How do you light your bonfires?

[phiferpharm]

This is the only good use for ethanol gas.

When I lived in Miami, I heard a whoosh, then a thump, then my neighbor cussing. The first sound was the gas going off he used to start his brick BBQ pit, the thump was the limb that blew off above said BBQ grill, the cussing was the neighbor surveying his wrecked BBQ pit and our wrecked shared chain-link fence...

 

[Redneck in training]

I know you are joking but (don't ask how I know) using gas is not a great idea to start a brush pile fire.

Way too combustable for me.

MoKelly

Second that. Did that only once. It went something like that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA0wUW_p5Ns

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Sometimes idiot should be spelled in capital letters.

 

[Grateful11]

I like this idiot even better than the other guy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f4lPzxSm5A

 

[Redneck in training]

When I was in military guys used to light coal stove with Semtex. It burns quite hot.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

When we burn here everything is wet wet wet. Propane weed burner at the base of the pile always works. Once a good blaze gets going it is amazing how fast it dries out. I always get a good "Fire Storm" going, sometimes 50-60 feet high flames. This is a once a year event so the pile really gets big; as high as my BX can get it pushed up.

Ron

 

[Deere Dude]

I always have a 5 gallon bucket od wood chips (little split construction wood) soaked in straight diesel. I start all my fires using a piece of newspaper and a handful of diesel soaked chips. Starts my fireplace , cookout and bonfires very fast, easy, clean and cheap/

 

[KiotiKowboy]

I just have to ask. Is using diesel soaked chips in your fireplace a really good idea?

 

[Deere Dude]

I just have to ask. Is using diesel soaked chips in your fireplace a really good idea?

It worked perfect on my new fireplaces for 25 years. No flare up like gas will give you, clean on the hands except maybe a little diesel film which wipes right off. I used some old diesel mixed with dirty oil from a brake cleaning job, but that was to dirty. I threw that away into a burning barrel. Generally I have a full bucket of chips and then go and pour about 2 gallons of diesel over them to try to get all of them covered. Most of the oil drips off anyway except for a light film. That is what I use.

What I started doing yesterday to refine the process is to take 1 sheet of newspaper and lay it out flat in the fireplace. Then a medium sized handful of chips from my bucket in the center. Add about 4 sticks of wood about the size of your forearm on the top of that, then light the edge of the paper. The flame will crawl to the soaked chips and then start the bigger logs fairly quick.

From cold to nice flame in 3 minutes. The bucket says on the front porch all winter and I use about 4 buckets of construction chips per winter.

 

[Mace Canute]

Back when I was a kid on the farm we had a field of flax and after harvesting it we had no use for the flax straw so as usual we pushed it up into large piles with the Farmhand loader. This is a pic of the type we had.

As you can see, the reach is there and the stepdad decided to make one humongous pile! It was bloody huge! Later when we got a skiff of snow it was my job to go set fire to the flax straw piles so I took the old Allis Chalmers WC and a small can of 20% gas mixed with 80% diesel fuel out to the field. I stopped about fifty feet from that big pile on the upwind side (or I should say up breeze side) and went and used a small splash of fuel just to ensure a good catch and lite the match. That pile went up in flame so fast I had to run back to the tractor and it was a good thing I left it idling because the heat built so fast. I headed away at full throttle, all of 9 mph, and when I got a decent distance away I looked back at the biggest fire I have ever seen until I saw a grain elevator on fire. That huge pile was never repeated. The heat from the fire sterilized a spot of ground directly under the middle of the pile and it took a couple of years before anything grew there again. Flax straw burns fast and it burns hot!

 

[xzcVAbc5]

Bonfires are an excellent time to get rid of used motor oil if there isn't a place near you to recycle it. Diesel is always a good option, too.

When the seal was leaking in the JD2440 and diesel was making its' way into the oil we drained the oil tank and had a nice mix left over. I don't know the ratio, but the diesel-oil mix was great for fires.

 

[Mike68]

I have a 4 foot diameter fire pit that I pile all my brush into during the week. I use kerosene and a lighter. I agree with the other posters. Never use gas.

If the fire pit is cold and not going to be used that day I will pour my old 2 cycle gas mix in there. I figure what does not evaporate during the week will burn off during the next fire.

I also have a small portable air tank that I will use to keep the fire burning nicely when I want to sit by the fire and relax at the end of the day. A little puff of air now and then keeps the flames going. Also quieter than a leaf blower for a small fire.

 

[gwiley]

The last time I used gasoline to start a burn pile I lost all my leg hair. Never again. Gas is a firestarter for the suicidal.

Propane weed burner ($20 at NT) is amazing at getting a brush pile lit. I'll use kerosene if I don't have an LP tank handy.

 

[Xfaxman]

Natural gas, friction and static electricity.

The view from our backyard, in May, 2010, the fire is a quarter mile away.

Got in the UTV, drove closer.

10 inch pipeline.

 

[EddieWalker]

I use newspaper, charcoal lighter fluid and small sticks. I start out with a small fire and I let it grow.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

I use newspaper, charcoal lighter fluid and small sticks. I start out with a small fire and I let it grow.

Eddie

 

[KiotiKowboy]

My last burn was HUGE, so I had to wait for safe conditions. We had a 4" snowfall, so I went out the next day. Needless to say, any fire melted the snow and wanted to extinguish itself. I picked the best spot for wind direction and made sure I had a good mix of small debris. Concentrating on this small area, I poured in about 1/4 gallon of old hydraulic oil and 1/4 gallon gas. To keep it hot and flaming, I would toss a cup of oil or gas into the flames as needed. It took almost an hour to get this thing big enough to overcome the snow cover. The next few hours were comprised of sitting in the Kioti with coffee and stereo

 

[Industrial Toys]

I save all my plastic garbage. Sometimes I use twenty year old diesel fuel. I got a 4 stroke MAkita leaf blower last X-Mas, and this thing has been the greatest toy to play with fire. Makes me giggle like a school girl, whipping those fires into a wild inferno, You don't have to rely on wind direction and you can push the heat anywhere you want it.

 

[Deere Dude]

For the gasoline firebug users, I have a quick story.

I emptied my boat fuel tank and dumped gallon or so of old stale gas in the driveway to burn it up. I forgot the matches so I went to the garage to get them which took maybe 20 seconds. I came back and got a safe distance away and lit it off. The driveway was close to a woods and uphill. The flames shot down the vapor trail about a hundred feet into the woods and about 10 feet wide.

Very luckily for me the leaves were wet and the flame shot upward about 10 feet but died out just as quickly. That is my very dumb but lucky experience, at least one of them

Be careful with gas, but it sure is fun to play with at times.

 

[MossRoad]

Be careful with gas, but it sure is fun to play with at times.

Remember when you were a kid in the summertime and maybe you didn't have enough money to afford fireworks...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wSRjQUI8Jk&t=180