Empty! Paper in! Kindling! Small layer of bark tree! Log itself! Fire started, door open! Door closed! Air intake closed at 30%! Now it's just a matter of feeding it. From start to finish, about 7 minutes. Can you critic my method? How do you start your?
Thanks for the post Spirch ...... I have been using "Strike-a-fire" sticks from my local Walmart. They cost around $6.00/48 count and two boxes last me all season. I normally use two sticks when starting a fire with 3 year old red oak. Cheap and quick......
Nothing wrong with old school. Did it that way for many years. Side note. Colored paper sucks Also not recommended in cat stoves. Too many metals in the dye. One of the reasons I gave up paper.
I "found" those a few years back and really like them! Menards used to put them on sale for a buck a box of 8 of them. Most always, I bust them in half and use them that way.
I fill up first and roll some newspaper to stick in between a few splits if we have to start cold. Last couple fires I augmented with a couple pieces of fatwood I split off a supply of the stuff I found in the pine stacks. It burns hot and long - hope I come across some more!
On the rare occasion that I have to make a cold start, one homemade cheater made from paper egg carton, old wax & wood chips from saw. A few “shards” from under the splitter and a couple 2” logs or splits & three or four minutes later the heat is on!
oops, my bad...gotta brush up on my CT geography. I enjoy the cold as well, not snow. Im ready for Spring.
I clean out last fires ashes, Stack firewood log cabin style, 3 front to back, 3 l-r, 3 f-b, and on top 3 l-r Stack handful of kindling on top of firewood in log cabin style Open air supply wide open Light kindling with propane torch (about 5 minutes total so far) let fire burn from top down leave air supply wide open all the time till no more flames, just embers then shut off air (about 2 hrs time so far) Good for another 22 hours or so.
I used some newspaper and tinder dry pine cones. I learned of Super Cedars when I joined here, used the FHC discount to buy a pack and they work well for us.
I dump the ashes out of the ash drawer, every morning. Then, 4 skinny birch splits. A few sheets of crumpled newspaper on top. Then some dry chips (splitting trash). Two sticks of fatwood. A couple of regular sized splits on top of everything. Light the newspaper with a match, stove doors closed but ash tray door cracked open. Wait for fire to fill the stove (about 2 minutes). Close the ash tray door, leave the draft all the way open. In 15 minutes, close the draft to halfway.
