Anyone have any experience with a fireplace starter, cape cod lighter, or cape codder? There’s one for auction near me, and it looks interesting. I knew nothing about it until I watched the video above. Looks interesting, although maybe not as cost effective compared to fire starters or good ol’ fashioned kindling. I’d appreciate insight from anyone who’s actually used one. Thanks!
My folks had one of those as a hearth decoration years back. Never used it. I dont think id want a little pot of flammable liquid sitting in the house though. Thanks for sharing JK.
Thats funny , we had the same thing . I still can picture it. Black iron pot with a brass lid , and what looked like a white stone on the end of a brass rod. I never knew what it was up until reading this. You never know what you might learn here. Thanks for the education for the day.
Only Cape Codders I have any familiarity with are Vodka/Cranberry. Might be a nice piece for a history collection but nice at someone else's house.
what? It’s not a house if there aren’t pots of flammable liquid inside it. Couple hundred pounds of explosives and you have a man cave
I don't think you store fuel in the thing, it's just to store the porous stone after you've burned off the fuel you soaked it with, although I guess if you were lazy you could fail to pour out the extra fuel from soaking the stone when you were done. But yeah, the vapours could be a little malodorous if you don't have the big old open fireplace to suck the fumes out. Nice knick-knack for a fireplace. I hope it's not hecho en china.
I think you are barking up the right tree. The pot is meant to 'smudge' the flame. I don't think you are supposed to keep your 'fuel' in it. I like this idea though. I've done the same thing with wet brush piles and a cast iron weed burning torch. Just lay it on the ground and let it work.
Everything I’ve read and watched online says that the vessel is filled (with whale oil or kerosene or lamp oil). The stone slowly soaks up the fuel. The fire is snuffed out by putting it back in the fuel and closing the lid. Sounds insane but it worked in that video.
Not the kind of blast i wanna have at your place Joe. Be sure to keep it away from open flame please.
Update: Auction just ended. I didn’t bid. It ended up being the only thing I wanted in the auction, and it was too far of a drive through Seattle traffic. Plus if I had it I’d want to use it, and I’ve already got enough fire-starters to last years. Very cool item though. Winning bid: $6!
