Anyone else? I started this winter with 21 month CSS Red Oak at 16-19% MC and a box of wally world fire starters. I use a ~one cubic inch piece of fire starter and regular size cord wood. I'm not setting any speed records but the fire takes right off. Wally world fire starters are not what they were 5 yrs ago, someone probably sued because they were too flammable. I should order some Super Cedars.
Empty toilet paper rolls and paper towel empty rolls work well too. The type of cardboard burns nice. All year, my wife folds the tp rolls enough to stuff one paper towel roll with them. 2-3 of these works well starting 4" and up dry wood.
I like the Meeco firestarter squares. I usually score one, break it in half and put it in front (E-W loader)...but I stick em down in a couple pieces of kindling. Right now I'm trying to get rid of the rest of the SuperCedars I've got. I break em up in a gallon ziploc bag, which catches all the crumbs. To get rid of the crumbs, I'll put a couple of kindling in the front to form a 'V', and put a couple of piles of crumbs in the V and light.
We use newspapers....bark...little stuff we cut with the little Echo......little chips and strips from under the log splitter after a day of splitting !! You name it..we use it...as long as its free I like the tp and paper towel roll idea...will try it for sure !!
There are enough limbs on my property every few weeks from a storm to fill two halves of 55gal poly drums with rope handles. One Half gets the 1/2" and larger stuff the other I throw all the little pieces and smash down with my boot - a handful of each on some free sheets of buysell traders and I'm fired up in minutes add small splits and it's ready for a few overnight splits within an hour. I'm not into buying stuff that is free in my yard and needs picked up anyways If I lived in town might go that route though
I pretty much always use kindling.. Fire goes out at night.. Relight in the morning. I load 2 splits N-S about 3-4 inches apart. On top of that, 4 pieces of half to one inch diameter kindling loaded E-W. On top of the kindling goes another split N-S. the space between the bottom splits and under the kindling allows me to load the junk mail (no plastic or glossy stuff) and continue to feed until sustained combustion is achieved. When the kindling burns through, it develops coals and the top split drops in place between the other two. I've also loaded paper shopping bags with small sticks from around the yard and then just throw the whole thing in the stove, light, wait until a coal bed develops and then load with splits.. Loading the grocery bags is a good activity for the kids. Next year, I may go with full loads as I anticipate having more firewood, but for this year, the above is what worked for us. I use the compound mitre saw to cut my kindling to length (4-5 inches) and the Fiskars X-15 to split it by hand.. I find making kindling to be therapeutic...
Frequent re-lights for me on a bed of coals in the morning. I recently cut up snow stakes for next season. 1/4 Supercedar if needed.
Two dry splits with a gap between them with 4 to 5 newspaper balls between them with a dry twig or one small piece of kindling on top the newspaper and then a couple very small dry softwood splits cross the pile with one more flat split on top, crack the door and light. Works all the time if the wood is dry. One twig or one tiny pine kindling split is all it takes over the newspaper. I'm guess, I'm just cheap on the kindling, since a bunch of dry kindling would obviously start the fire quicker and hotter.
I have some spruce trees that have a lot of low dead branches. I break them off and dry them a little longer. Also use fallen limbs splitting trash anything free.
I just split around two years worth of cedar for kindling a couple weeks ago, loaded it into the loft of the barn for the summer where temps soar over 100° on sunny days, it'll be ready by fall.... I like having a heap of kindling in the basement all winter, makes quick restarts simple. Just shuffle the coals and a handful of kindling and you are off to the races......
I've slowly been replacing board fence with electric fence, so end up using old fence boards and posts (spruce and cedar) as kindling. I also will use "Cape Cod Kindling" (rolled and knotted newspaper) on occasion. To make newspaper kindling, take a section of about six pages, hold it by the centerfold, roll it tight, and tie it in a knot. Another trick, if you have a corn field nearby, is to use the left over stalks after the corn has been harvested - a little more "labor intensive", but once they're dried they make an excellent fire starter (plus the benefit of smelling like popcorn)
That's how I roll here too. My FIL (a former Scoutmaster) gets this wierd look on his face when I stuff it full of splits, toss a firestarter in (usually the SuperCedar chunk), light it and close the door.
In a pinch roll up a few sheets of paper towels into size of a corncob tape it then dip it into some used cooking oil or lamp oil.
I'm lucky I burn 3+ year birch. When needed, I put a piece of birch bark in the front of a load, light it. Fire takes off plenty fast. Burning 24/7, the hot coals are normally enough to get the new load burning
I actually used some kindling last night. I had enough coals left from Saturday morning's load to light off full size splits, but I was really tired and wanted it going asap. I don't start many fires, and generally don't use kindling. I found a 2x10 cutoff light night and wacked it up with my brandy new X7.
