Where do you buy kindling?

[tonelover]

I pick up my own kindling but have an appointment to go over this evening to scope out this offer. All oak and maple, would be a time saver from gathering and cutting this summer, not that I really mind it.

(broken link removed to http://nh.craigslist.org/for/1602550088.html)

 

[Stevebass4]

I split my own kin'lin.

i do the same

I split about three weeks worth of kindling at a time for me and the neighbor lady and it takes about 20 minutes

BB - i also use supercedards but with SC and kindling i get the fire blazing in ten minutes

This summer the game plan is to split a year's worth of pine kindling

 

[btuser]

!BUUUUUUUY KINDLING! :bug:
Bust up some pallets if you don't want to split some of your good wood.

Pallets baby. Pallets are a girl's best friend.

 

[hkillam]

If you ever get scrap 2X4's they make great kindling. I cut them to 5 or 6 inch lengths, then split them with a hatchet. They split easily (not always straight, though...) and because they are kiln dried, light easily and burn pretty well. I try to get each 5 or 6 inch length into 8 or 10 waffers. When you're done, it looks like you've get a bunch of shims, though not nearly so uniform as shims (which, by the way, are also great if you have leftovers from projects).

 

[ChrisNJ]

wow I guess I am an odd one here as I don't have time to make it so I buy bags of kiln dried hard wood from Lowes :-O I feel ashamed now but I love the stuff and I start a new fire almost every morning using them.

 

[jharkin]

My lot is only a half acre, and even on that I get more down branches than I can ever use for kindling. And as part time burners we start a lot of fires.

Unless your in the inner city just look in your back yard

 

[andyrlee]

Check out a planing mill or cabinet maker.

 

[firefighterjake]

Hmmm . . . the idea of buying kindling . . . very odd concept.

Most of my kindling is from the free pallets I use or softwood slabs that I chop up with a hatchet or ax . . . although a few years back I did cut up and split a downed cedar . . . and in a pinch I suppose I could chop up some of my actual firewood.

 

[morgantruce]

Us country mice shouldn't be so hard on our city cousins... they're just more used to paying for things than we rural mice.

I can just barely remember back to when I lived in the city, but I know don't recall any handy piles of kindling laying around.

While you're out walking the dog, if you notice the sound of a circular saw or table saw, there's probably a wood worker living nearby. Unless he's also a wood burner, that might be a good source.

City mice might not be so keen on swinging a hatchet at a piece of firewood---besides, they are not at all likely to have a proper chopping block. Whittling with a sharp knife might be more suitable. I recently bought a used wood plane on eBay.... boy, turning a board into a pile of shavings is quite entertaining.

A dozen popsicle sticks can usually get a fire going--if the firewood is not huge.

Carry a pair of lopping shears and a carton in your trunk. Often you will see some fallen branches. Even a pair of hand shears can be of use. Such cuttings usually need seasoning.

Be wary of any scrap wood that has ever had a finish applied. Such wood is not good for combustors--or mouse lungs.

 

[wmk1956]

I second the Super Cedar fire starters, haven't needed kindling.

 

[CrawfordCentury]

All that white pine that the wood snobs turn their noses up at is great for getting the fires going. Works good as firewood too.

The brush pile at the dump is also a good source for scrap dimensional lumber if none of your pals is in construction.

 

[Henz]

I used to, and still do split my own kindling from withatever I have..mostly the smaller diameter rounds. This year I bought a box of firestarter logs from my local hardware store..Let me tell you, they are the way to go if you ask me. I bought one box, had 20 "logs" in it I guess at the start of the burn season and I still have 8 left. You do not actually need to burn the entire log, I split each piece in half so I get 2x the use out of them. It has really reduced the amount of kindling that I need. I place one of the firestart halves in between two pieced of kindling, then two pieces of kindling perpendicular to that and then one split on top...slick. I really dont even use newspaper anymore, I simply light the firestarter and it takes right off

 

[thewoodlands]

I split Quaking Aspen or Basswood for kindling, also have a endless supply of dead white pine branches that I used early in the year then stopped.

Zap

 

[Bobbin]

Another one who collects downed branches and rakes up the debris from splitting. As our stacked wood dries it frequently sheds the bark and I use that, too. We built a barn in '07 and diligently saved all the trimmings from the dimensional lumber. We just finished splitting the bounty a few weeks ago! Kindling is one of the on-going conflicts in this household, frankly. I am too chicken to use the axe or power equipment to process it and we have to "run out" before the spousal unit will get "busy". Which is probably why:

Since November I've used only a milk crate's worth in the studio ("my territory"). The husband uses a lot more to start/rekindle the house fire than I do. One of my games is to see how little newspaper and kindling is required to start a fire or goose the remaining coals to light the next load... .

 

[Henz]

the absolute #1 best kindling ever is ol lath from a remodel. I would pick through a dumpster for it if I had one.

 

[CrawfordCentury]

the absolute #1 best kindling ever is ol lath from a remodel. I would pick through a dumpster for it if I had one.

Agreed. A previous owner of our antique home dumped all the lath out back. Cleaned up the lath and spread out the mountain of plaster to level off some uneven areas.

The nails were easy to remove - the old square nails, which came in handy for a couple restoration projects.

 

[hareball]

One of my games is to see how little newspaper and kindling is required to start a fire or goose the remaining coals to light the next load... .

Now that sounds fun to me!

 

[Summertime]

I pay $5.00 for a pallet load of undersized 4' pallet boards from a local pallet maker,I dry them for a couple of months after making one cut through the wrapped pallet to make 24" boards.

 

[Joe_]

Pine. Best free kindling there is.

Also make great bookends for the split stacks ....

 

[firefighterjake]

Another one who collects downed branches and rakes up the debris from splitting. As our stacked wood dries it frequently sheds the bark and I use that, too. We built a barn in '07 and diligently saved all the trimmings from the dimensional lumber. We just finished splitting the bounty a few weeks ago! Kindling is one of the on-going conflicts in this household, frankly. I am too chicken to use the axe or power equipment to process it and we have to "run out" before the spousal unit will get "busy". Which is probably why:

Since November I've used only a milk crate's worth in the studio ("my territory"). The husband uses a lot more to start/rekindle the house fire than I do. One of my games is to see how little newspaper and kindling is required to start a fire or goose the remaining coals to light the next load... .

You sound like my wife . . . I use way more kindling and use it way more often than she does . . . she is more patient and will put some small splits on small coals and wait for it to take off whereas I get impatient and toss in a bunch of kindling to get the fire going faster . . . neither technique is wrong . . . it's just that I have plenty of kindling so figure I may as well use it.

 

[Rory]

I never bought kindling until I got my gasifier up and running last year. Building two fires a day in cold weather goes through the kindling in a hurry, even though I typically only use four pieces. I bought a pickup load of pine trimmings from a local sawmill for $30, it looks like it will last me several years.