Storing Kindling

[sesro1978]

Hi-

This will be our first year burning wood in a newly installed Jotul F100. We purchased a couple of cords of kiln-dried firewood, which has subsequently been stacked outside. Mixed in with the split wood, was a bunch of what I would consider kindling sized scrap pieces. At the moment I've put these in plastic bins/totes (without lids), in our garage. I'd like to move these to the basement to free up some space, but am concerned about possibly bringing bugs into the house.

Should I be concerned about this? My plan was to put all of this into an old trunk that we have down in the basement. Is this a bad idea? Maybe better to get a couple more plastic totes (with lids) and store that way?

Thanks for any insight!

 

[Ashful]

There is a lot of debate on this subject of keeping firewood in the house. Personally, I don’t do it, I just don’t like the bugs that inevitably come with it. Most often, that’s moths or stink bugs, around here.

I store my kindling, along with a cord of wood, on a covered patio outside my walk-out basement door. That seems ideal, for me.

 

[sesro1978]

Fair point for sure. If I were to store outside, could I store on my deck inside plastic totes with lids? I'd have to keep the snow off of them of course.

 

[kborndale]

Being that it is kiln-dried wood you should be ok. The only bugs in it now would be any that got into it since it was in your garage. Btw kiln-dried is just cooked enough to kill any bugs in it, it does not mean that the wood is fully seasoned. I have have had kiln-dried wood that still hisses and bubbles when burned.

 

[begreen]

I keep spare kindling in the garage in standard garbage cans. If you are burning 24/7 you will not use much. Lately I have been using supercedars during shoulder season and usually very little or no kindling is necessary with good dry wood.

 

[yooper08]

With kindling, I find that I don't bring in bugs with it. I have a couple of plastic bins and a few peck baskets that I fill up each year - with 30+ mature oak trees on .75 acre, we have an endless supply of sticks and branches on the ground. I'll bring in a basket of kindling at a time, otherwise it stays outside or in the garage.

 

[rox3406]

I store all my kindling under the sink year round. It’s called super cedar. Try it once and you’ll never look back

 

[Ashful]

I store all my kindling under the sink year round. It’s called super cedar. Try it once and you’ll never look back

Yeah, I really don’t use kindling anymore either, under ideal circumstances. However, last year I was trying to burn about 3 cords of oak that wasn’t quite dry enough, and a few pieces of kindling really helped get the load going faster.

With good dry wood, all you need to do is jam a quarter or half Super Cedar under the load, and light off. No kindling needed.

 

[Poindexter]

I don't process kindling separately. I had probably a face cord of birch bark stored outdoors in laundry baskets from garage sales once upon a time.

New laundry basket, seven bucks. Garage sale, 25 cents. Stackable. Who cares if it is pink?

In my current regime, i am dealing with twisty spruce split within a day or three of felling. It has kindling pieces on every split. All I have to do is break the wee bits off each split as i load a cold stove, boom, a handful of kindling and off to the races.

The first firewood kiln I ever built was actually for kindling. You might could start with a clear plastic trash bag and fill it up with green branches. Just coil them in there any old way.

Set the ensemble - open end down- somewhere where you aren't trying to grow grass that also has good sun exposure. It will get to be too hot in there for bugs pretty quick, and dry the wood out in a hurry even with the bark still on it.

If the kindling you have is dry, see if you can get the same size totes, put the new lids on the dirty totes and have clean totes to use in the house.

I try to not bring wood into the house until after temps are below freezing. I am all about biodiversity and healthy bug populations on the lawn, but they can by golly stay outdoors. Except for spiders. If a spider can find something to eat in my house i want them in here eating whatever it is they found.

 

[Bad LP]

My kindling for the wood boiler is bark and scraps from splitting. I keep it in one of those big curbside trash barrels with the hinged lid that the trash trucks clamp onto, lift and dump in the packer. Someone was throwing it away. Very heavy duty with wheels and a BFI logo. I washed it out good so no stink. It's rather deep so near the bottom I have to screw around a little. I also use the small pieces of bark that fall off the wood that is stacked in the wood storage (unheated concrete area with an overhead door) in my cellar. I don't have a bug problem from wood in the house.

Living room insert gets fat wood for fire starter, no kindling needed.

 

[beatlefan]

No kindling for me. I use Duraflame fire starters. I got really tired of tying newspaper knots and breaking up kindling.

 

[Dobish]

i have a milk crate full of sticks and splitter chunks that I will use. Every so often I will go grab a stack of rose bush I have been fighting with for a few years now, and toss those in for good measure.

 

[Ashful]

Splitter scraps and rose bushes go in my fire pit, all collected and loaded via front-end loader. I just toss a quarter or half Super Cedar in the stove on a cold load. Easier than investing any time on picking thru splitter trash.

I used to save branches for kindling. But they’re not worth the effort, I think, and really don’t work that well. Now, any kindling I use is lumber scraps from my shop.