Starter....

[shoe]

Just got back from a the mission field and the wife and I purchased a home that has a JØtol 500 in it. The gaskets were in pretty bad shape, I replaced them all, cleaned out the chimney until I could see 'shinny' stainless when looking up it. Not new to wood burning but it has been a long time. I used to ball up 2-3 full sheets of newspaper to pre-heat the chimney [for draft] and then place 3-4 balled up newspaper full pages with my started wood.

There aren't any newspapers left in this world! To be more precise, not in my area. What are people using to get the fire started. I did shave off a bunch of small pieces of wood and lit them with a handheld map gas torch. Tested everything and it worked. But that seems kind of a funny way to continue...

Suggestions welcomed.

PS just joined, hope this is the correct place to post this

 

[EbS-P]

I light my fires top down. With more kindling than I think I need. I use fat wood or a fire starter. If you haven’t ever tried to down it’s a game changer. Really dry wood is a must. Get a moisture meter. Test a fresh split face at room temp.

 

[Woody Stover]

You split these to half thickness, then snap those halves in half. A 144 ct. box lasts a long time.

 

[kennyp2339]

I use fatwood, skinny splits w/ torch to get things cooking, 1 box of fat wood lasts me like 3 years + since once I light a fire it stays lit till the springtime, what ever you... do not use the ashpan door on your stove as an air booster, you will crack the floor grate and cause lots of heart ache

 

[BillBurns]

I use a rolled up newspaper, holding it uder the flue, and then I throw on a "taco" piece of paper with kindling in it. Then I build a TeePee, lol....my brother said thats a Boy Scout way, who knows, but it works. As for newspapers, in my area there are Ad Bargains and Bargain Sheet.....they are basically classified Ads. Anyway they are free, every week. They have them at almost every store in town, and free, I LOVE!

 

[kborndale]

You split these to half thickness, then snap those halves in half. A 144 ct. box lasts a long time.

I use the Rutland version of those, seem to be the exact same thing. Probably made in the same factory in China.

 

[kennyp2339]

I use a rolled up newspaper, holding it uder the flue, and then I throw on a "taco" piece of paper with kindling in it. Then I build a TeePee, lol....my brother said thats a Boy Scout way, who knows, but it works. As for newspapers, in my area there are Ad Bargains and Bargain Sheet.....they are basically classified Ads. Anyway they are free, every week. They have them at almost every store in town, and free, I LOVE!

Just need to be more vigilant with newspaper types, I run a cat stove and most color printed paper isnt good for the stove, I think the stuff thats more semi gloss and shiny is bad to burn, regular black and white is the best.
*its a catch 22 honestly, if your using newspaper to light a fire then the stove obviously isnt hot enough to engage the cat so it should be a mute point, I'm just erring on the side of caution.

 

[BillBurns]

Yeah I never burn glossy paper, or cardboard thats glossy. Only paper for me. My burner doesnt have a Cat....its just a camp kinda stove, but it suites me fine. Plus, I just dont think a new enemaled cast iron stove would look right in my house. It would be too nice, lol....then you gotta have a killer mantel, hearth, tools, ect.....my old house just fits this stove just right. Its rustic looking, and rustic in operation I guess. Its just a USSCO camp stove.....cheap, like me!

 

[paredown]

Folks on this forum got me started on the Super Cedars. He used to offer a start-up pack (which I availed myself of)--and I am now a regular user.

You can break the "pucks" to the size you need to get the fire started--I find them very good for starting the Bio Brick style blocks that we have burned in shoulder season since they burn hot and long enough to start the blocks.

Super Cedar Firestarters | Manufacturer and distributor of fire starters

Super Cedar Firestarters are for fireplaces, bbq, wood & pellet stoves, survival kits, and outdoor cooking. Our fire starters burn cleaner, hotter & are longer lasting.

www.supercedar.com

 

[Eman85]

We have plenty of newspapers and we also get a lot of mail. One thing we use is paper egg cartons along with the other paper. I never ball the news paper, rip it into strips. Paper has a grain and you can rip nice strips easily, place then in the egg carton and lay a few pieces of kindling over it. I get dry wood scraps for kindling that light off easy.

 

[BillBurns]

Egg cartons do work, the good ones. I use paper towel rolls too when I finish a roll. And old boxes, nothing with a shine tho.

 

[30WCF]

Go top-down with 3 or 4 sizes of wood. Light the kindling, wait 2 minutes until it’s going good and close the door. Come back 2 hours later if you have a coil spring operates stove or unless you need to adjust a damper or intake.

 

[Woody Stover]

cheap, like me!

144 Meeco starters per box, $12.99 at Menards. As I said, I get 4 pieces per square. That comes to about 2.25 cents per start. But I'm just loading on coals at this part of the season.
It can start a small split of soft wood so you don't really need kindling, but I do have some on hand, branches that fall which I snap to length with my foot.

 

[30WCF]

If you like to tinker, harvesting fat wood is fun to do and start a fire with.

 

[TomMcDonald]

Orange peel

 

[Woody Stover]

Orange peel

I'm assuming the drying time is less than Oak, so I guess I need to start a separate stack for the orange rinds. 😆

 

[TomMcDonald]

I'm assuming the drying time is less than Oak, so I guess I need to start a separate stack for the orange rinds. 😆

Only a little less.
Actually the best way is to roast them atop your stove then dip in wax.

 

[appointed EPA deviant]

Them fast food wrappers and fry oil soaked bags are a good fuel.
if i come across any southern yellow pine lumber scraps and pcs. I try to snap them up and split them into various sizes. A poor mans "fatwood".

 

[BillBurns]

I have been burning pine for about a month, nothing but pine. I like it. Its easy to light, its light weight, and it burns pretty hot, just not real long. I was told pine is fine, oaks a joke...lol....my friend doesnt know any better.....any wood is basically good, or it can be made to be.

 

[Crab]

Yep newspapers not available here either. Wife grabs a handful of grocery store ad papers every trip. I have a non-cat.

 

[Queequeg From Rokovoko]

Got any white birch around? The bark is nuclear. Don't ruin the tree though. Peel only that, that is about to come off. Also toilet paper rolls stuffed with lint from your clothes dryer with a drip or two of wax on it.

 

[shoe]

I light my fires top down. With more kindling than I think I need. I use fat wood or a fire starter. If you haven’t ever tried to down it’s a game changer. Really dry wood is a must. Get a moisture meter. Test a fresh split face at room temp.

Top down? I'm assuming you stack from the your wood from largest to smallest [with the smallest stuff on top] and then place your starter on top and light it?

 

[shoe]

Got any white birch around? The bark is nuclear. Don't ruin the tree though. Peel only that, that is about to come off. Also toilet paper rolls stuffed with lint from your clothes dryer with a drip or two of wax on it.

Nah, no birch - just oak [white & red], hickory, walnut - a few scraggly pines. Since we moved in, I taken down a few trees that I know are dead, but I purchased 'cord' of wood that was supposed to be dry, it's not of course. Maybe next year. So I'm selectively going through what I took down with my moisture meter to find burnable wood. I wish I could burn whitetail deer - I got roughly a bazillion of them - gardening is going to be interesting...

What do you guys mean by 'fat wood'?
I did order some Surestart fire bricks.
I've never burned cardboard or color print paper. I used to include egg cartons, toilet paper rolls in that category, but never thought of those.

 

[EbS-P]

Top down? I'm assuming you stack from the your wood from largest to smallest [with the smallest stuff on top] and then place your starter on top and light it?

Yep. Fat wood is super pitchy pine. Light almost instantly. All the pitch burns off fast and hot.