Starting a Stove Fire

Diggin It · Jan 5, 2020

Old thread bump because I don't feel like starting a new one and I just went through this.

I keep most of my scrap wood whether it's inside the garage shop from the saws or outside from the splitter. I cut up a hickory log and kept all the chainsaw leavins. It all goes into piles or boxes to dry. I was using the paper bits and still do when I have enough, but am trying to switch to other means since I don't always have newsprint or junk mail on hand. I've taken to keeping small food boxes (cereal, crackers, mac n cheese, etc.) and will fill those with some of the smaller scrap mentioned above. One or two of those plus some larger scrap usually does it. Also have started using the starter/parafin impregnated sticks. Seems to be working OK for now.

Fire went out a few hours ago and the house just started cooling down enough to notice despite being in the twenties outside. Amazing how building materials can hold heat for so long.

goeduck · Jan 5, 2020

Yea, old thread but good subject. I use one cube of the Firestarters Brand starter along with scrap wood either gathered from under the wood splitter or from Dimensional lumber cutoffs or pallet wood. My favorite is 1x4 or 1x6 from clean pallets I get at work (no oils, etc.). I use my miter saw to cut them into chunks about 4 inches long. I then split the chunks into sticks. I load a back piece of firewood, then one cube starter, then I box in the starter cube with the sticks with sides and multi layer top with gaps (basically small kindling). I start the cube, let it get going, load in a front piece of wood and put two smaller pieces on top of the boxed in cube. I block the stove door cracked open to get maximum air and come back about 10 minutes later. Close the door, the fire is going good at that point. It is usually up to temperature in about 45 minutes.

I try to keep the fire going constant until the ash builds up too high and I need to shut down to clean it out*, which is usually 3 weeks or so. So I only do this every ~3 weeks.

* I have not made an ash shovel with ash holes as Moss described in another thread yet to separate coals from ash**. That should allow me to do fewer shutdowns.

** When I get chunks of crust (lava like) under my ash. I sometimes fish them out to postpone my shutdown schedule.

crackerjack222 · Jan 5, 2020

I had been using the parafin block fire starters in my wood stove until lately when I started using "fat wood" sticks. They light faster than the parafin blocks and burn great. I put one large piece of wood at the back, lean five fat wood sticks against it, add two more pieces of wood at angles above the fat wood then light the fat wood with a propane torch. I leave the door cracked open to get better air circulation and within a minute or two have a good fire started.

gstrom99 · Jan 5, 2020

I subscribe to the local newspaper, to keep up with the local news and also for fire starting. The little local papers need our support too. I've heard you can use clothes drier lint, but have not tried that. I always have enuff twig and splitting scraps to use.

ericm979 · Jan 5, 2020

When I'm splitting madrone or fir there's a lot of slivers or tiny splits. I keep a tub next to the splitter and drop all those small pieces in it. The tubs go in the back of the barn where they dry out and make a ready supply of kindling.

I have also saved some of the noodles when I noodle big rounds into smaller pieces for easier handling. They get used as fire starter. If I've had to do a lot of noodling on a big tree there's big piles of noodles just sitting there in my wood processing area. Picking them up does not take long. I'm not sure I'll keep doing this though as newspaper seems like it works better for starting fires.

Between lining the chicken coop, putting paper under saws when I clean them and starting fires, we've not been recycling much newsprint. We'll eventually have to get rid of the one paper and go all digital and I don't know what we'll do then.

Katahdin · Jan 5, 2020

With a woodstove that has an ash tray, I've been able stop using kindling all together:

1) When the stove is cold, take a poker and sweep the ash over the grate holes so the light gray ash drops into the tray. Empty the ash tray if its full and put back.

2) Sweep black coals so they're over the ash tray grate.

3) Add firewood over the black coals, but leave some coals visible in the front.

4) Zap the black coals with a propane or mapp gas torch, it only takes a second to light and you only need a few small burning embers to start.

5) Close up the stove doors and vents completely but open the ash tray a crack.

6) The air will draft through the ash grate and burning coals creating a blast furnace effect.

7) Before the fire gets too hot, close the ash tray and open the air vents and/or crack the door as you normally would to get a fire going. A word of caution here, the stove can overheat if you leave the ash tray open.

8) When the fire is sufficiently burning and reached the desired operating temps, adjust the damper or close the catalytic combuster bypass.

RedNeckGeek · Jan 5, 2020

ericm979 said:
Between lining the chicken coop, putting paper under saws when I clean them and starting fires, we've not been recycling much newsprint. We'll eventually have to get rid of the one paper and go all digital and I don't know what we'll do then.

There's still one local newspaper in nearby Chico, CA, and they throw out large numbers of excess papers every week. Once a year I stop by and pick up a foot thick stack, and that pretty much gets me through the wood heat season. Two newspaper knots on top of three sticks of good, dry, oak kindling does the trick every time.

gstrom99 · Jan 5, 2020

This could open up the ages old discussion of "top down" vs "bottom up" staring method.. I use the later. btw.

Jstpssng · Jan 5, 2020

In the winter months I buy the weekend edition of the local paper, primarily for starting fires. They don't bring them this far north anymore, and their "news" is rather unbalanced anyways. I want to read what's going on, not the opinions of a Boston based editing staff.