Starting a fire. Tips and tricks

[Adirondack]

There are a few videos on YouTube describing how to start a fire. I guess they all work but my goal is to get the stove is hot as possible as fast as possible. After much experimentation this is the best way I've found. Do you have any suggestions?

 

[allstihl]

I only light mine once a year but I do find that a propane torch works great.

 

[Adirondack]

I only light mine once a year but I do find that a propane torch works great.

That's cheating. LOL

 

[Marshy]

I do the same thing with the large chunks on the side but IMO you used way too much paper and not enough kinlen (or small enough). I would have started with a little paper on bottom, halfed or 3rd the pieces that you put in there, added a little more (bigger) kinlen then the big piece on top. I like to set it to it falls into the kinlen once the paper burns out. You get a piece the right size and shape it wont crush the kindlen because the outer two will catch it. More than one way to skin a cat.

 

[Marshy]

I only light mine once a year but I do find that a propane torch works great.

I will also add a ounce or two of fuel oil. Those days will be gone when I get a cat stove though...

 

[longbowch]

Save your noodles and put them in brown paper lunch sacks. A coulple of those and some dry wood.

 

[Eagleknight]

I tried a top-down start tonight and it worked great. I think I am going to stick with this way from now on in my Enviro Cabello. It probably gets hot the quickest of any start because you don't have to wait for the fire to get going before adding.

Sent from my KFTHWA using Tapatalk

 

[1project2many]

Different stoves may work better with different techniques. In my Englander secondary burner, I place small pieces with some Birch bark on the floor toward the rear of the stove. Then I place roughly 1" round pieces from the rear wall at the top to the floor just inside the door. Then I set several pieces across those, parallel to the door. This arrangement gets the fire burning quickly and also heats the ceramic plate responsible for triggering secondary burning.

 

[allstihl]

That's cheating. LOL

no that's working smarter not harder

 

[calebng15]

I cut pallet wood up & burn it. I use the junk ones, that are pine. They burn good wet... almost!

 

[wood4heat]

I cut my kindling a little shorter than my firewood. This gives me room in my stove to use the teepee technique. With this method I don't need any performance enhancers to get a rippin fire in very short order!

 

[Brushwacker]

I use more of a top down method of kindling and noodles in between 2 dry small to medium chunks. If I walk away and forget it a while, the chunks hold out longer, that gives me more time to get back to it to fill it up. Noodles and bark in between the kindling, some paper also helps and it gets rid of paper garbage and I set some bark underneath the outside chunk to allow air underneath. I usually blow on it some to spread the flames, an hair dryer works immaculately but I haven't had 1 for years. Some times I sprinkle more noodles on top to help with getting a good draft going.

 

[maranlvcha]

I only light mine once a year but I do find that a propane torch works great.

 

[Joesell]

I only light mine once a year but I do find that a propane torch works great.

And gas!

 

[Whitespider]

News Paper, noodles, kindlin', bark, splitter trash, fire starters (homemade or commercial)... blaa... blaa... blaa... I'm too old and ornery for rubbin' sticks together.
This is the 21st century... can't figure why anyone wouldn't take advantage.

I open the door, load the box with full-size splits, poke a tuft of dryer lint between a couple of the lower ones (a piece of greazy shop rag or a chunk of old sock works also), squirt the lint ball with a tablespoon or two of liquid fire accelerant (diesel, fuel oil, used oil, charcoal lighter fluid, whatever... not gasoline), flick a 99¢ Bic Lighter, slam the door, walk away. Presto‼ Fire‼ The lint ball (or chunk of rag) acts like a wick... burns long and hot... never fails... been doin' it that way since the 19th century. It takes me all of what?? Sixty seconds?? Maybe less to load and start a fire.

For "portable" fire starting I saturate cotton balls with petroleum jelly (yeah... Vaseline) and pack them into a container such as one of those old 35mm film containers (you'd be surprised how many you can pack in one of those). Fire-up one of those cotton balls (might use two if the wood is a little wet) with a Bic Lighter and... presto... campfire without kindlin' and rubbin' sticks together. Even works in rain.

It ain't that I can't start a fire by rubbin' two sticks together if required... I just don't need the practice... my Cub Scout days are ancient history.

Oh... by-the-way... those Vaseline saturated cotton balls come in handy for more than starting fires. They can be used for quick lubrication on stuff, first-aid, coat your hands before field dressing a deer (the blood wipes right off), makeshift water proofing, etc., etc., etc... use your imagination. (Keep it out'a the gutter boys )
*

 

[sledge&wedge]

I do the same thing with the large chunks on the side but IMO you used way too much paper and not enough kinlen (or small enough). I would have started with a little paper on bottom, halfed or 3rd the pieces that you put in there, added a little more (bigger) kinlen then the big piece on top. I like to set it to it falls into the kinlen once the paper burns out. You get a piece the right size and shape it wont crush the kindlen because the outer two will catch it. More than one way to skin a cat.

I was going to say the exact same thing. I use 2-3 sheets of newspaper, not an entire issue of the Wall Street Journal . I tie the news paper in a loose knot and throw a couple handfuls of small sticks/twigs on top. Then I box those in with a good dry split on either side (just like he does in the video when he's making his "wood firebox"), and lay a smallish split diagonally across the top. Then I flick a match, open the air control, close the door, and walk away. I usually come back about 15 minutes later and pull the top split down into the middle and add more wood depending on what kind of fire I'm aiming to build. Rarely fails on me, and when it does it's usually because I tried to use green wood to start my fire .

 

[gary s]

I live on a farm and have a conventional OWB, I have one of the plastic coffee cans and in the fall I fill it with corn cobs standing on end (usually need to break them shorter) and then I pour about 2" of diesel on them, pick some smaller pieces from the wood pile and stack some under and some over 2 soaked cobs and light.

 

[hayboy]

Good old rich pine "splinters is what they were called in the good old days" can't be beat. For some reason , I guess its clear cut, you can't find much any more.

 

[Marshy]

Splinters is what I think about the tiny strips around the splitting area on the ground. Too small to be kinlen and too big to overlook them and fall off when splitting. Make great starting fuel. I go around and pick those up and use them in the bottom but then put another sheet or two of paper on top of those then the kinlen.

 

[svk]

Similar to fatwood:

The area around my hunting cabin was logged in 1912. My cabin sits on the foundation of the old blacksmith shop from the logging camp. Many stories to share about that including some supernatural. But I'll save those for another thread.

Anyway the loggers torched big brush piles and often there were smaller trees that had several feet of stump preserved by the fire. The heat and outside charcoal locked in the sap so over 100 years later these are bone dry and completely solid. If you cut into one it smells like kerosine so we call them kerosine wood. Shave a few slices to get an edge to light (think punji sticks) and they light with a match. One stump can last you years of fire starting.

I however usually leave them in the woods so I use a bit of diesel or lighter fluid in my sauna. In my wood boiler I save up paper and cardboard from the house and the excellent draft gets that rolling almost immediately.


(This was taken as a vertical picture but AS is rotating it).