I used to buy a bale of wood shavings at Tractor Supply. A handfull in the bottom of the stove a few small splits on top and then throw in the big stuff. Hasnt failed me yet.
Home made fire starter sticks
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I also use Cedar, but I don’t see a need to do anything with them. Cedar burns quite well without any help.
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What? none of you mentioned belly fuzz!
Gross!
every year I make fire starters to give out for christmas.. I melt gulf wax and dip cotton balls in about 2/3 and set to cool on parchment paper. They burn clean enough to start a grill or fireplace and light very easily. outside fires get a diesel/used oil or old gas left to evaporate/used oil mix or fatlighter if I have some split up.
Nope, I am perfectly happy, splitting old railroad ties small, and soaking them in used motor oil, it works very well for getting the chunks of old tires burning quite nicely
Doug
good one! A long time ago when I was working on a timber and surfaceing gang with the railroad. We had a guy whose job it was to pull out the spikes in the ties we where going to replace. This guy chain smoked and he had a habit of poking his cigarette butts down in the spike holes of the old cross ties. I was operating a tie crane which we used to pick up the old ties and place in bundles. The machine had two carts, one in front and one behind, each holding a 16tie bundle. I loaded up one cart and turned around to load the other and when I turned back around to dump the first cart, I noticed smoke comeing from the bundle. I knew what it was right off so I got my water cooler and started dumping water on the xtie that I thought was burning. It worked, or so I thought. I dumped the cart of ties and continued on working. A few minutes later someone came over the radio and said that a bundle of ties was on fire. I backed up to the bundle with the tiecrane and could see smoke again coming from the bundle. Boss man says, bust the bundle and I did using the crane to break the bands. As soon as the bundle fell apart, it burst into huge flames, caught the weeds beside the track on fire and started running wildly toward a bunch of houses. Everybody was in a panic, beating at the fire with shovels, stomping with their feet, emptying water coolers on it and some even used fire extinguser. We managed to keep the fire semi under control until the fire trucks showed up. Needless to say, the guy that liked to stuff cigarette butts into spike holes got a strong lecture and stopped what up to that point was what he thought was being funny.
I find that paper soaked in a little bacon grease smells really good ... sorry, I meant to say, works really good. Ron
I mentioned dryer lint, so close....
Well you need to have something to start the fire and since I don't smoke I don't always have a match or lighter handy I keep a fire piston in the truck and in my pack all the time.
Just imagine how that bundle of ties would have gone up, using my old motor oil Secret Formula!!!
Awhile back there was a thread about what kind of wood members were burning, so I threw out the Railroad Ties and Old Tires comment, and Gunny PM’d me asking if I was SERIOUS?????
Ya all KNOW how Gunny Liked FREE STUFF, I thought that old RR Ties and Tires would be right up Gunny’s alley
Ever since then I have played with that Tires and Ties story, and well Schitt, the used motor oil just fit in so well
Hey, a Guy’s gotta do what a Guy’s gotta do to keep his Family Warm and all, ya know
Doug
We use 100% of the ashes from 4 cords or so per year as a soil additive so we are careful of what we put in our free standing Jotul wood stove. Probably about 30% of our ashes go into the vegetable garden and the rest we spread around in 20 wooded acres. We use the 'top down' system of starting a fire because it works well and because it quickly gets the stove into it's high efficiency secondary combustion mode. Our 20th year with our Jotul F600CB
If I had a nickle for every xtie I have handled, I could pay a Butler to keep the thermostat adjusted on a electric furnace. Best count using adverage's it would come out to about 19,200, 000 ties. Maybe more as we where putting in a lot more ties perday in my later years than when I first started. How long could you keep a fire going with that many ties.
A couple of hunks of railroad ties producing BTU’s, keeping the Ol’ Homestead warm
Gotta let those burn down a bit, before I have room to add some chunks of old tires
Doug
Gotta let those burn down a bit, before I have room to add some chunks of old tires
Doug
Great idea and use of old fence cedars.
I use kiln-dried spruce and pine that I get from work as scrap.
They are extremely dry.
They start easy as it is the starter and kindling all-in-one.
They come as pieces 3" x 1" x 36" long. I cut them into 3s at 12" long.
A bit of newspaper under them and I'm off to the races.
A thermometer does help eliminate guesswork.
I always recommend everyone use one placed on the black chimney pipe 18" above the top of the stove.
Most are magnetic for this purpose.
My chimney pipe is insulated and doesn't give a true reading, so I got a thermometer that is designed to sit on the stove top. I moved it close to the corner of the stove for the photo. Normally it sits midway between the corner and the pipe.
I've been using this stove for years as both a heat source and cook top when I've lost power. A customer of mine gave me a nice blower for it and it really puts out some heat. I fabricated the 2 vent deflectors to push heat forward rather then the side.
Homelite enthusiast in training [emoji879]
Homelite enthusiast in training [emoji879]
BIG JAKE
Let’s go Brandon!
I collect splitter trash as I am splitting wood. I keep a bucket at my feet and throw in chips as I go. I mainly burn pine and fir so I get lots of knots to which are loaded with pitch. 
Sounds perfect to me works every time I am sure. I think every one should know you are home with a little smoke in the air. Thanks
