Fatwood vs kiln dried starter wood vs ... for a wood burner stove ???
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Highbeam
Minister of Fire
So . . . would you say you are a Master of Your Own Domain?
Are you hitting on me again? I guess I don't get the joke.
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jetsam
Minister of Fire
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
We don't have sticks. Firewood comes from logs that come on a log truck. We can split up the log into sticks though.
Concerning the propane torch method, there was an accident up in my neck of the woods a few years ago. I knew the guy's dad, so got it second hand from him. Apparently there was a leak at the torch head when his son was lighting his wood stove. The explosion was enough to separate the roof from the wall of the mobile home. The guy lived, miraculously, but was hospitalized for a while.
I've always used kindling or wax and sawdust fire starters. They don't go boom
I've always used kindling or wax and sawdust fire starters. They don't go boom
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
Concerning the propane torch method, there was an accident up in my neck of the woods a few years ago. I knew the guy's dad, so got it second hand from him. Apparently there was a leak at the torch head when his son was lighting his wood stove. The explosion was enough to separate the roof from the wall of the mobile home. The guy lived, miraculously, but was hospitalized for a while.
I've always used kindling or wax and sawdust fire starters. They don't go boom
Always a possibility with propane. Many crazy people use propane from a huge tank plumbed into their oven, furnace, water heater. You can always store the torch outside with your propane bbq. That’s no reason to futz with sawdust though.
It's from a famous Seinfeld episode, but perhaps inspired by the Hand Model episode...
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mrd1995
Burning Hunk
Last time we had to empty out the candle warmer I grabbed about a dozen pieces of dry tiny kindling (.25"x.25") wrapped about a 4" x 4" strip of paper towel around each kindling then dipped it in the heated wax to wick up the spent melt.
Last night I mentioned doing a fire to clean up some of the splitter scraps from the almost 20+ cords we split this year to my wife the next thing I know she had a fire started and said the wax sticks worked really well!
Last night I mentioned doing a fire to clean up some of the splitter scraps from the almost 20+ cords we split this year to my wife the next thing I know she had a fire started and said the wax sticks worked really well!
NoGoodAtScreenNames
Feeling the Heat
That’s a lot of toilet paper to go through. I light one up a few times a week so I could never produce enough. Some people are different and light it up once a season. I couldn’t do that - there’s no way I could hold it all winter...
"Recycled paper egg carton brand home made fire starters with recycled Christmas candles and sustainably grown naturally squirrel propagated handsawn wild red oak tree sawdust. "
Well done sir, such an exquisitely written reply. I can close my eyes and see/smell everything you described. As for my personal methods, our lowly Buck 91 gets the finest dregs of the local "newspaper" artistically crumpled into various woodland critter shapes, delicately and strategically nestled underneath sustainably sourced local red/white oak or hickory branchlets to achieve the perfect fuel/paper ratio. Next, a deft flick of my bic ignites the aforementioned materials into the dragons breath sufficient to achieve CAT light-off in the normal time span. Truth be told, it doesn't happen often. Once a fire gets built, it very seldom goes out. Just warm reloads. Hope this helps.
Well done sir, such an exquisitely written reply. I can close my eyes and see/smell everything you described. As for my personal methods, our lowly Buck 91 gets the finest dregs of the local "newspaper" artistically crumpled into various woodland critter shapes, delicately and strategically nestled underneath sustainably sourced local red/white oak or hickory branchlets to achieve the perfect fuel/paper ratio. Next, a deft flick of my bic ignites the aforementioned materials into the dragons breath sufficient to achieve CAT light-off in the normal time span. Truth be told, it doesn't happen often. Once a fire gets built, it very seldom goes out. Just warm reloads. Hope this helps.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
Concerning the propane torch method, there was an accident up in my neck of the woods a few years ago. I knew the guy's dad, so got it second hand from him. Apparently there was a leak at the torch head when his son was lighting his wood stove. The explosion was enough to separate the roof from the wall of the mobile home. The guy lived, miraculously, but was hospitalized for a while.
I've always used kindling or wax and sawdust fire starters. They don't go boom
A torch head IS a leak in a propane tank. That's what it does.
Even if you somehow managed to detonate a little torch tank, I could see you catching some shrapnel, but lifting the roof on that tiny bit of gas? And if those tanks leak, as anyone who has ever been a kid in the country knows (or maybe it was just me? I dunno lol), they don't explode even if you shoot them. If you give them another ignition source it makes a cool rocket though. (If you don't, it makes an ice cold rocket... liquid propane gushes out and the bottle goes flying.)
I could see it happening if the house was full of gas from the stove and the torch ignited that...
