Starting a Stove Fire

[jk96]

I've played around with a few different methods and this seems to work best for me. Keeping the small stuff on top gets the fire burning hot and fast. You can see how little smoke there is with this method as well. Much better than stuffing paper over and over into the bottom of the pile trying to get it to light. Another poster mentioned using a hair dryer. A little battery operated fan such as one from those mist bottles works well also if your in a hurry. A little air movement really hurries things along.

 

[airbiscuit]

I splashed a little diesel on my pants last week while tinkering with a tractor.
When I got back to the house,, the wife would not let me in the house with the pants,,
too much diesel smell,, I had to change pants on the porch.

Those pants are STILL outside airing out,,,

NO diesel is coming in our house,,, :confused2:

You need to spill some diesel on her pants

 

[airbiscuit]

Getcher wife to light the fire.

Back in the day, when we all burned wood, my neighbor used to complain about the massive amounts of kindling his wife used to start a fire. Earlier that year, the Oak Lake Fire burned 11,500 acres of forest and 159 buildings.

He said my wife could have put out the Oak Lake Fire with a truck load of kindling

 

[scdeerslayer]

Thanks. I will certainly try that.

If you find those rotten pines and get to the preserved part in the middle, break or split some off and smell it. It is a unique smell you'll never forget. The more it smells the better it will burn. Might not want to keep it inside because it will make the whole room smell. Even keeping it outside you'll smell it every time you walk by until it airs out a little. Also, with the really good stuff, just handling freshly split splinters will make you feel like you have glue on your hands. You can get some good stuff that still has the rotten wood on it but the best stuff has no sign of rotten wood.

 

[turnkey4099]

Have you ever left out the middle bottom piece and put the starter and kindling in there and then wedges above them. I would think you could get it rolling in half the time.

In the time it takes to do all that I will have my 2 or 3 full sized splits blazing from the bottom up like fire normally burns.

 

[Egon]

What are the round sections? Is that pine for fire starting?

What's on the camp fire? A big trunk and roots?

As a kid, I used these white blocks (ESBIT?), to fire my toy steam engine. I always loved the smell and wonder what they were comprised of.

Small disks picture was inadvertently posted. The lake fire is a tree stump.

 

[4570Man]

Here's my method. I start with this and in the time it took me to go upstairs and change clothes I had this. The time difference in the pictures was 3 minutes. That was more kindling than required, but my brother thinks splitting kindling is fun so I have stacks of it to burn.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

Back in the day, when we all burned wood, my neighbor used to complain about the massive amounts of kindling his wife used to start a fire. Earlier that year, the Oak Lake Fire burned 11,500 acres of forest and 159 buildings.

He said my wife could have put out the Oak Lake Fire with a truck load of kindling

ROFL!


I've got a boy like that. After all the years we've been wood burning I can't understand how he can still be so bad at starting and tending a fire.... And he's an Eagle Scout!!!! :confused2:

 

[D7E]

Don't think my woodburner has been out since has gone out since end of October . Last fill around 1am rake coals in the morning and fill it up .

 

[Industrial Toys]

Well, I am just trying to start my stone cold stove in the usual way. Some small apple branches, waxed milk carton, fast food garbage and one piece of pine slat. I had a few boxes of the stuff I salvaged from the center of a cable reel. It was clean and stored nice and neat. I have one piece left!

It amazes me. If I build a careful fire, those pine slats catch and burn good. If I sit there with a propane torch for five minutes (like I just did) , have the pine blazing, and leave, the thing goes out!

It's out! Back to square one.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I ripped up a bunch of cardboard cartons and it looked like I was cookin with gas.

Went upstairs. Came down . . . . nothing!

And that's why I need a better (sure fire, one match) way!

 

[crackerjack222]

I used to mess with paper and kindling to start my wood stove fires..... no more. I now use those wax/sawdust FireStarter blocks. And I even start them with a propane torch. EasyPeazy.:thumbsup:

I ran out of the blocks one time but I had some Fire Logs. I took my chain saw and cut a log into small blocks. Worked just as well.

 

[RNeumann]

Well, I am just trying to start my stone cold stove in the usual way. Some small apple branches, waxed milk carton, fast food garbage and one piece of pine slat. I had a few boxes of the stuff I salvaged from the center of a cable reel. It was clean and stored nice and neat. I have one piece left!

It amazes me. If I build a careful fire, those pine slats catch and burn good. If I sit there with a propane torch for five minutes (like I just did) , have the pine blazing, and leave, the thing goes out!

It's out! Back to square one.

I'vehad good luck with water bottles. The plastic is just diesel in a different form...kinda- You get the idea. I don't use any paper or cardboard products. It just seems to make ash and doesn't produce coals or sustained heat.

For me it's two split logs laid side by side
Two crushed water bottles
4-6 pieces of kindling
A couple of medium sized pieces or 2x4s
Once those coals burn and drop between the logs I add another split log

 

[Industrial Toys]

A lot of plastic gets burned in my shop stove. Very unfortunately, the glass broke and I just replaced it with steel plate, so I don't care if it gets gunked up. The basement stove is another matter, and I struggle to keep the glass clean.

I do have a few of those manufactured logs that my Mom dragged home from the Church Thrift store she volunteers at and I was going to do exactly as described. Cut them up.

 

[dickfoster]

There doesn't appear to be very many boy scouts here. I have no trouble using the traditional method, tender (crumpled paper), a couple of sticks of kindling on top of that and splits on top of that. I feel like I'm cheating just using a butane lighter to light the paper. It's not starting the fire that I have any trouble with it's all the work cutting, splitting, hauling and stacking the firewood. It seems like I'm always needing to schlep wood until it finally gets into the stove.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Well, it's going like the proverbial house on fire now, so much so that I now need to start the schlepping process through the blizzard to the wood shed.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

Back before I learned what dry wood is really like, I used various things as starters. Best so far was waxed cardboard boxes made for shipping produce cross country. Didn't take much of it. A strip a couple inches wide and maybe 8" long would get about anything going.

 

[MossRoad]

If you can't start a fire with wood and newspaper, there's something wrong with the wood or airflow. It's just that simple. No fire starters are needed. No torches. No piles of kindling. No hocus pocus.

If the fire keeps going out when attempting to get it going, there's just a few things it can be.

Wet wood or lack of draft.

 

[General Lee]

The basement stove is another matter, and I struggle to keep the glass clean.

If your glass is black, your wood is not dry enough OR you're burning to cold ie; not enough air for the wetness of the wood.

 

[MossRoad]

A tip for cleaning the glass...

Take a pieced of crumpled up newspaper, dip it in water, then dip it in wood ash.

Use it like a scrubby pad and wipe the inside of the glass with it. It will make a muddy smear, but keep moving it around in a circular motion. Once you do the entire glass, get another piece and repeat. That's usually enough to get everything loose. Then take a couple wet paper towels and wipe off the ashy smear. Perfectly clear glass! :thumbsup: