Homemade fire starter

woodhog73 said:

ok I’m not sure this belongs in gear. But in the hearth section the pages move at light speed. In gear it’s slower and lots of user names posting here that have been around for years.

So....

What do you guys use for cold lights ? In this digital age I no longer get news paper delivery. I am buying those fat wood fire starter sticks. I’m getting tired of buying them.

What do you use to get your stove going ? Was thinking about melting candle wax in egg cartons with wood shavings mixed in ?? I’m running a non CAT stove if it matters.

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Every other year or so, I buy a corner cedar rail fence post. I cut into 10 inch lengths. Then I split each ten inch block into pencil size sticks. They make excellent starter material. Also, when I need to rekindle a fire in the morning, I throw a couple of cedar sticks on the coals. They erupt quite quickly. Then I add two or three splits and I'm all set.

A cedar rail fence post costs about eight dollars and will make a ton of starter sticks.

Dakotas Dad said:

Super Ceders.
A) He is a great guy, a member, and years ago, I saw him help a member in a fine and awesome way. I won't ever buy another brand.
B) I am heating my house, and keeping the Mrs. happy. Not earning a merit badge.
C) No kindling, no fiddling. Load stove with seasoned wood, stick in 1/4 or 1/2 of a SC, light it. Done.

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I normally just reload on coals. Making dryer lint starters takes about 5 minutes for 3 dozen. I also have a pile of cedar shakes from a project that i split pretty small. I should give myself a merit badge though... i deserve it.

I also start the fire starter with a blowtorch...

woodhog73 said:

Thanks for the replies. Seems the cedars are cheap enough to use. Just tired of spending money on starters. I burn wood to save on my heating bill yet I’m spending money on starters !

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How much do you need? With the crap that comes in the mailbox on a daily basis, I have all the fire starter and note paper that I can use, plus some.

Between the wood I split, bark that falls off in the stacks and the constant rain of small twigs and branches from mature trees all over the yard, I'm actually working to get rid of the small scraps. Every cold fire every day, seems like I shovel multiple handfulls in...way more than needed...and the next time I'm in the yard or wood pile, there is more where that came from.

In a pinch, a few seconds blast with the Bernz-o-matic propane torch will light dry wood - virtually no kindling required.

I just use splitter slash. I have two 55 gallon barrels/trash cans full of the stuff, enough for a couple years at least.

Last year I got one of those 'expiring airline miles' magazine offers. I got 6 months of Wall Street Journal. I did enjoy the paper but not enough to pay full price for it. Good news is that I have a couple of years worth of non-glossy paper on a box downstairs to light fires with. I always set some nice straight grained cedar aside, split it real fine and use it with 3 sheets from the paper to start my fires.

Birch bark, natures fire starter, nothing better.......I used to use bacon grease. It worked great but every time I started fire I got hungry.

Newspaper and kindling here. I have two large piles of branches from the yard that I break into kindling in two garbage cans for the garage.

My wife worked at a company that had a newspaper delivered, and she would bring it home at the end of the day. She's no longer there. We or I go to the Outer Banks several times a year, and I go out and get a newspaper (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot) every morning. I save them to bring home.

Bought super cedars this year for the first time and they start up well, probably the best fire starter I've used. Only downside is they are messy. I could be wrong here but the price I paid on Amazon w/ free 2 day was cheaper than the Super Cedar site price with the discount or if not the same. Do they ship for free from the site?

I'm all set with kindling for a while. Had a pile, and the late season, wet, heavy snow last winter dropped a LOT of branches (and a tree) in my yard.

As I mentioned, it gets broken up into kindling-sized pieces for two garbage cans in the garage by the wood rack.

Jags said:

Disappointed- I would expect you to have some concoction that would safely ignite the logs with a mere glance.

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i did but got a divorce

Montanalocal said:

Pine cones burn like they are soaked in gas.

