Fire starting technique/skills/tricks

[RedOctober]

At a glance I'm sure you're all wondering "does this guy know how to start a fire?" The answer is sure I do, But I also know that many out there have much more experience than I do.

So, My question is: What is your shortcut, special technique, or trick that you use when starting your stove fire?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Stevebass4]

i use superceders and they work awesome

 

[Backwoods Savage]

After splitting wood, pick up all the little slivers that have fallen to the ground. Makes excellent kindling. Easy fire starter is 3 or 4 sheets of newspaper (no color) and a little bit of kindling. When that starts, add some smal splits. No trick, just an easy way to start a fire. You can also make good kindling out of soft maple or even go out and collect some of the low dead branches of pine; about 1" diameter is just right.

When all else fails, you can always light a small candle and put it in the stove! lol

 

[johnsopi]

I used waxed cardboard produce boxes and 2x3 splits.

 

[Gunner]

TOP DOWN

 

[Lignums]

Two twists of newspapers and some splinters from skids at work. They are made of white pine and about 8'' to 12'' long. Another trick if you have all the time in the world is to make some feather sticks. I seen it on a Discovery channel show when some guy went up north to see what the army teaches the newbies on how to survive in the artic conditions. For those who have nothing to do on on the cold blustery overnight hours here is a link that explains it.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feather_stick

 

[Wolves-Lower]

A Torch and kindling.

 

[eba1225]

I use the firestarter squares that I get from HD (24 to a box, for ~$2.25) and some 1/2" - 1" kindling.

 

[Pine Knot]

Top down and plenty of small splinters.

 

[mayhem]

I use the old standby of wadded up newspapers and kindling.

What is this top down you guys keep mentioning? I assume you mean you're lighting the top of a fire starting pile and not the bottom...how does this work? Why does this work?

Had a bad experience last night relighting after I cleaned 2 weeks worth of ashes out of the stove...took me close to an hour to get a decent fire going...mildly wet, hard kindling couple with a lazy (on my part) layout on the first try.

 

[velvetfoot]

I cut up those fire starter bricks into squares.
I too use the leftovers from splitting-I got ~4 trash cans filled with them.
The thin sticks I had from a hemlock I think, burn well too.

 

[bjorn773]

I use wax cube firestarters sold at Home Depot to light up a couple small pieces of pallet wood. The cubes are usually in the grilling section of the store- 24 to a box for a couple bucks. They burn for about 10 minutes.

 

[bmwbj]

TOP DOWN...

The top down technique is the counter-intuitive opposite: put down three or four full sized pieces of firewood, then a layer of coarse kindling, then some fine kindling on that and top off the pile with a couple of sheets of crumpled paper. The paper is lit and, believe it or not, the fire builds progressively, gaining intensity, down through the layers to the biggest logs on the bottom. It's a wonderful thing to watch.

 

[adrpga498]

BMW

Nailed it . Bingo in Ringoes

 

[Pine Knot]

Top Down can fail for the same reasons other methods fail, but when done right after you light the match you can walk away and come back twenty min. later to a roaring fire, no nursing required.

 

[Jimbob]

Like this, no kindling required...

 

[eernest4]

I do my fires like jimbob's picture in the previous postwith a slight difference. I have a fireplace grate inside the firebox of my stove & the sides curve up so I dont have to put big splits on the right & left sides unelse i want 2, like when its really cold & in need a big fire. Also, the grate has 4 inches under it 4 stuffing in crumpled newspapers. I throw some light kindling on top of the grate, then some course kindling & then 3 - 1/8th splits long ways on top of the course kindling. Then I put 3 not very fat 1 or 2 inch diameter (1/8th) splits, from side to side, across
the fire box & lay all my 1/4 splits & 1/2 splits on top of them.

Important that the sideways splits are not so large as to block off lengthways air flow.

I should mention ,I have a front load ,front burn stove with a 2ftx2ftx3ft firebox (12 cubic ft firebox)
that will put out 75,000 to 200,000 btu/hr depending on how much its loaded & weather it is seasoned hardwood or softwood.

Anyways, after touching a match to newspaper, I have a 6 to 8 minute burn to 600 degrees, that i watch, without leaving the stove, with the door cracked 1 or 2 inch open for extra burn up to temp air.

I have a steel wieght that I place behind the door so it can't swing open more that where i set it
at.

At 700 deg. I shut the primary air off, set the stack damper down to7/8 or 3/4 open from full open, and close the door. Stack temp will shot up to 800 deg & I switch on the 24 inch fan & aim it at the stove and vent pipe. This brings the vent pipe temp back down to 500 deg in like 3 minutes or less, but for that 3 minutes, I raise the air temp in the basement from 80 to 92 deg.

Then I settle down the stove at 450 deg & watch it for 10 minutes to make sure it stays put at
450 & I'm good for the next 3 hours. I check it again , 5 to 8 min later, just 2 make sure its settled down.

I wont ignore the stove until the fuel is charcoaled. Once charcoaled, the wood has no energy left to overheat the stove.

 

[tradergordo]

I've found that the cheapest really great firestarters can be made just from buying one of those $2 five pound wax firelogs and cutting it up (outside!) with a circular saw. You can get like 80 chunks out of one log, they light up easily, burn for quite a long time, burn hot, and produce no fly ash. Much better than using paper. For kindling, I use pallet wood. For lighting, I use a propane torch ($10 from harbor freight - worth every penny, so much better than matches or lighters).

 

[DoubleClutch]

I have one of those ceramic "torch stone" things that you soak in kerosene and use to light the fire. Get the torch stone burning, lay some kindling on top of it and you're good to go. It totally does away with newspaper and associated fly ash.