How do you start your burns?

[EPS]

I'm bumping up on about four years of living in my house--and three heating seasons. I've tried several different methods of starting a burn that catches quick and allows me to add wood with ease. But no one way seems to consistently work.

What are your methods, materials (besides kindling and fire wood) and tools that you use to get your fires going?

 

[blacktail]

A row of splits NS.
A sawdust & wax fire starter cradled between middle 2.
A row of EW splits with a gap for the flame to travel up.
A row of NS (usually smaller pieces) above that, with gaps for flame.

 

[Rearscreen]

I had same flue, same house, same everything. 2 different stoves. 2 completely different starting procedures. Stove #1. Plenty of newspaper, kindling plenty of fire, had to keep door open. IF I paid attention (I suffer from AD-DDD) I could get it going. If not, I had to do the procedure all over again as the starting wood burned down. Stove #2 Newspaper, kindling, light shut door and off it went with a vengeance. My point is, the stove itself make makes a difference.

 

[firefighterjake]

Top down . . . Super Cedar . . . match.

 

[blacktail]

To go with my post above...

 

[EPS]

Wow, you really don't use any kindling do you? The method that seems to work most often for me is loosely crumpled newspaper, small pieces of kindling on top of that, light it, then build up the fire as I go with increasingly bigger pieces of wood. I think I might need to make some of those fire starters this spring and summer, though.

 

[Pertzbro]

Blacktail, that's impressive. I've never even come close to getting that much wood in my lopi insert. You firebox is smaller than mine as well. I cant load NS as my splits are way too big or long. What length are those splits to stuff it like that?

 

[Woody5506]

I don't pack the box full like that when I start up mostly due to non optimally seasoned wood. Lately I use fat wood, pallet wood kindling/small splits, and blaze it up with a Bernzomatic torch. I try top down here and there but never have consistent success with it, sometimes it works great, almost a "set it and forget it" method and other times it's stubborn. Again, less than prime seasoned wood is the issue.

 

[savageactor7]

Couple hand fulls or more of spliter trash, aka kindling, on top of some used paper towels; spray it with an atomizer bottle of diesel fuel then add a bunch of smaller splits...DONE!

...very timely cause we just let our fire go cold the first time since we lighted up for the season.

 

[begreen]

Did a 1/8 Super Cedar cold start of a full load this morning. easy peasy with dry wood.

 

[blacktail]

Blacktail, that's impressive. I've never even come close to getting that much wood in my lopi insert. You firebox is smaller than mine as well. I cant load NS as my splits are way too big or long. What length are those splits to stuff it like that?

I cut most of my wood 12-13" for NS loading. About the only time I cut longer pieces is if I'll need them to crib the ends of a stack.

 

[xman23]

I've had issues with slow cold starts over the years. Three quick starts then two in a row that look like It was the first time doing this. Getting the 3 splits E/W with space between them is one problem. One bad habit I had was removing all the ash. The splits then sit on the floor, making them hard to light. I now use a piece of kindling N/S from the glass to the back. It holds the splits up so I can get a fire starter under them. Much better now that I pay attention to the setup.

 

[St. Coemgen]

A very detailed (maybe anal) answer to your question (but it always works):

https://stcoemgen.com/2015/02/01/start-at-the-top-or-how-to-build-the-perfect-winter-fire/

Side note: some people use super ceder rather than paper.

 

[Bootstrap]

I use these little fire starter brick things. They look like 2"x2"x.375" pieces of cardboard. They light easy, and stay going for at least 20 minutes. They are cheap too. I think it was $5 for a box of 50. I usually always start a fire with just those, and putting logs in. A similar starting situation to the picture above from Blacktail. They catch, and I leave the door cracked open for about 20 minutes or so, sometimes less.
Very easy.

 

[Sprinter]

Did a 1/8 Super Cedar cold start of a full load this morning. easy peasy with dry wood.

Same here. I haven't used kindling or paper or anything like that for 5 years and found out about super cedar. Large splits start fine. I usually put a couple of small chunks spaced several inches apart on top of the lower layer of splits. It just starts a little faster that way with the chunks at two places. But never more than 1/4 to 1/6 of a puck overall. One of the best hints I got from this forum besides the stove suggestions.

And I almost never crack the door open. It just isn't necessary with the air control turned up while starting. In fact for me, cracking the door open tends to fan the flames too much, cooling them. Using just primary air works best for me, feeding the fire with plenty of air but more controlled. Put them near the front since that's where the primary air comes in.

And no, nobody here has an interest in super cedar, we just like the product

 

[Sodbuster]

I use Fatwood, load NS and leave the door cracked for the first 5-10 minutes. If I let my stove (PE Summit) go ice cold it gets a little cold blooded, and can take an hour to get to full shutdown. I use very large splits however.