I purchased my wood this year, in late Novemeber, so it's quite wet. Every load sizzles, and I have quite a bit of trouble getting the fire started. once I have deep coals, I'm fine. I do all the tricks; drying by the stove, etc. I would love to have good, dry wood, but as of now, I just don't.
I have a big box of cardboard/newspapers/recycled paper products that I often use to start my kindling going, sometimes to good success, other times not so much. I decided to make some firestarters the other day. I took several sheets of newspaper, tied knots in them like I normally would, and then dipped them in my waste oil from the fryer. I did this with a few ripped up egg cartons(I LOVE how those burn, even without the oil) as well. I loaded up the wood, then made my kindling pile in the front. I use a bit of a top down/bottom up hybrid method for starting my fires. I put the newspaper down, put small kindling on top, and put that in front of the actual log stack in the stove. So the kindling and newspaper is built bottom up, but this is essentially on top of the wood. It starts as a bottom up, then turns into top down at the actual wood load. Not sure if I can explain that any better. Regardless, this lit up the whole load on the first shot with no intervention. A simple feat for most who have good dry wood, but for anyone who struggles with wood that is at best half way to seasoned, it's pretty impressive.
All in all, the starters worked great. They burned quite hot and for a good long time. They don't burn quite as long as a super cedar or Starterlogg, etc, but it sure saves a lot of money, and I know precisely what's going into my stove. If anyone really likes the convenience of firestarters but doesn't want to shell out the cash, this seems to be a cheap solution. Just lay down some newspaper when you make em, and at the end you have yourself one more starter when you roll it up, with no messy table/floor.
I have a big box of cardboard/newspapers/recycled paper products that I often use to start my kindling going, sometimes to good success, other times not so much. I decided to make some firestarters the other day. I took several sheets of newspaper, tied knots in them like I normally would, and then dipped them in my waste oil from the fryer. I did this with a few ripped up egg cartons(I LOVE how those burn, even without the oil) as well. I loaded up the wood, then made my kindling pile in the front. I use a bit of a top down/bottom up hybrid method for starting my fires. I put the newspaper down, put small kindling on top, and put that in front of the actual log stack in the stove. So the kindling and newspaper is built bottom up, but this is essentially on top of the wood. It starts as a bottom up, then turns into top down at the actual wood load. Not sure if I can explain that any better. Regardless, this lit up the whole load on the first shot with no intervention. A simple feat for most who have good dry wood, but for anyone who struggles with wood that is at best half way to seasoned, it's pretty impressive.
All in all, the starters worked great. They burned quite hot and for a good long time. They don't burn quite as long as a super cedar or Starterlogg, etc, but it sure saves a lot of money, and I know precisely what's going into my stove. If anyone really likes the convenience of firestarters but doesn't want to shell out the cash, this seems to be a cheap solution. Just lay down some newspaper when you make em, and at the end you have yourself one more starter when you roll it up, with no messy table/floor.
