Best Firestarter?

[HisTreeNut]

I generally use wax covered cardboard cut into 1/2" x 2" strips...a couple usually does the trick with some kindling. I get the cardboard from work as a lot of produce comes in the wax coated boxes. If you stop into your local supermarket, just ask & more than likely they will give one to you. I prefer the top-down method to starting a fire, but the wifey does it the old fashioned way, "Honey, can you clean out the ashes and start a fire?" She prefers to start a kindling fire, & then put larger splits on the coals. One of the kiddos chores is to gather all the fallen branches, break them up, and stack them on a pallet near the house, which means kindling is never an issue.

 

[Stinkpickle]

I can usually start a fire with just a sheet of newspaper and a piece of fatwood.

 

[KYClemons]

When we camp we use dryer lint mixed with candle wax. Works great! At home in the stove cedar.

 

[mwhitnee]

I have splitter pieces that work well. Just sit them out in a plastic bin on the driveway in the summer and put in the barn afterwards and they light quickly.

Bought some Fatwood and have used it, it also works well. I emailed the Super Cedar company last week and they were kind enough to send me samples, so I'll be getting them thus week I assume.

Nothing beats free though...

Forgot to mention I also use a butane torch for lighting cigars. Invaluable...

 

[WiscWoody]

I use one of those LP torches that have a long stem with scavenged birch bark that is easily found here in the woods or some of the unlimited cedar scraps I get from the wood shop I work at. Junk mail and paper board packaging work good too.

 

[ZZ Tom]

A sheet of crumpled newspaper and an elm split. Built in kindling

Honestly, crumpled newspaper and split 2x4. Easy like pie

 

[iamlucky13]

For me, newspaper and various size splits, ideally cedar for the kindling. I've never had any trouble finding enough cedar, so buying a product like super cedars hasn't even been a serious thought for me.

I switched to top down fires last year after reading about them here. It took a couple fires before I got the knack of choosing my split sizes, but now it's a piece of cake, with less smoke and less attention needed from me to get the fire going.

I've started fires without newspaper in the past just to prove to myself I could, but the rapid flare up of the newspaper seems to help get the draft started, and in general just makes the whole process easier, so I stick with it.

 

[4fire]

Made enough fire starters recently to last me a long time. I think it was 10 dozen.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

I started making those this year Blacktail. Love them. With dry poplar I don't even need kindling. Where is the best site to learn top down starting?

 

[firefighterjake]

Those look rather tasty Blacktail.

 

[HisTreeNut]

I started making those this year Blacktail. Love them. With dry poplar I don't even need kindling. Where is the best site to learn top down starting?

You are already on it.

 

[DUMF]

C-4 ----- the finest starter and MRE heater for those who know.

 

[ksks]

HAHA.

My brother caught a forest on fire with some of that one time. Luckily, or not, wasn't on this continent!
Unfortunately their ride couldn't land and they had to move along before the locals noticed!


I made up a bunch of these:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

cotton pads - there are cheaper ones
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013CWM3IE/?tag=hearthamazon-20

wax
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OV41RIK/?tag=hearthamazon-20

I put them in Pringle cans.

Someone also suggested birthday candles!

 

[planner steve]

I use leaf bags that we have obtained from our neighbors. We take all the leaves they have for our compost pile and most don't want to reuse the bags. Plus I have a lot of fir fatwood this year, so fire starting is easy.

 

[Destructor]

For years growing up we used old cedar fence pickets. Now its construction scraps split thin, some of my cedar logs split down very thin and any hardwood pieces from edge hits or strips that can be easily peeled off.

 

[Fred Wright]

Broken up sticks and twigs. Dry bark, peeled off your splits as you bring them inside works quite well. The ticket is to use dry stuff.

 

[Firefighter938]

pine lumber scraps cut thin.

 

[Jeffm1]

...I use a blowtorch to light a pine cone or two under a stack of kindling. I've used sticks of a product called Fatwood derived from....::

What do you use?

....matches ...sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[bboulier]

Can't beat Super Cedars. Have experimented with a variety of techniques, but they are the best.

