Get a big stack of tulip poplar and a handful of junk mail. That stuff lights up like a block of cardboard. A split or two will get the heavy stuff burning before the coffee is ready.
Grandma had corn cobs stood in a coffee can full of kerosene. She would put a wad of newspaper to the back of the wood cook stove then put one kerosene soaked corn cob in the front with small stove wood. Then light the newspaper then the corn cob. The newspaper burning warms the flue , creates draft and burns out the chimney. I think she could make a pot of coffee almost as fast as a modern electric coffee pot
My wife's grandma raised 4 boys in a small cabin in the hills of West Virginia using a wood cookstove for all the cooking and some of the heat...hand well pump, outhouse, most of the groceries came from the garden, or the hills. We have discussed this many times...what she accomplished with what they had was nothing short of heroic! I'm sure they needed good firestarters, because they went through so much wood, nobody had time to get ahead far enough to have truly dry wood!
The only time I messed with kerosene was when I was in 1st or 2nd grade. The kids in the neighborhood would pick cattails and dip them in a can of kerosene my dad had in our garage. We would take them to a clearing in a swamp and light them and play with them as torches. I am still surprised I survived childhood
Part of the greatest generation, right there! No participation trophies, no snowflakes, no whining, and no recognition for being a hero!..... just got stuff done.
Now thats funny! I did the same dang thing as a child! As soon as I saw the title of this thread, it was the first thing I thought of!
OK! It all makes sense now.....don't worry-your secret is safe with me! 1905 Rhinelander north side fire recalled. - Newspapers.com
Isn't it funny how times have changed. The usage of kerosene for a home-made torch brought a smile, we did same thing. As for 'times have changed,' it's revealing to me that when I grew up, kerosene was sold everywhere. In rectangular fuel tanks with hand operated pumps. I know there were kerosene wick lamps that people used before they went electric and we kept them in the house (and I still do) for times when there was an extended power outage, typically, an ice storm. Seems we also used it in Boy Scout Coleman stoves, not sure. In those days, the highway department used 'smudge pots' to place next to a danger zone at night.
ah memories, and to think I am still here.By current standards I should be dead and buried many times over. Guess I am just too ornery. Much more fun to harass these younger know it all generations.
What made those "toys" so much fun is the parents had no idea what we were doing. We were finding our own fun. I hope we are not giving ideas to some of the youngsters here
yeawell we all surrvived- likely with a better education about less than adequate decisions. And then again........
I was going to suggest the cut up tires but decided to try and keep The thread slightly on track. Neighbor up the road burned a slab and brush pile a few weeks ago. I was driving home and saw the black plume off on the horizon thinking someone’s house is on fire- nope just a tire in a pile of stuff that would’ve burned just fine with a few splash’s of diesel. FWIW I’ve seen a few skidder tire fires up north of Millinocket
The survivors all remember cars with no seatbelts and freely sucking down leaded gasoline thru carberetted ICE with no environmental impediments thwarting the destruction of the air everyone has to breathe. Open sewers were once a thing everywhere too. That doesn't mean anyone should be embracing a revival of poor lifestyle choices.
I use it too, both outside and in our stove at the cabin for my initial fire when we get up there. When I worked on the Indian Reservation and used to ice fish with some of the guys, they always brought out a bottle of lighter fluid to get our shore lunch fire started. They all liked to joke around a lot, so in a teasing way I said that they should be using birch bark. One of them said, "nah we call this stuff our Indian fire starter."
some of those persons make some stuff that might as well be lighter fluid for consumption in the shack
