Are bags of pellets any good for firestarters/kindling?

Kindling is a pain in the arse and messy and I was wondering if using 1/5 of a bag of pellets as kindling would be enough to start up the firebox with small splits. Im getting tired off sweeping up in the house and cleaning up the chopping area outside. Is it a viable alternative to splitting kindling all the time as we aren't cold enough to run a fire 24/7 down here yet.

 

Personally I would think not. I usually buy fire starters throw one in load the stove light the fire starter and done

 

So you don't use kindling at all from a cold start? 1 firestarter to start up a few big logs?

 

I throw in smaller pieces but no I don't use or process kindling. I use what ever is on hand that is smaller and works great once the fire is established I'll add a few larger pieces

 

No worries. At the moment im splitting up everything to the size I like as it is already bone dry but just a little too big. Im putting away about 5 years worth to be forgotten about (emergency use) and was weighing up my options for firestarters. Because of the spiders and snakes here I want to keep everything tidy and not have chit lying around and brought into the house. I was figuring just using a kilo or 2 of pellets stored in a bin near the heater and scooping them in and igniting a firestarter would cut down on the dust and mess a bit.

 

I think if you split some smaller pieces and use a good fire starter you won't have any problems with it lighting. If it's bone dry you will be just fine. I will usually when cutting wood cut small limb pieces hear and there.
They dry pretty quick are small and just toss them in with a fire starter and let it get going goid and load a few bigger pieces until the fire is well established

Another thing I've done too is keep all the shavings from splitting and but them in a barrel where it's dry in the barn and use that to get fired going it works good too

I think for a box of fire starters around here is $10 and we get 40 lightings from a box

 

As an aside I'd have to agree with the OP about kindling being a pita and messy . Guess we've just grown use to it as a necessary evil...

...btw after a few warm days here I initiated a quickly made fire this snowy morning from a cold start with the help of diesel fuel in an atomizer squirt gun bottle.

Crude but effective.

 

I used Rutland fire squares most of the winter, and tried out Super Cedars in February. Both worked pretty well, I don't split anything smaller than about 4" and was able to get fires started by just tossing in one fire starter and leaving it.

Most will disagree, but I think the Rutlands work better than the Super Cedars. I NEVER had to worry about a fire starting when using those, but on 3 different occasions with the Super Cedars I've gone back to check the stove and have found that the Super Cedar burned up without lighting the logs around it.

 

We don't have super cedars around here. A local grocery store chain here has great fire starters that we buy they work great I'll takeva pic of them later and post

 

I have not tried super cedars; i also use the fire squares. I am satisfied with them and they are cheap enough...get boxes of them from Menards when they are on sale 2/$1. I don't think they are sold by them any longer. Also use diamond strike a fire.

 

I pick up twigs and sticks in the yard and use pallets split into small pieces for kindling.
For fire starters I use these, you can often find them at Wall mart for $5 on clearance,
cut them in 1" squares, about 300/box.

 

I pick up twigs and sticks from my yard and use them to start fires instead of dulling my lawn mower blades. A little paper, twigs, and splitter byproduct and its good. I'll use bark, and I'll pick up small dry branches and load them with my wood I take from the woods. The wife likes making kindling.

Now, I have a fireplace. It is always a relight, unless I have coals from the night before, which is rare.

I might change my habits a bit once I get an insert that has a much longer burn time.

 

I don't use kindling either, a piece of fire starter and a couple smaller splits.

 

I'm on my 5th year and only halfway through my box of super cedars. I use cut up pallets for starting but in the middle of winter when I let my coals run too low I throw a coffee can full of pellets for a quick start, works great, never tried them as fire starters.