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Pine tar/oil/sap burns extremely well. Another trick I learned when I lived in the south was "lighter night" as they call it. You can find it when pine trees die and lay horizontally, or if they break and leave a tall stump. If they are horizontal, and not rotten, the oils slowly soak the bottom side of the log, or the base of the stump if they are still standing a bit. Break off bits of this soaked wood and it's great for lighting fires.

*edit* they actually called it "lighter knot", but I couldn't tell through their thick accents. To most people it's called fat wood, as I learned a minute ago making sure I wasn't posting misinformation.

Jay106n said:

Find a cedar tree. C/s/s it separate from your regular stacks. In the fall turn it into kindle. Natural oils in cedar is fire starter.

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This works with pretty much all soft woods that have sap or oils in them. Pine works very well too.

Kenster said:

Every other year or so, I buy a corner cedar rail fence post. I cut into 10 inch lengths. Then I split each ten inch block into pencil size sticks. They make excellent starter material. Also, when I need to rekindle a fire in the morning, I throw a couple of cedar sticks on the coals. They erupt quite quickly. Then I add two or three splits and I'm all set.

A cedar rail fence post costs about eight dollars and will make a ton of starter sticks.

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^^^ This, super cheap and effective.

I use the Rutland fire starter blocks that were mentioned in post #2. Never need any kindling, and one block does the trick.

I'll look into the Super Cedars though.

Todd67 said:

I use the Rutland fire starter blocks that were mentioned in post #2. Never need any kindling, and one block does the trick.

I'll look into the Super Cedars though.

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I have never used Super Cedars before but I can't imagine anything works as good as Rutlands. I haven't used a single piece of kindling or paper since I started using these a couple seasons ago. Each one burns around 10 minutes or so. Amazing stuff.

Jazzberry said:

I have never used Super Cedars before but I can't imagine anything works as good as Rutlands. I haven't used a single piece of kindling or paper since I started using these a couple seasons ago. Each one burns around 10 minutes or so. Amazing stuff.

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I agree. The Rutland blocks are awesome.

By the luck of the wood god I always have some cedar rounds stacked up. My wife splits them meticulously small. I save all the processing chunks in a dry bin. I use a self lighting torch that screws onto green propane bottles to get er going. Super easy and if I get a bad log that wont burn good I just hit it with the torch for a minute or so.

I have no qualms about buying and using the firestarters that I use... dicing up kindling is a drag. That said, for camping when I'm considering saving a little weight, I have a bin of 'mechanically separated' wood. Specifically, when there's a fuel thinning project going, they'll drop the big trees to haul away and grind the leftover slash (and smaller trees) into pulverized bits that get left behind. After a year or two of seasoning, these little bits are like the equivalent of, I don't know, a cooked macaroni elbow that you squish between your fingers, but it's made of oak or whatever. The fibers are all frayed out away from a center piece. They light insanely easily, don't weight a thing, and are great for light camping.

blacktail said:

I make starters with egg cartons, saw dust, and wax. They work great with no kindling required.

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That time of year again.
Make sure the wax is hot, so it soaks in good. Or poke the sawdust with something to get it to go down.

You're melting Bambi!!

I use dry bark and split small kindling. I stack it in the stove and use a butane torch (plumber's torch with propane). Works great

I've been doing the same egg carton/saw chips/wax method this year and they work great. I don't have any junk candles so I've been using paraffin wax which is cheap enough and lights up good. A box of that stuff will make me about 7 or 8 dozen fire starters.

blacktail said:

I make starters with egg cartons, saw dust, and wax. They work great with no kindling required.

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I make these too and they work great. I've switched from lint to pine needles though. With 3 cats and 2 daughters, our lint mostly smells like burned hair. Not that I get much smoke in the house on light up, but the pine needles produce a nice aroma. Plus, the kids have fun helping to make the fire starters. I scored about 30 pounds of wax at a yard sale last summer for $5. BTW--make sure to use the cardboard cartons.