Another 5 gallon bucket full of kindling today. I milled a bunch of long-dead American chestnut on my table saw this afternoon, which generated quite a bit of scraps. This wood makes fantastic kindling, although I wouldn’t go cut down any surviving chestnut trees to get it
You should get yourself an IBC tote, punch some holes in it. It works really well for you and I think you'll like the 275 gallon capacity. I cut the tops off and used a 1/2" drill bill and punched holes all along the sides and the bottom and remembered to leave the valve open. My kindling is bone dry and I have 5 IBC totes at about 90% capacity. I make kindling out of shorties from spruce, pine, and nice straight hardwood like black locust and oak. There's some maple mixed in there and I do it by hand with a hatchet too. Making thin wedges is very easy with a log splitter. You can make them almost razor thin which is how I like my kindling. It took me 5 hours to go from rounds => two full bins of kindling. You don't have to worry about covering those buckets or having them take up space indoors. And I made a little flap on the sides and used an angle grinder to cut the cage so it's easier to get to the bottom of the bin. Two vertical cuts is all you need - just keep it simple. I got mine for $25 each and had to pick them up.
You should give these a try. Homemade fire starters...on the cheap. Completely eliminated the need for kindling. You can light full size splits no problem.
My kindling "silo" sits just inside the new wood shed. 100% basswood lights like paper. Filled the shed a couple weeks ago with apple, cherry, walnut and elm. The smell is incredible.
I’ve been out of kindling for weeks but so far haven’t found a need to make more. This year being the first for me burning a glut of elm, all I keep doing is pulling strands of built-in kindling off the splits that I bring in the house Between that and the loose bark that falls right off the 2.5 year dried sugar maple, I think I can limp along for the rest of the season. Good deal.
I also do the firestarters with egg cartons, sawdust and wax. Fantastic. The egg cartons get saved over time, the sawdust comes from under the table saw, and I get junk candles from a thrift shop. With these I no longer use kindling at all, they're really a lazy firestarter's dream.
Hey I’m on your side man. I hate elm so much, that I try to rid the world of it by burning as much as I can
OUT OF KINDLING! Your membership to the KHC is now revoked! Is that the elm from Wallingford? You'll get a few bags of BL splitter crumbs next time i see you.
I moved some Hickory into the basement this morning that looks identical. Last time moving wood into the house for this season Hopefully the last week of cold night fires. When I saw the title I read killing time so immediately thought “is killing me.”
Lots of kindling and re-starts this season as the temps have been all over the place. -14f one day and 50f the next.
Those 2 bags of BL splitter trash you gave me made awesome kindling The elm I’ve been burning this year came from a coworker’s house in Cromwell, a couple years ago. The elm I got from you in fall 2021 is still stacked, waiting for at least another year, maybe more. I really can’t say anything bad about burning elm. I’ve burned it on the light heating days and on some of the coldest nights, and it does the job well. Next year I’m looking forward to tearing into some of my red oak from T.S. Isaias in 2020. I have high hopes for that stuff
The heartwood stack will probably be saved for another year. Surprisingly it’s ready to burn now though. Last week I gave some of that to my coworker who couldn’t get over how nice it burned, and how long it lasted. He’s used to burning mostly dead ash he cuts from his own property though, and a little red maple.
I just use a push button start propane torch. Couple of small splits on the bottom and 30 seconds later have a fire. The 3 year plan definitely helps with this method. A one pound propane bottle generally last me about a season and a half and I refill them off my grill tank. No mess and highly convenient.
