The Solution to All of my Fire Starting Problems

[teekal]

Hey guys, I've had a stove for 6 years now. And we love fires in the living room. The first couple of years I was extremely motivated to harvest all the wood I could get my hands on in the surrounding rural area of my hometown. As the years went on, I lost my drive and this is the first year we went into winter without any wood.

I found a great source of oak wood not far from here, $700 for two seasoned cords delivered. Done deal.

I absolutely love the stuff, however, it is a real hassle to get it going. Even extremely small kindling splits don't take very well, and so I need something else to get a hot fire going before switching over to the oak. Up until now I had always picked up 2x4 cutoff splits from local builders, but that supply has dried up. Then I hit the motherload.

My buddy works at a feed mill here in town, and told me I can take all the pallets that I need.

I took 2 tonight, just to try my hand at sawing them up. literally 2 minutes with the circular saw and I had this stack of kindling from just one side of one pallet. What's more - because the slats are nice and thin, I can split 3 at a time to make the perfect sized kindling.

Looking forward to loading up a few dozen pallets this weekend and getting the saw out. I'll never be in need of kindling again!

 

[shortys7777]

I also use pallets for my kindling and lumber cut offs. I cut each side of the pallet down the middle then on the edges so they are 6 inches or so long. split them and throw them in a box. One handful at a time is all I need.

 

[kborndale]

Wow, at $350 a cord it would be cheaper to just turn on the furnace! Is the wood dry, or is it "seasoned"?

 

[weatherguy]

Wow, at $350 a cord it would be cheaper to just turn on the furnace! Is the wood dry, or is it "seasoned"?

I see that said when the price of a cord seems high but I bet hes still saving money and has a warmer house. Wood prices vary across North America, next state over from me average price is $100 more than where I live.

 

[tadmaz]

Reciprocating saw might be easier than circular saw. Some folks just use splitter scraps and/or spruce/pine/fir/cedar split into small pieces.

 

[kborndale]

I see that said when the price of a cord seems high but I bet hes still saving money and has a warmer house. Wood prices vary across North America, next state over from me average price is $100 more than where I live.

I guess it depends on what your furnace runs on too. My furnace is natural gas, but if your running electric heat or LP your furnace would cost much more. I get 2 cords of "seasoned" hardwood for around $300-$350 so $350 a cord just seems insane to me.

 

[Woodspliter]

One year I don't know how I got turned into it but I think I was just messing around cutting and noticed that If you use the saw to rip big splits it makes some really stringy wood chips that are awesome for fire starters. I made like two totes of chips and used it all season to get my old stove going

 

[RandyBoBandy]

One year I don't know how I got turned into it but I think I was just messing around cutting and noticed that If you use the saw to rip big splits it makes some really stringy wood chips that are awesome for fire starters. I made like two totes of chips and used it all season to get my old stove going

It’s called noodling a log. I do it when my rounds are to big to lift onto the splitter. It does make great tinder to.

 

[Woody Stover]

I absolutely love the stuff, however, it is a real hassle to get it going. Even extremely small kindling splits don't take very well

That looks like Black Locust, but I don't know if you have that in CA..? If it's BL, yeah it is a bee-otch to get it burning. I only throw it in on a coal bed, or buried in the back, with some easier-starting stuff in the top/front of the load. Once you get it burning, though, it goes a looong time!

 

[SpaceBus]

Sounds like marginally dry wood.

 

[BigJ273]

The wood must be wet. I’ve never had a problem lighting dry oak with little to no kindling at all.

 

[Woody Stover]

The wood must be wet. I’ve never had a problem lighting dry oak with little to no kindling at all.

I've found Red Oak to light fairly easily but White Oak is more like BL, sluggish, and I'll put it on coals or in the back of the load where it will eventually get burning (E-W loader.)