Cold starting without kindling?

[Wildflush]

Yup Caw. I also saved all my scraps and also split a bunch in the 1”-2” range. Also kept a bag of Ossipee firewood kiln dried kindling if I get in a bind and forget to bring in kindling during nasty weather.

The key is to get hot fast. The slower the process the more smoke and potential creosote forming in a cool flue.

 

[Wildflush]

My buddy has a large birch grove on his property in Maine and has collected bags of birch bark from dead trees and trees he cut. Stuff is like gasoline. He starts his fires in his Jotul with it and kindling. I start my chimney starter for my charcoal grill that way. Ignites the Humphreys coal quickly.

 

[begreen]

Saw a good movie last night, Lunana, and learned that dried yak dung is a great fire starter. Just in case you have a local yak available.

 

[Tar12]

Saw a good movie last night, Lunana, and learned that dried yak dung is a great fire starter. Just in case you have a local yak available.

There has been many a buffalo chip fires made...

 

[begreen]

Cow patties are still the standard fuel for heating and cooking in many parts of India.

 

[Max W]

I think I’ll pass on the yak dung. I have been using three or four pieces of pine board cut offs or cedar mill edgings split thin and maybe a short piece of spruce 2x scrap. Today I uncovered the wood splitter. Our neighbors came over before the forecasted snow and we re-split hardwood they brought over and wood from my shed into bins of smaller more easily ignited pieces. Beats trying to find small pieces in the stack to make starting easier. We both have cookstoves and the small splits are helpful to get things heated up more quickly as well. Starting technique is not so important with the exempt stoves we have. As far as paper supply, on recycling days there is a bundle of two weeks worth of the Bangor Daily News, tied neatly among the recycling bins at the end of a nearby private road, that I can scoop, snag or swipe when needed.

 

[fbelec]

when i don't have the top or bottom of a egg carton (18 eggs) i use news paper. 1 full piece which is 4 pages folded in half then rolled and tied in a knot. it makes it last longer rather than a quick flash

 

[MinM]

For cold starts, I roll up two supermarket paper bags and use them as stringers, going NS. Wood goes in EW. 1/4 of a SuperCedar on top with maybe a little kindling/dry bark (but only if it's lying around).

 

[BillBurns]

Just use a Bic.

 

[kborndale]

Just use a Bic.

Please explain how you get splits burning with just a bic?

 

[GrumpyDad]

Just use a Bic.

you just revived a conversation from Feb. . Yes I just use a bic myself. One of the long ones though. My favorite starting method is to get 1" pieces stacked sort log cabin style criss crossing pieces, with some small splits on the bottom to raise everything up. I put a starter block midway up on a wood platform. That allows the top pieces to catch then the bottom as well. Works really fast and heats up my flue quickly as well, so no smoke coming in. I remember the time my flue was cold and I tried a bottom up fire. That sold it to me to do something different.

 

[BillBurns]

According the wood dealers, it should all light with a small flame due to the dryness, lol....you can start a fire with a Bic, and kindling, lol

 

[BigJ273]

With most starters (eg. SuperCedar or a fatwood stick), you don't even need kindling, assuming your wood is dry. I just use 1/4 SuperCedar puck, and put 5" oak splits right on that, never an issue!

I hardly ever use kindling. One small square fire starter and dry wood does the trick.