fire starters

[johnjbc]

I have my saw, cutoff saw, and wood splitter in a lean-to on the side of my barn. I push all of the chips, bark, and sawdust into a pile and for disposal.
For fire starter I save plastic grocery bags and made a little rack to hold them open.
I fill then with a narrow shovel and tie them off. Don't use more than ½ sawdust
To start a fire just put one in the stove and rack the wood on it. A BIC lighter will burn a hole through the plastic and start the wood. Works good and uses up the waste.
In the spring or fall when I just need a little heat I will burn 1 or 2 of them.
John

[SwampDonkey]

What kind of fire are you guys building that you need things like torches and tar paper?

That's what I was wondering and about died laughing when you posted that Ron.  :D :D :D

If you want to mess with the devil (ie green wood), suffer the consequences. ;D

[timberfaller390]

If you us stuff like plastic bags and tar paper etc. will it not cause buildup in your chimney faster than just wood, and wouldn't it leave some pretty nasty residue in the stove/fireplace?

[johnjbc]

Not the plastic shopping bags I am talking about. I don't think a 100 of them would weigh ½ a pound.

[ohsoloco]

Did anyone else see the ear wax candle google ad that was in Warbird's link  ???  I had to click on it just to see what it was...it wasn't what I was thinking  :D

I use the same thing Ron uses....a couple pieces of balled up newspaper and some split pine or poplar.  I save all of the thin pine and poplar slices off of the mill (when I'm truing up a face, or taking a little bit off the last board to get the proper thickness), let 'em sit out and dry for a while, stack, cut to length, and then put in boxes in the basement.

[Warbird]

I just use the Sunday paper and some dry kindling.  It works every time.  What kind of fire are you guys building that you need things like torches and tar paper?

I also use a little kindling, some paper, and a couple of Safe Lite "Fire Starter Squares" made by Rutland.  The squares help get the larger wood burning with very little effort from me and they are safe for the catalyst.  The thing is, I don't have to do this very often, as we get 8 - 12 hour burn times and the fire is going almost the entire winter.

As for what kind of fire is being built, it's not so much about that.  It is more about being lazy, wanting a quick fire with as little effort at the time as possible.  Usually, when you want a fire for warmth, you want it "right now" with little effort.  ;)

[SwampDonkey]

Wish I had a video to show how easy it is the strike a match and drop it on shavings topped with wood chunks for a nice fire. :D

[DanG]

If you don't have fat lightered, pine cones work great, and you don't need to do anything to them.  A tiny squirt of charcoal starter makes them easier to light.  They make a nice red coal to help keep things going, too.

You Northern type guys don't seem to know much about starting fires in the South.  Down here, the humidity keeps wood from drying enough to light that easily, unless it is stored in the house.  Even SYP that has been in the shed for 2 years needs a little help to get started around here.  Personally, I find it a lot easier to use a couple of pine cones, rather than build an addition onto the house to store firewood. :

[SwampDonkey]

That's why we have basements in the north. And sometimes an empty neglected shed needs something to hold the roof up.  ;D :D

[DanG]

Down here, a basement is called an indoor swimming pool. :D :D

[SwampDonkey]

 :D :D :D :D I've heard that term used loosely. ;D

[Bro. Noble]

My father-in-law has been gone for over 20 years,  but I often think of the time he was visiting from Ill. and asked if I had anything he could use for kindling.  I took a toe sack and went to a place I'd noticed where a huge pinetop had rotted down several years earlier.  I explained to my FIL that those pineknots were the best kindling going and one was plenty.   Well he only had a tiny fireplace and just used it once or twice a year on holidays.  By the time he lit a fire,  he must have forgotten that that sack had potent chunks of kindling and evidentally used them as firewood   Fortunately he was able to wet them down enough to shovel them into a bucket and get them outside.   Now to me when I need to start a big pile,  I look for an overcast day and an old tire.  When I build a fire in the furnace (once a season) I use some scraps from the edger and some newspaper.  When I build a fire in the fireplace,  I carry in a shovel of coals from the furnace.

If I had to build a fire in an old woodstove quite frequently,  I'd have a bucket of pineknots.

[Corley5]

Green sugar maple but once the fire's going it doen't go out for months.  This is the same fire that I started in Sept  ;)  Dry wood sux.  Burns up too fast in an outdoor boiler 

[SwampDonkey]

Too much draft boy.  ;)

[Corley5]

Yup, I have to pick the seasoned pieces out of the yard and put em back in the stove after they fly out the stack.  No problem with green wood    If I don't have some roofing material handy to start the fire a chunk of inner tube works good.  Too much wire in tire chunks.  If nothing else a bag of household garbage and a couple empty bar oil jugs gets it going 

[isawlogs]

Here the brush tire starting method has been outlawed .... not banned  It comes with a 5,000$ fine if you get caught    Don't ask.  : >:(

[ErikC]

   We light fires almost every day in fall and spring. Warm days and cold nights. I saw pitch pine into short rounds and split it down thin. A few pieces does the job every time. One old pitchy pine heart will last years, but they can be hard to find so I keep an eye out all the time. the best ones have been in the woods so long all the sapwood has fell off and it is hard as a rock. You can smell the pitch when you walk up if they're good.
  I think that's the same thing they call "fatwood" in the south?

Erik

[Don K]

 I think that's the same thing they call "fatwood" in the south?

Shore is. ;D

Don

[SwampDonkey]

I don't want to be down wind of you Corley when you toss the garbage in there. Especially if there is an old diaper in there. Nasty stuff.

smiley_airfreshener

[Corley5]

I save the garbage and have an old bale of hay on hand for when the wind is blowing toward the neighbor's.  I'm one of the bad outdoor boiler people    A friend and his son were on their way to my house one morning and followed the plume of black smoke from the styrofoam packing from the new TV.  A hot fire in a woodstove is the absolute best way to dispose of diapers.  Much better than a landfill

[SwampDonkey]

 :D :D :D

[isawlogs]

Ya can burn all the diapers you want , but could you hold back on the styrofoam ... thats nasty stuff to be burning .....  :-\

[Corley5]

We seldom buy a new TV  ;)

[SwampDonkey]

My uncle says recycle, toss it in the stove.  ;D

[IMERC]

Any of yall got a good recipe for homade fire starter "logs" made out of saw dust. They will be for use in a fire place and stove.

one or two ounces of paint thinner/turps absorbed into the saw dust... add a light....
add a little molten wax to the saw dust....  add a light...
add a bit more molten wax to saw dust and cast the puttied mix into a paper egg carton... break off blocks of hardened material as required... add a light....