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
Honestly, if an entire 1# cylinder of propane poured out into your home and was miraculously ignited. I am pretty certain that it could blow all the windows out. It’s not the fireball or burning but the rapid expansion that will do the damage. Same risk as any appliance leaking gas. That’s why they add the stinky stuff. You can also buy propane leak detectors, they’re standard in RVs and mount low.
At some point when you invite fire into your home you have to accept some level of risk. Earthquakes, chimney fires, trip and fall, etc.
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
The episodes I saw were great but it aired during a time of my life that was full of school, work, and chasing girls so I missed like 90% of them.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
I don't think you could ignite 1# of propane diluted in a moderately sized roomful of air, but I feel strongly that someone should try.
For reference, this appears to be a 1# tank rupturing in a campfire (about 2:15 in). It doesn't manage anything like an explosion, which makes sense but is still disappointing. Surely you could get a more explosive reaction if you somehow got all the gas out in a small confined space and then ignited it, though.
(Also lots of videos of people shooting them, so I guess it wasn't just me.
)
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
Propane is heavier than air and will pool if you let it out slowly. It’s not diluted in the room air. When that pool bursts into flames all at once it has plenty of expansion in an enclosed room to do some damage. I don’t intend to find out but I’ve definitely shot them, might have some red on my neck.
When wondering if I could use up some very old duraflame-like logs I have sitting around as fire starter, I saw many years ago you used to chop such logs up into bits as fire starter. Did anything in particular, such as getting a cat stove, finding bad flue effects, etc. steer you away from them and to the torch? In other words, should I not use them up as fire starters?
Here's what I do. Buy a box of the this item. Then take a 1 log and break it completely down and keep it in a plastic bin about the size of a bread box. When starting a fire, arrange your splits, then place a few shreds of the envirolog among/under the splits. They're made of wax and cardboard. One box can last you all season, probably longer.
Robot or human?
www.walmart.com
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
I could start a few hundred fires with a pack of fatwood. Usually get 2 to 4 fires from one stick split. Must be 60 to 80 sticks in a pack. Those diamond strike a fire wafer s work good ,one wafer i get at least 8 fires from,they are way too big to use for just one fire. Also use the torch method, and the paper and kindling method. Torch is faster than the others.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
I used to chop up wax logs into golf ball size chunks and then light those with a match beneath kindling. They work for sure. I then did something similar with a fire starter brick from Walmart which was just a softer log that was easier to cut up. I still have a coffee can of wax chunks near the stove and BK said no problem since they are mostly burned up before the cat gets engaged.
I’m willing to learn though and when I tried a torch it was so much faster and easier that I knew right away I would keep doing it. Light bulb moment.
That early kindling stage makes a lot of pollution and low hanging smoke that I would rather my neighbors not see. Rapid startup minimizes this smoke and gets me to clean burning faster.
50 cents of propane per year has got to be cheaper than a presto log.
Ability to preheat the flue is pretty great too.
Prof
Minister of Fire
I used a similar method. I had used dryer lint, but with 3 cats and 3 women in the house, there is more hair than lint in the mix and I wasn't fond of the burnt hair smell every time I fired up the stove. I switched to pine needles--which gives a nice Christmas ambiance when lighting one. I scored about 40 lbs of wax for $3 at a yard sale a coupe years ago, so I'm good to go there.
Maybe I'll try that once I feel safe leaving a propane torch around the house, but not now with a 5 yr old.
I did, however, score a deal on Prest-to logs for 45¢ each, so ordered as many as I thought I could make space for (only 130 unfortunately). In terms of BTU, a better rate than I can buy cut and split wood around here.
Can you give us more specifics on your set-up? Refillable bottle? Which torch? Is there a kid safety switch?
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
The little yellow button that makes fire has a twist to lock feature but if your kids are adventurous then you can stick the thing up in the liquor cabinet or outside in the bbq or whatever. I have two of these torches, one for each stove. They come with a MAPP gas cylinder that burns even hotter than propane.
130 logs! That’s many lifetime supplies. You only need a small chunk. Like 2 would have been plenty. I’m not sure that you’re supposed to burn whole wax logs in a stove.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
The standard little finger ignition torch kit comes from Home Depot. You just push that yellow button and it automatically releases gas and ignites it. Let go of the yellow button and it all shuts off. Awesome. Twist the yellow knob 90 degrees and it can’t be pressed. Sort of a child lock but not very hard to figure out. Also, there is a little silver button to lock the flame on and that black knob adjusts the flame size.
You’ll find all kinds of other uses for an instant-torch. The igniter has not worn out at all after several years. The whole thing is made of metal.
It threads on to regular 1# propane bottles which are absolutely refillable from a regular 20# barbecue tank with a little kit made by mr. heater. Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t refill them but if you choose, you can just buy new ones at Walmart. I light hundreds of fires per year and I have never used 2 cylinders in one year.
Once you use one you will wonder why anybody does anything else.
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