Fire Starters

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Starting a fire daily?

This post has me intrigued as I start my fires the old fashioned way, and it sucks going out in the dead of winter to find snow covered kindling.



We get plenty of kindling out of the splitting process. Keep it in a 35 gallon trash can on the deck, out of the rain. No hunting around.

:cheers:
 
We get plenty of kindling out of the splitting process. Keep it in a 35 gallon trash can on the deck, out of the rain. No hunting around.

:cheers:

yup thats what I do as well and keep a couple 5 gallon buckets of noodles too only I store them in the garage that way there in out of the weather..I may grab a box of those fire starter things this yr because Ive been working long hrs recently and will probablly be starting alot of fires in the mornings so I might try them out for no hassle fire starting when working long hrs 6 days a week...
 
I fill a 55 gal steel drum with noodles . keep them in the basement near the stove . my stove doesnt go out from december to April (hopefully) ! a handful of noodle thrown on the morning coals gets the fire going again real quick !
 
Coffee Cup Lids

I save some of my food containers like pizza boxes and my newspapers. I also save my coffee cup lids from Mc Donalds each morning. A couple guys I drink coffee with give me their lids too.

I put a couple of those lids on top of the logs a couple pieces of cardboard and light the fire up with newspapers. The lids melt and drip between the logs and I sit back and enjoy the fire.

Someone asked me if those lids soot up my flue? I haven't noticed any more sooting than just using kindling.

Nosmo
 
I can't comment on how it smells. I don't have a sense of smell - never have as far back as I can remember. Skunks don't bother me.

Nosmo
 
I get paraffin from work from our processors for free. That block weighs 20 pounds. I ended up cutting one side of a section of pvc pipe. I mix my shavings, wood chunks and paraffin and clamp the pipe. I then compress them and when they cool, I cut them with a power mitre saw. They burn for a half hour or more. I make some for friends and family. I don’t always use them, but they sure make for easy starting when im in a hurry.
 
I get paraffin from work from our processors for free. That block weighs 20 pounds. I ended up cutting one side of a section of pvc pipe. I mix my shavings, wood chunks and paraffin and clamp the pipe. I then compress them and when they cool, I cut them with a power mitre saw. They burn for a half hour or more. I make some for friends and family. I don’t always use them, but they sure make for easy starting when im in a hurry.

they look like organic hockey pucks...:D:D
 
horsh #### burns

We started using the lint/wax/cardboard egg carton fire starters maybe 3 years ago. I couldn't bring my man-self to even try them for awhile (I don't need no stinkin' fire starter crap) but after using them I realized they work really, really well. However, thinking of what's in the lint is kinda gross.

We collect bits and pieces of candles and wax over the course of the year and make the starters in the fall. We had a few left over from last year, seen in the photo.

I think next time I'll make them out of wood chips instead of lint to avoid the yuck-factor.

attachment.php

I use dryed horse ####
 
There is a place right up the road from me where they make dowel rods and everyday at 3:00 they take all the scrap out. Anything with a nick, knot or chip is tossed. Morks for me as firestarter I get a garbage can full and it will last me all year and then some. I think some people must heat their home entirely with these with the qaunities they take. One fella I recently seen caught the forklift coming out the door and had him just dump the whole hopper in his truck!LOL
 
Back in my boyscout days we mixed sawdust (fresh pine bedding) with wax (candles, parafin, crayons, etc) and stuffed them into toilet paper tubes. We would cut the tubes into smaller pieces.

You could tear the tube just a little and it was easy to light with a match.

Now I pick up a truck load of kiln dried pine cut-offs from a local portable barn builder. I take a handful of small cut-offs, pile them and light them with a propane torch. It works really great for rebuilding a fire in the morning on a marginal bed of coals.

I take a load to my parents too. My mom calls it "wonderwood"
 
laynes69 how do you....

How do you compress the hockey puck ones?Is that 3 inch PVC pipe?Thanks.
:confused::confused:
 
I use hand sanitizer. Most of it is 60-70% alcohol and you can buy an 8 oz bottle of it at the "dollar" store for--yep $1.00 I buy about 6 or eight and that lasts me for a year. I make a small puddle of the sanitizer and put a little bit of splitter trash on top and put my well seasoned firewood around that. One flick of the Bic and we're off to the races! Works great on outdoor fires too when the kindling might not be perfectly dry. Don't throw away your stale doritos or fritos either--they make great fire starters too. I know, I know, cuckoo, cuckoo they really do work though. Give em a try sometime.
 
I've thought about making my own starters from paraffin, but when it comes right down to it, it seems like an awful lot of trouble just to save $10, and I consider myself one cheap bastard.

I am currently working on a box of Duraflame starters, and they seem pretty crappy compared to the StarterLoggs I'd been using ( Harder to light, tendency to go out after being lit ). Maybe they skimp on the wax. Most fall and spring days here only require a morning fire, and getting up to a cold house after thinking one's fire was lit at 4am, only to find later the starter went out, can be a tad of a bummer. However, being the CB that I am, I'm trying to go through the box I have first before getting some Loggs.
 
We get plenty of kindling out of the splitting process. Keep it in a 35 gallon trash can on the deck, out of the rain. No hunting around.:cheers:

I fill a 55 gal steel drum with noodles . keep them in the basement near the stove . my stove doesnt go out from december to April (hopefully) ! a handful of noodle thrown on the morning coals gets the fire going again real quick !

We use the Bend Over Firestarters :clap:.

Instructions:
1. Split logs.
2. Pick up scraps from said splits.
3. Start fire: top down or bottom up.

or,
1. Walk into forest.
2. Find Pinus Strobus.
3. Reach to ground to pick up fallen sticks.
4. See # 3 above.
 
A friend of mine mixes diesel with old ashes, forms them into a ball. Places a few balls around the wood, and lights it. Each ball will burn about 6 minutes.
He makes them up and keeps them in a bucket near the stove.

Since I saw that idea, I created my own method, much easier. Toss the diesel on the ashes below the wood, and throw a match on it. As far as kindling goes, I get scrap from a cabinet trim shop nearby, they throw it away, and it's nice thin pieces, perfect for fire starters.
 
Top Down Method

I don't use any firestarter, just a few pieces of kindling, and some newspaper.

The key is the "top down" firestarting technique I learned over at the Hearth forum.

You start the fire with about 4 splits on the bottom, then put a small amount of kindling on top with some newspaper. Works every time in our BIS Nova.

I think the secondary burn tubes play a role, and having the fire start on top near the tubes seems to get the juices flowing a little faster.

Here's a picture in a post at Hearth Forum (hope this is OK to post...sorry if it isn't)...

Post #7:

http://www.**********/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/43322/
 

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