A decade ago when we got the woodstove in our previous house, cleaning up our property by felling trees, bucking up deadfall, splitting it all ourselves, and stacking it to dry was a realistic goal. With a decade of health setbacks, pretty much none of that is realistic anymore. In our new house, we have a Pacific Energy insert, probably a Super, and I don't really think trying to produce our own firewood is something we should even think about. Buying it is a potential, but the first couple of quotes I got back make it about the same price to buy cordwood as it is to buy the sawdust bricks. The bricks sound like less mess and fewer bugs brought into the house. That's all a long-winded explanation of why I'm asking such a weird question. I figured you guys would get curious otherwise. If I'm burning the sawdust bricks, is there a good source of pre-made kindling to use with them so I don't have to keep cordwood around anyway just to split it into kindling.
There is a wooden toy factory not far from my house. I called them to ask what they do with waste wood. They put it out for free, first come first serve. I get kindling and lumber cutoffs from them regularly. Look for wood manufacturing places near you.
If you're looking for all around convenience and money isn't a deal breaker, a lot of people swear by these: https://www.hearthstonehouseoffire.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/www_supercedar_com.pdf As I understand it, you can break them into smaller pieces to stretch out your supply too.
I second the super cedars. You can get about 4 fires out of one puck The latest discount code is Save30 if it is still good. I had emailed them for that code in Oct.
I much like theburtman have a furniture maker factory provides maple cherry blocks cut offs and long thin pieces I run through a chop saw for kindling. Kiln dried hardwood. In Ohio stop by a GTG and pick up some splitter trash if that’s a possibility?
If you have fence installers in the area ask them for the cedar or fir cut offs and trim boards. A lot of power companies use untreated cedar poles, when they change out a pole ask if they have any left over chunks. Drywall remodelers a lot of times will have access to old lathing strips from wreck outs. The yellow can of map gas always works well, my folks are also starting to swap to the press blocks as well. Owl
+1 on Super Cedars. That said, I’ve never used them. I think the manufacturer was on here years ago. Look for a discount. Older threads indicate there was a 30% discount at certain times of the year. I would think that burning manufactured blocks, the moisture content should be fairly consistently low so you shouldn’t need much kindling at all to get them going. Our wood is dry enough, that even when starting oak, we just need some paper, cardboard or egg cartons to get it roaring. Let us know wheat you decide to do.
Just a manufacturing plant that has skids or equipment containers… I get a lot of my starters that way from work. The 1x4’s.. cut the them down with a cut off saw and run them through a splitter for a 1” x 6-8” piece of wood… with a super cedar … that’s how I start mine….
Sorry to hear of your health setbacks. I have no experience with the bricks but have heard nothing bad of them either. As for kindling, just do some thinking. One can usually get all the free kindling he needs for free. In most places one can find dead and downed brush or twigs free for the taking. Pine cones make excellent kindling and in many places you can pick up bushels of them. This is all in addition to the suggestions given above. On the Super Cedars, if you call the company and tell them you are on this forum you will get a discount and then ask to be put on his mailing list.
Few years back bought my Dad fatwood from LL Bean. Couple sticks and he is good it go. In his 90s so I split his wood smaller for easy handling. We split a box every year. They work good for us.
That's not a bad idea. There's a couple of mills near me. I wonder if any of them sell skinny offcuts? I actually used Super Cedars in the wood stove at my old place but the fire progression was SC>kindling>cordwood+bricks. Will they actually go straight from SCs to bricks? That seems like a big jump in fire size! Huh, now that's interesting. I'll have to try that.
I can start my regular splits from a super cedar so they should easily start saw dust bricks. I just use kindling for a quicker fire and I have a good source of kindling.
There's always fatwood as well. I use a piece on fresh light ups. Work well. Pallet wood makes good kindling as well. A little more work. I use a small dewalt saw and a hatchet and do a weeks worth at a time. Just use the pieces without metal if you have a cat stove.
The sawdust bricks that I have used have natural 'fault lines' and break into thin sections quite easily. You can sacrifice one brick to get a good fire started, with the help of a wax firelighter. No need for additional kindling. Sometimes a few bricks break apart in transit, when they are shipped in bulk packs. Those are the ones to sacrifice first.
Ive always wanted to try buying a duraflame log (or something like it) and using little chunks as kindling rather than buying small kindle stick wax starters. I have more than enough kindling around here from the woods (twigs and sticks) and my splitter (shards etc) to have to buy any.
I second one quarter puck of super cedar will easily light sawdust bricks without anything else in the firebox. I got one puck with my stove and they work well. Never bought them after that (enough splitter trash) but if I would need a fire starter that's what I would get.
At our camp property there’s a good number of Northern White Cedar trees, always a few that blow over or die for some reason. I say that, but I haven’t even split any this year, yet. I’ve just been saving boxes, cardboard & newspapers from various sources. I cut the cardboard with a sharp box cutter. To me, the cardboard lengths are similar to a stick of kindling. Then maybe a little dry pine to get the fire started. I have a good supply of my improvised ‘kindling’. Come spring when I’m burning brush, any leftovers will go on the burn pile.
Here's what I use to start my fires. Midwest Hearth Fire Starter Squares. Available through Amazon. If dry, they will start a decent size dry, split log. Similar to Super Cedars. A friend used Duraflame logs cut in 1" Pucks. He likes it, but I've never tried it...
