Hey, does anyone else agree that with news media going more and more online / digital, it is getting harder to find newspapers to use for starting fires? I still get the flyers but they have a lot of unhealthy colour dyes and don't light / burn very well. What are some readily available non-toxic alternatives?
Newspapers harder to come by for starting fires
- Thread starter CabinCamper
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Bad LP
Minister of Fire
CaperM
Member
I having the same issue here.I start my boiler every day when it is very cold.I've started using some cardboard mixed in.
Cardboard here. We're getting more deliveries in boxes.
They all get kept near the furnace and work well for fire starting.
They all get kept near the furnace and work well for fire starting.
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
I use copy/printer paper that my kids bring home from school (I'm burning their grades). No color, no waxes etc
You could also get a weekend-only subscription to the NYT. Either you read it or you only burn it - whatever you think is the appropriate treatment
You could also get a weekend-only subscription to the NYT. Either you read it or you only burn it - whatever you think is the appropriate treatment
hobbyheater
Minister of Fire
We get a yearly subscription to a small weekly newspaper. The wife likes to read it and I look at the pictures but it is just the perfect size for lighting the boiler!
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
Remember setting points with a dwell meter? Or rotary dial phones? There is a better way to start fires now too.
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
I agree, but I use that to light some paper. 5 or so letter sized school work pages. I do find that the paper lasts a bit longer, gives a bit more consistent heat to light the splitting splinters I use on top. It would require the torch for a minute or so to light as many places as I do now in 5 seconds.
Also, I bought a torch from the local hardware store, and for some reason it stopped working pretty fast: the (piezo) lighter does not seem to make a spark anymore, but when I use a normal lighter to light the torch, it also doesn't work well - it seems to blow out the gas too fast and when I remove the lighter, there is no flame left, unless I dial it down to the edge of closing it completely.
It's perfectly clean, did not drop. So, I'm likely going back to the normal lighter and paper when the gas canister is empty...
Bad LP
Minister of Fire
Yes I'm that old. Yes I use a torch to start my boiler and I save the brown packing paper that many shippers use. Better than newspaper IMO.
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
lol, yes, me too. The noise from the ringers on those phones...! Brown bags (around my bourbon bottles...) are very good indeed.
salecker
Minister of Fire
I have a small business,so that generates a lot of paper...
But i never have a shortage at home of paper for starting fires, so all my business paper get recycled.
But i never have a shortage at home of paper for starting fires, so all my business paper get recycled.
Torch, pine cones and 13 year old twin boys. I make the boys clean up the pine cones from the yard, let them dry and fire'em up. The only people not happy with this system are my boys
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maple1
Minister of Fire
Having just finished my taxes, I'm in a mood, so I will say that the paper that tax instructions are printed on is quite suitable, and Uncle Sam will mail you all you order. The manila envelopes they send them in make nice file folders too.
The recycled paper egg carton stuff is great, especially if you get the big ones in the 5 dozen package. You have to let them be out of the moist fridge a couple of days before you try to use them though, and you may fail your next cholesterol screening if you take it too far!
The worst, is having a catalyst stove that shouldn't have color print. There's maybe one page in a newspaper section that doesn't have color printing these days.
If you order something from Amazon, and it comes in a box eight sizes too big, with a bunch of that brown paper - bonanza!
Of course, it could also come in a huge box filled with a ton of styrofoam pellets - well, I have more packing for when I have to send something to someone I don't particularly like.
But, yeah, I was just perking up an almost dead fire, and I was ripping pages out of an old phone book.
The recycled paper egg carton stuff is great, especially if you get the big ones in the 5 dozen package. You have to let them be out of the moist fridge a couple of days before you try to use them though, and you may fail your next cholesterol screening if you take it too far!
The worst, is having a catalyst stove that shouldn't have color print. There's maybe one page in a newspaper section that doesn't have color printing these days.
If you order something from Amazon, and it comes in a box eight sizes too big, with a bunch of that brown paper - bonanza!
Of course, it could also come in a huge box filled with a ton of styrofoam pellets - well, I have more packing for when I have to send something to someone I don't particularly like.
But, yeah, I was just perking up an almost dead fire, and I was ripping pages out of an old phone book.
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