Starting a Stove Fire

[CADplans]

I was at the YMCA today, they had a half gallon jug of hand sanitizer,,
The label said 70% alcohol,, and in BIG LETTERS it said FLAMMABLE!!

I might have to bring some home in a cup, and try it,,, :thumbsup:

 

[Diggin It]

I save a lot of what others would discard. I took down a few junk Cherry trees a while back. Split the trunks, but also saved most of the branches down to an inch or less in diameter. Cut those into 12-18" lengths that make great kindling. I do the same with most of the Oak or Cedars I trim or cut. I don't figure the costs the way they've been discussing on the tractor/wood thread. None of what I cut has any resale value. It's all just junk I have to get rid of one way or another. If I burn it outside or leave it to rot, I get nothing out of it. Burning it in the stove at least saves me spending money on LP or electric.

 

[deezler]

I was at the YMCA today, they had a half gallon jug of hand sanitizer,,
The label said 70% alcohol,, and in BIG LETTERS it said FLAMMABLE!!

I might have to bring some home in a cup, and try it,,, :thumbsup:

I hope you mean try it in the woodstove, and not try a drink out of the cup! It's not ethanol......!!

 

[deezler]

Exactly!
I've never experimented with this theory, but heard some old timers say:
Drop a tree with leaves on it, and let it lie on the ground with the branches and leaves on, the leaves will suck water out of it. ??? :confused3:

Similarly, if you cut a live tree in winter, will the wood be drier than if you cut it in summer?

Looks like no one else got back to you. YES, if you have a choice, cut any live trees intended for firewood down in the winter. Most of the moisture goes down into the root system underground for winter storage and the branches and trunk will be much drier than in the summer. The sap starts flowing back up into the trunk when temps come above freezing again (hence maple sap collection in the early spring once daytime is above freezing). If you cut live trees in the summer, they often drip water out like crazy. Which you just have to wait to evaporate out of the wood, if your end goal is firewood.

As for leaving the leaves/branches on if you have to cut in the summer, that makes sense to me - leaves can evaporate a ton of water out of a tree. BUT, I'd wager the wood will dry even faster if you just cut it up into firewood lengths right away.

 

[Gus3120]

I’ve been burning wood for 35yrs, I have many hard Trees in my yard and during spring I just gather up all the Twigg’s/branches that fall during the winter into a large cardboard box for kindling. Use rolled newspaper on the bottom, add a few sticks followed by smaller split pieces wood then couple larger splits. Fire the newspaper, walk away for 15mins then come back and pack the stove. Now when it’s very cold my stove never goes out so just leave a good bed of coals when cleaning the stove out and add couple smaller splits at the bottom, then pack the wood in on top. Dry wood is the key for any method of starting a fire, and of course keep your chimney/stove pipe clean for maximum draw.

 

[goeduck]

I’ve been burning wood for 35yrs, I have many hard Trees in my yard and during spring I just gather up all the Twigg’s/branches that fall during the winter into a large cardboard box for kindling. Use rolled newspaper on the bottom, add a few sticks followed by smaller split pieces wood then couple larger splits. Fire the newspaper, walk away for 15mins then come back and pack the stove. Now when it’s very cold my stove never goes out so just leave a good bed of coals when cleaning the stove out and add couple smaller splits at the bottom, then pack the wood in on top. Dry wood is the key for any method of starting a fire, and of course keep your chimney/stove pipe clean for maximum draw.

Great post !

 

[m7040]

That is exactly what we do as well. We roll newspaper also. Use 4 sheets of newspaper folded once over into a triangle then roll it and grab each end and twist it three or four times and tie into a nut. Keep these in a bin for starting the fire. Just like turning on a switch when starting a fire. We have a wood stove in the living room burning all the time and a larger wood furnace in the basement that we light off on colder days usually when the temp dips into the teens

 

[Industrial Toys]

I noticed a video come up on my apple TV/Yourtube, which I didn't watch (yet) but it read "easiest way to make kindling", and showed a guy holding a cordless drill with what looked like a stepped bit. Reminded me immediately of that stepped bit you would install on your car wheel to split fire wood.

 

[Diggin It]

Having one of those days for some reason. Lit that suckuh for the third time now. Had lots of orange earlier, but it went out. Wood's dry too. Weird. Messy, humid day, so ...

 

[mike48130]

So I use the bags of Fatwood from Menards. They usually have a rebate sale on them a couple times a year so I max out the buy 6 option so about $2 a bag or less if I recall. A little paper, a squirt of gel fire starter and then the fatwood on top.

I like to put in a front log, a back log, the starter pile in the middle and the kindling on top 45 or 90 to the 2 logs.

When I split wood I always find the real clean no knot logs and turn them into piles of kindling using the splitter. About 2"x2" or less. The dry oak does this really well. I put that on top of the fatwood. I have 2 stoves now, and just lit both this morning first time. Of course dry wood helps too.

If you are looking for something homemade, the ex used to make her own fire starts out of saw dust and candle wax I think it was. She poured it into used egg cartons and made 12 at a time. Use the paper egg cartons (if you can still find them) and cut them up after and just light the paper. Worked pretty good. Was mostly for camping.