Firestarters

[Mrs. Krabappel]

Matches are good for the budget with little to no waste produced, but let's face it, they suck. The break. They don't stay lit. The sometimes send flaming owies.

Long lighters are expensive (Course I'll happily spend the same amount of $$ on a beer when I'm out with friends. go figure.) , don't seem to last all that long, and there's all that plastic to throw away.

What's the solution? long matches? long or short lighter? welding torch?

 

[k3c4forlife]

Pine cones light and burn really hot for like a minute. I just use a short little bic lighter. I typically make 5 or 6 newspaper knots, 4 pine cones, a generous handful of sticks and a few small splits on top. Light one of the knots and put it in with the rest and the pine cones do the rest. Seriously a great starter if you dry them out.

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

I have super cedars which are excellent, but not for the initial flame on days when I come home to a cold stove.

 

[k3c4forlife]

I'm a huge fan of pine cones and a little paper. You can light a pine cone directly with no paper if it has enough of the resin/sap on it. Seems like youre on the I-only-pay-good-money-for-beer-budget like I am. Pine cones are free.

 

[velvetfoot]

Here I go again...

 

[k3c4forlife]

Ya something like that is great, you can even cut those up. Like I said though, as a fellow big fan of spending an extra few dollars on better beer, pinecones are free and work really well.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

I used to use the long wooden matches to light the stove, they ended up being more trouble than they were worth. At the dollar store I picked up 2 grill lighters for a buck each, they will last me all winter and the spring burns as well. I know they are not always dependable because they are so cheaply made but for the dollar I took the chance. I wonder if they make a decent refillable kind of grill lighter, something you would spend some money on and get many years of dependable life out of

 

[Dix]

I just picked up some refillable butane lighters at Bed Bath & Beyond. Thought they were worth a try. Pack of 2 for $4.

I've been using the clicky things all along.

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

I like the sound of the re-fillable jobbies.

 

[velvetfoot]

Wooden kitchen matches don't suck.

 

[Jags]

Torch tip lighter. Flexible, refillable, and hot flame for quick starts. On the 3rd year with mine and just refilled it two weeks ago.

 

[scoooter]

What about a Zippo?

EdIT: Dang you JAGS, you beat me to it but mine is from Zippo...

 

[woodgeek]

I love my kitchen torch for lighting starters and kindling. And I make a mean brûlée with it afterwards...
It's refillable butane, a fill of butane lasts several years in normal use.

 

[Creature]

Jags:

If I saw one of those around these parts, I wouldn't have ordered this:

Fancy, I know ... but I don't have it yet so I can't tell you if it works well.

 

[PapaDave]

I get the long nosed lighters from the local grocery store for about a buck or so, and they last most if not all winter. I use most of the fuel inside them in the shoulder seasons starting fires a couple times a day. Now,.....one click with some newspaper and/or paper towel/toidy paper rolls and I'm good for several days before needing to start a fire from scratch. They're supposed to be refillable, but I haven't had much luck w/that.
I figure a buck or so/season isn't too bad. %-P

 

[homebrewz]

Sounds like someone needs to get into homebrewing.. if you get good at it, your friends will come to you. Then you'll have to practice the art of "last call".

There was a pretty good thread this past fall about making your own starters.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/58509/

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah I pick up a long nose butane lighter at the dollar store at the first of the season and it lasts into the next season.

 

[Jags]

Fancy, I know ... but I don't have it yet so I can't tell you if it works well.

The name is Bond...James Bond.

 

[spirilis]

When I'm trying to get a brute force start going, my weapons of choice include:

1/4 supercedar
2 charcoal briquettes (1 on either side of the supercedar)
Squirt some firestarter gel on all 3 of those items
Ignite with a long grill lighter (they last a while, so I'm not worried about the cost)

Sometimes laying a sheet of aluminum foil under the firestarter and some of the fuel mass helps things going even quicker. The foil acts as a radiant barrier and I believe intensifies the fire (especially at its early stages).

 

[jlove1974]

I use 'fat' or 'lighter' or what I call lighter-knot pine in about 1/2" by log length pieces.
It's sapwood that lights like kerosene and burns like a commercially produced lighter log, but it's all natural

Basically, it's what happens to yellow or slash pine when the sap all runs into the stump or trunk. I cut and split
out the 'dry' pine and then shave the 'wet' sapwood down. It's a nifty little trick I picked up from the bro-in-law

 

[Dave_1]

I'm a huge fan of pine cones and a little paper. You can light a pine cone directly with no paper if it has enough of the resin/sap on it. Seems like youre on the I-only-pay-good-money-for-beer-budget like I am. Pine cones are free.

Si, amigo. Use a handful of dead pine needles / straw & you won't need the paper. ;-)

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

Torch tip lighter. Flexible, refillable, and hot flame for quick starts. On the 3rd year with mine and just refilled it two weeks ago.

me likey

 

[BrotherBart]

Thermite grenade. No waste left.

 

[Battenkiller]

I make my own fire starters. They're similar to SuperCedars except I use pine sawdust. I call them "PowerPines". :cheese:

I have an old stainless steel 3-quart saucepan that the handle fell off. I put it on the stove and put in a pound of canning wax (I have a lifetime supply). While it is melting, I fill a 9x9" disposable aluminum baking pan to the brim with dry pine sawdust. When it is melted and good and hot (do not walk away from this), I grab the pan off the stove and use a stick to mix in the sawdust. After it is thoroughly mixed, I use a piece of plywood the same size as the pan and pack it down good to get as much air as I can out of it (actually, I stand on the plywood).

When is has cooled, the whole block will just pop out of the pan. I then use an old 12" butcher knife to cut the block into squares about 1 1/2" wide. They work just about as good as a quarter of a SuperCedar.

Oh... I use a "strike anywhere" match to light them.

 

[Mad Tom]

You can get those long lighters from a Dollar store. If that is to much you can always bang some flint and steel together.