 

[Treacherous]

Supercedars

I've still got a 1/3 of the box left I purchased in 2013. You only need to use a 1/4 of a puck.... probably could do it with 1/8 but starts to get messy.

 

[iamlucky13]

I started making those this year Blacktail. Love them. With dry poplar I don't even need kindling. Where is the best site to learn top down starting?

I'm not sure of a particular site, but the basics are simple. Here's how I do mine:

Bottom layer: 2 medium-sized splits (4-5")
Middle layer: 2-3 small-sized splits (2-3", or a couple 2x4 scraps)
Upper layer: Large kindling (1-1.5")
Top layer: small kindling (~0.5")
Starter: twisted or tightly crumpled newspaper on top, with a couple loosely crumpled sheets on the sides to help kick start the draft.

It takes a couple minutes to set up, but if my wood is dry, seldom takes any attention after I light the newspaper, and is less smoky than the more intuitive bottom-up method, because the initial flame isn't trying to burn up past cold wood that steals some of the heat it needs to complete combustion.

I'm sure with your wax fire starters, you can probably skip the newspaper and maybe even the top layer of kindling.

 

[DUMF]

I'm not sure of a particular site, but the basics are simple. Here's how I do mine:
Bottom layer: 2 medium-sized splits (4-5")
Middle layer: 2-3 small-sized splits (2-3", or a couple 2x4 scraps)
Upper layer: Large kindling (1-1.5")
Top layer: small kindling (~0.5")
Starter: twisted or tightly crumpled newspaper on top, with a couple loosely crumpled sheets on the sides to help kick start the draft.
It takes a couple minutes to set up, but if my wood is dry, seldom takes any attention after I light the newspaper, and is less smoky than the more intuitive bottom-up method, because the initial flame isn't trying to burn up past cold wood that steals some of the heat it needs to complete combustion.
I'm sure with your wax fire starters, you can probably skip the newspaper and maybe even the top layer of kindling.

Whew. If we had to do all that or the cookie tin route or waxed whatever just to heat the place, I'd quit wood forever.
Damn Woodpiles O.C.D. in extreme. Referrals available. I'll just skip the above.
Waxing = fossil.
What's wrong with the K.I.S.S. kindlings for free : 1000's of your scraps from splitting, those old NYTs and WSJs that need recycling in the stove ( (anyone read newspapers anymore ? ), papers from printer stuff and burnable mail ( no color) , cutoffs from your builder and carpenter friends that need burning so they don't have to pay for dumping at the "sanitary landfill", those standing dead softwoods that need felling for kindling ? Oh yes, when the weather is fine, bend over and pickup those pine twigs and branches and needles. Bend. Done.
Boy those "cookies" do look tasty Jake.

 

[Prof]

I use homemade starters...wax poured into egg cartons full of sawdust.
I place splits in the stove front to back. Put a firestarter between a couple of those splits. Break up a chunk of cedar kindling or use a knife to split off a few chunks of kindling and place them on the firestarter. Put a few smallish splits on top of that. Light it off and enjoy.

I use a very similar method, but I use dryer lint instead of sawdust. I get a 7-10 min burn with about a 6 inch flame. The need for kindling is minimal. Plus these are fun to make with the kids--I mostly use wax from their broken crayons, so they are interested to see what can be made with them.

 

[velvetfoot]

Rutland Safe Lite. Very many squares out of a box.

 

[iamlucky13]

Whew. If we had to do all that or the cookie tin route or waxed whatever just to heat the place, I'd quit wood forever.

There's really no more to it than starting a fire any other way. It's just a matter of picking a few appropriately sized pieces out of the wood stack and laying them in the stove. I actually find it a bit easier than building a teepee and progressively adding larger pieces to it.

Sometimes I use splitting scraps, but right now I've got a bunch of cedar lumber scraps that are super easy to get started.

I actually started subscribing to the local paper a couple years ago because I knew if they didn't have some money coming in, local news coverage would seriously decline - online ad revenue isn't enough to sustain small circulations. I've also found it nice to just sit down and read, where as at the computer, I tend to skim and move on without getting more than the basic details.

I've started stockpiling the newspapers to share with friends who burn, because I've got more than I need.