Starting a fire. Tips and tricks

[Fred Wright]

Brown paper ~ sacks and the packing paper Amazon uses to fill shippers seems to burn better and longer than newsprint. We save all we get for starting fires. Lay some brown paper down, tear off a section of beer carton to lay on it. Add a handful of dry splitter scraps or broken up twigs and dry starter wood. Light the paper and you'll have a good hot start in a minute.

If you need heat fast, small pieces will serve. Wood burning cook stoves use this method. Three small splits will burn hotter (and faster) than one large one. Be mindful of the potential for an overfire while doing this. Your best heat output comes from fully seasoned wood that hasn't been rained on recently.

 

[Brushwacker]

Be mindful of the potential for an overfire

Any newbies to wood stoves don't under estimate how hot stoves , pipe , and chimney can get if you let it blaze hot for longer periods. Unexpected material turns red and burns many a house down. I try to make it a habit double checking the draft is not to far open before leaving the house or going to bed.
1 very cold sub zero night I went to sleep with a very hot fire going and was woke by alarms with a house full of smoke.
The fire was hot enough the inside of the fire wall seperated in a corner and air the furnace fan was blowing out from the inner and outer wall of the stove was spitting out both fire and smoke. I had to shut the fan off and open doors and windows to let the smoke out and needless to say the house got very cold and I needed to sleep. I was afraid to turn the furnace fan on and didn't have back up heat, was concerned that the house could still burn so I pit my Carharts and winter boots on and jumped into bed and slept ready for a fast exit into sub zero weather.

 

[olyman]

Please don't confuse step 2 and 4.

 

[GrizzlyAdams86]

I get all the broken pallet pieces and boards from my work. We were just throwing them away in the dumpster but I put a 30-gal. drum in the warehouse and it gets full about once a month. Give them to the farmer who lets me use his shop. Throw a handful or 2 in, put some drain oil on them then put a few smaller pieces on top to start and light it. Makes good bonfire kindling too.

 

[unclemoustache]

Here's how 08F150 does it:

 

[Fubar]

stack a split or a round of hardwood on each side , throw a good sized bundle of small split dry pine or cedar in the middle , hit it with a propane torch , instant fire.