Fire starter logs

[smabon]

Just wondering what everyones thoughts are on using fire starter logs to start a fire. I used them all last year. Usually bought a box of 24 and I usually was able to use half of a stick to light the fire. Is this the lazy mans way of starting a fire. Is there any reason not to use them?

 

[fespo]

To much $$$ for me. Plus my fire almost never dies out 100%

 

[Chris D 101]

Nope. I just use old toilet paper rolls stuffed with dryer lint. (one per fire) And they seem to get the wood started just fine ;-)

 

[begreen]

Email Thomas and get a free pack of his starters. Many start their fires with just a quarter of one of these.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/40465/

 

[SWNH]

Pine board cut offs and a propane torch works for me.

 

[madrone]

I like a laser and magnesium shavings.



Just kidding.

 

[firefighterjake]

Just wondering what everyones thoughts are on using fire starter logs to start a fire. I used them all last year. Usually bought a box of 24 and I usually was able to use half of a stick to light the fire. Is this the lazy mans way of starting a fire. Is there any reason not to use them?

If memory serves me correctly at least one member here used them one winter and said there was a large build up of fine creosote or "fuzz' of some sort in his stove. I've cut some of these into "cookies" for use as fire starters, but quite honestly usually a bit of kindling with some newspaper and/or cardboard works just as well for me if not better . . . although I have experimented somewhat with pine cones, TP and dryer lint and about another half dozen ways of getting a fire started . . . I tend to keep coming back to the good old stand by though of using kindling with newspaper/cardboard.

 

[BrotherBart]

If memory serves me correctly at least one member here used them one winter and said there was a large build up of fine creosote or "fuzz' of some sort in his stove.

That was me. It was black fuzzy soot in the liner. I was using cut up Pine Mountain logs though. I think here he is talking about he Firestarter Logs that you can break up into pieces specifically for starting fires. They may give different results.

 

[velvetfoot]

I used a table saw to cut those Starter Loggs up a couple of years ago.
Last year I didn't and they didn't go as far (we both work so we use them.)
They are pretty darn expensive - like $15+ for a little box.

 

[NWfuel]

If memory serves me correctly at least one member here used them one winter and said there was a large build up of fine creosote or "fuzz' of some sort in his stove.

That was me. It was black fuzzy soot in the liner. I was using cut up Pine Mountain logs though. I think here he is talking about he Firestarter Logs that you can break up into pieces specifically for starting fires. They may give different results.

The Super Cedar will not leave fuzz,cause, we use highly refined paraffin and a unique process which allows each Super Cedar to be oxygen rich. We all know this will make a faster, cleaner, hotter fire. Other paraffin based firestarters could have a lesser quality paraffin and or too much paraffin which causes the product to smolder and emit fuzzy pollutants. This is another reason the Super Cedar is approved for use in cat stoves.www.supercedar.com/cattest. Their tests have proved the Super Cedar will prolong the life of cats, not clog them up! Must be the fiber.

 

[firefighterjake]

If memory serves me correctly at least one member here used them one winter and said there was a large build up of fine creosote or "fuzz' of some sort in his stove.

That was me. It was black fuzzy soot in the liner. I was using cut up Pine Mountain logs though. I think here he is talking about he Firestarter Logs that you can break up into pieces specifically for starting fires. They may give different results.

The Super Cedar will not leave fuzz,cause, we use highly refined paraffin and a unique process which allows each Super Cedar to be oxygen rich. We all know this will make a faster, cleaner, hotter fire. Other paraffin based firestarters could have a lesser quality paraffin and or too much paraffin which causes the product to smolder and emit fuzzy pollutants. This is another reason the Super Cedar is approved for use in cat stoves.www.supercedar.com/cattest. Their tests have proved the Super Cedar will prolong the life of cats, not clog them up! Must be the fiber.

Fiber keeps everything "regular" right?

 

[begreen]

Dunno, I tried a high-fiber diet on my cat and it went out and found a nice vole for dinner instead.

 

[Wet1]

I tried it with my cat and it created far to much work for me (in the litter box).

 

[Jags]

Yep, the fire starter bricks work well, and can be broken into much smaller pieces and still have good success, but with the offer that Thomas has out there for a sample of Super Cedars, you would be silly not to take him up on it and give it a shot.

Note: I think the smaller the piece of firestarter used (not including the Super Cedars) the less chance you will have any unwanted buildup.

 

[Highbeam]

I use only firestarters and no paper in my stove. I choose to use the big duraflame style wax logs cut up into small golf ball sized chunks. I use them to start charcoal briquettes for BBQ too. Whatever firestarter you choose to use, you can be sure that you are not alone in skipping the newspaper method.

One reason I really like the firestarters is that they are compact. I build my kindling and wood load on top of the starter but supported by the stove. As the starter burns, the kindling doesn't collapse on the fire like it can with newspaper. 6 wads of newsprint takes up a lot of room in these small fireboxes.

 

[TreePapa]

My wife enjoys buidling a fire (in the FP) with no "artificial" starters, only tinder and kindling. We collect the "chips" from splitting and some them (the stringy ones), she tears into smaller pieces. We did get some of the "brick" type firestarters last year when I bought a load (actually, 2.5 "Ranger Loads") of firewood at a garage sale for $20. The guy threw in the firestarters free. We still have 1/2 of them. I would never pay for them. Of course, I probably have a lifetime supply of homemade fatwood from the pitch pine I scrounged last Jan./Feb. The stuff lit w/ 1 match - when green! I'm lookin' forward to seeing what it does after nearly a year of seasoning in the So. Calif. sun.

Peace,
- Sequoia

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Using various fire starters like the super cedars works for a lot of people until they get to the point where they can start a fire just as easy using only what they have on hand.

We like to use soft maple kindling which lights easy and burns hot; therefore getting the fire going quite fast. Under the kindling we crumble up some newspaper (none with colored ink though) and one match. My wife also likes to go out after I split wood and pick up the little chips.

That said, we have from time to time used some fire starters. The Super Cedars work great but another and perhaps much lower cost is to go into a Walmart or that type of store (Meijers in MI) and go to the camping section.

Look for Coghlan's Fire Starters. They come in a box of 20 but right now I can't give a price. Perhaps my wife will check when she again goes into the store and if so, I'll post it. These things work nicely when going on a camping trip for lighting fires so they also work nicely in the stove. It is just a short stick a little over 2" long and shaped like a match...and work like a match. The box has a scratch piece on one side that you rub one of the sticks and it immediately lights. They work like a charm.