what! no Doug Fir btu rating? looks a little east coast biased on the wood type j/k So i also buy the green super cedars and keep them in the box in the garage and break a piece off when I need to start a fire, I let all the crumbs fall to the bottom of box and when I a out of SC i grab a little of the crumbs and make a little "meatball" out of it and use as a starter. works fine
Yep, lots of woods i would like to put on it but not enough room. No east or west bias, I live in the middle.
It sounds strange people talking about scoring the sc. It's been a while since we've bought as we still have a few left but all ours were scored at the factory. We have no problem breaking them into quarters and we have both in the wrapper and without the wrapper.
X2, I just bought some two years ago and just got another 36(?) and the all came pre-scored. Some crumbling but nothing too bad. The ones I just finished from 2 years ago were starting to dry out but still worked good.
I never noticed factory scoring - will have to look! Freezing the new ones seems to work well - gets them very hard and the break like the old ones with little mess, so a small extra step but easy. I'll just freeze 5 at a time and break them up. I only used them for the shoulder season - once temps get cold it's 24/7 and lighting off coals. Cheers!
Good to know I can order harder one's. I tried out Super Cedars for the first time last year, and was a little put off by how much they crumble, nothing like the solid Rutland squares I had been using! Mine have very light scoring, and very rarely do they actually break where the score is. But they are still very easy to snap in half. Quarters sometimes are hard to get, often I end up with 1/8 and 3/8 pieces instead. But overall I'm happy, the big box will last me a few years, and I even started using them to light my charcoal grill.
Believe it or not I have some that are probably 4 or 5 years old. They actually break easier! I keep some in the car at all times to give out to potential customers for Thomas and when we sell any wood, we also include several super cedars and kindling too. No extra charge. We even gave some out at a campground but sadly we don't camp much any more.
My family used sc's years back. I've been using lightning nuggets for a while now. Work great and a pack of 100 is cheaper than a 36 pack of sc so I don't feel the need to break them up at all. I might have to pick up some FHC cedars though, just for the cool factor!
These things really worth the price say vs newspaper and making some of your own kindling? I see they are 40$ for 36 of them. Seems steep for something a hatchet a good knife and a couple splits can make in short order
I'd say no - not worth the price if using all season to start fires - I'd use another way. But, I paid about $65 for 100 of them - use 1/4 to start a fire - so 400 fires - so, about 16 cents per start - for the convenience, I can swing that. Only use during shoulder season, so 100 of them last for years. But, if you need to start cold every day all year, there are cheaper ways to do it for sure. Cheers!
Ahh didnt know they were large enough to break aparrt or starts. They wwould be convenient for shoulder season starts. Once winter is here burning 24/7 doesnt require to many starts
I split mine into 1/4 then split those so I get 8 out of one. The last box of 36 last two seasons and I used them for outdoor fires too.
What's this fire starter you speak of? I just crack the Fisher Wood Stove door, add some noodles and its going again.
One of the best things for us is that my wife can tend the stove okay but always had a problem getting the stove going from a cold start. When Thomas sent us 2 samples and we tried them, we were sold immediately. Now my wife has no problem staring a cold stove! So I worry not if I have to be away as she can do it all now...that is, with the stove. I won't let her run the saw nor will I let her stack the wood.
They really are pretty awesome as far as fire starters go. I used newspapers my first year of burning. My second year I used noodles. Last year I started with Rutland firestarters and then gave super cedars a try towards the end of the year. The thing that's nice about the firestartes is that I no longer need to make kindling. That was always a part of the firewood process that I hated. When I'd stock my rack in the garage every 2 weeks, I'd spend 15 or so minutes enough kindling (I build a fire every day, and sometimes 2 when it's really cold out). It wasn't really that much time, but at the time it seemed like it took forever!! Now, I just need to make sure that a few splits about forearm diameter or even slightly larger are on top of a super cedar, and I can light it and leave it alone. I can always find some logs that size without any special effort to split them down to size.
Which is he putting the FHC label on, the hard ones or the softer version? I bought a box of 72 about 3 years ago and they are very hard. I score on the factory marks with a razor cutter and they break cleanly, little or no crumbs. I'm getting near the bottom of the box and will have to order soon. I would prefer the harder ones.... KaptJaq
