I always see discussions on here about getting the fire going use different methods. The most useful method I have found is have confidence that I built the fire right and that it will take off. I have seen many long time burner struggle like newbies to get a fire blazing over more than a 20 minute period. Me, I load the stove, light the paper and close the door completely. Within 10 minutes I have a full blaze. Am I doing it wrong?
Am I Doing it Wrong?
- Thread starter Jacktheknife
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I make my own firestarters usually, but this fall when I was cutting up some ancient hand-hewn barn beams, I found a couple of those beams were LOADED with fatwood (crystallized pitch) in the middle. I slivered them up into 1/2" slivers and cut them around 4" long, light one with a match and you're off to the races. I light one, and build a small teepee of pine kindling around it. Then, lay a couple of 2-3" splits across them, and put some regular splits on them. Crack the door for around 5 minutes and it's good to go!!
blacktail
Minister of Fire
Sounds like you're doing it right. There are different ways to do it.
As long as I get a nice fire in a short period of time I guess I am doing alright.
Correct . . . doesn't really matter how you get there -- top down method, teepee method, log cabin method, crazy Jake method (I made that last one up -- there is no crazy Jake method) . . . well I take that back . . . someone using flammable fluid to get a fire going quickly or some other dangerous method is not a good method . . . but yeah . . . keep doing what you're doing . . . the goal is a hot fire in a short period of time.
It sounds like you've been reading the threads with all the talk about top down fires and the video from Canada. Many think that is a great video and I've not stated much on this before but I was definitely not impressed. Geeze, this doesn't take a college degree to figure out how to light a fire...
Yep pretty sure I was lighting fires before 8YO - then again I was a genious
I would use those slivers for a top down start. Then you won't have to be sticking your hands in the fire laying bigger wood on top. Just lay out your fire, stick a couple of those slivers in between the splits and several on top. Light it and forget it.
Top down beats anything else I've ever tried.
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