Kindlin' routines

[cjcocn]

We currently have a too-small Regency that I want to replace, so we only get coals in the morning if we fill the stove with birch at bedtime. I am now counting birch as a part of my needed firewood supply - about 2 cords per year should do it.

If we have coals in the morning then I just toss quarters on and open up the damper. We keep kindling on one side of the top of the wood rack and quarters on the other side.

If we have no coals, then a few pieces of birch bark (lights better than paper) and some kindling crisscrossed on top of that, and 2 or 3 quarters on top of the kindling. 1 half log on each side and let it catch.

With either method, once it is burning well we add regular split pieces to fill the stove.

PS ... our wood is smaller here so quarters are about 6" and half pieces about 8-10" in size. I would burn bigger rounds, but that will not happen until I replace the stove with a larger one.

 

[Joshlaugh]

Nice to hear that I am not the only one who hates to hear the furnace kick on.

I use a couple sheet of newspaper, some small kindling(right now elm and maple) and even some bark that has fallen off my split wood on the back porch. It seems to start a fire just fine. I bank the fire when I go to bed around 1030 and add wood to it during the night whenever one of my kids wakes me up needing water or to go to the bathroom(around 1230-230) My wife and I are usually up around 5-530 to throw more wood on. Funny how I am the only one who helps to kids at night and adds wood to the fire than, she is all about it when she gets home from work but never likes to leave her warm bed to head downstairs.

 

[Zodiac45]

My cookstove is similar too WB's and after taking out yesterdays ashes, the routine is 4 sheets of the Bangor Dailey News (rolled not crumpled) and 4 sticks of cedar (crosshatched) that have been in the kindling pail in back of the stove for a few days and would probably light off a match. I leave the ash door open till these are ripping then close it and slide the air too about half throttle. Toss on 2-3 splits, and snap her back on bake. After this first load is going about 30 min, I'll slide the air too 1/4" and slide in the heat retainer and turn the pipe damper too 45 degrees. She's good to go for the day.

PS: My very first thing is the coffee pot too. By the time the Glenwoods going and the cat's fed, my coffee's ready.

 

[woodbooga]

My cookstove is similar too WB's and after taking out yesterdays ashes, the routine is 4 sheets of the Bangor Dailey News (rolled not crumpled) and 4 sticks of cedar (crosshatched) that have been in the kindling pail in back of the stove for a few days and would probably light off a match. I leave the ash door open till these are ripping then close it and slide the air too about half throttle. Toss on 2-3 splits, and snap her back on bake. After this first load is going about 30 min, I'll slide the air too 1/4" and slide in the heat retainer and turn the pipe damper too 45 degrees. She's good to go for the day.

PS: My very first thing is the coffee pot too. By the time the Glenwoods going and the cat's fed, my coffee's ready.

I'm too lazy to roll news print. The Alton Baysider, Rochester Times, and the Weirs Tourist Gazette (tabloid) get crumpled into balls. Four sheets would probably do it too, but I add the 5th out of habit from those "bad draft" days in Sept. and April/May when the temp differential isn't as great.

Nice having coffee waiting for you when the kindling's done. As for the cats, the barn denizens can nab some mice for all I care. Wife feeds them and they keep coming back like a bad penny.

 

[Coldfront]

I also have to start a fire about once a day. I gave up on newspaper, I am still on a piece of DuraFlame log you can buy at Wal-mart for about $4 one of those will last me over a year. I use a top down fire method, so I break off a small piece of Duralog (if you keep it in house warm you can break off a small chuck with your fingers, it is like a hard putty) a chunk about as big as a marble, set it on top of the logs in the center, then light the small chunk with a little propane torch I keep by the stove it lights the Duraflame chunk in about 3 seconds, that little chunk will burn for about 15 mins on its own. I know I could use a match but the torch is easy and I don't have to reach in so far. The little $2 tank of propane for the torch has also lasted over a year. Then I put a few small pieces of split up dry pine slab wood I get for free from the saw mill that gets blazing fast, then just add a little finely split oak on top of that and let it rip. The whole process takes me about 5-10 mins. I can then set the damper and not have to touch it again for about 3 hours to add more wood. That is my daily routine.

 

[Zodiac45]

I also have to start a fire about once a day. I gave up on newspaper, I am still on a piece of DuraFlame log you can buy at Wal-mart for about $4 one of those will last me over a year. I use a top down fire method, so I break off a small piece of Duralog (if you keep it in house warm you can break off a small chuck with your fingers, it is like a hard putty) a chunk about as big as a marble, set it on top of the logs in the center, then light the small chunk with a little propane torch I keep by the stove it lights the Duraflame chunk in about 3 seconds, that little chunk will burn for about 15 mins on its own. I know I could use a match but the torch is easy and I don't have to reach in so far. The little $2 tank of propane for the torch has also lasted over a year. Then I put a few small pieces of split up dry pine slab wood I get for free from the saw mill that gets blazing fast, then just add a little finely split oak on top of that and let it rip. The whole process takes me about 5-10 mins. I can then set the damper and not have to touch it again for about 3 hours to add more wood. That is my daily routine.

That interesting! I've got bone dry cedar though and probably 3 years worth in slabs. I could probably not even bother with the newprint as I will usually use a splinter of cedar for my match. The cedar really rips and once going will not go out till gone so I can load splits in within minutes of "detonating" the cedar.

 

[stihl sawing]

Mine never gets shut down during the winter to need kindling. I usually use the firestarters that come in a box. I've cut kindling before and it never gets used. A box of them starters will last 3 or 4 seasons.

 

[JBinKC]

I go through about roughly the volume of about 90 gal garbage can worth of kindling during the season especially having a stove with a rather small firebox and living in a moderate climate. I use newspaper if I have to start a fire and bark and twigs as kindling.

If I have a situation where the burn cycle is extended past 7 hours the coal base will be insufficient to fire up the stove with the larger pieces of wood.

My routine really depends upon how many burn cycles in a day I require and that changes with the weather.

 

[woodbooga]

That interesting! I've got bone dry cedar though and probably 3 years worth in slabs. I could probably not even bother with the newprint as I will usually use a splinter of cedar for my match. The cedar really rips and once going will not go out till gone so I can load splits in within minutes of "detonating" the cedar.

I rarely have the good fortune to kindle with cedar. What I've used has been awesome.

Kindling is funny how, at the begining of the heating season, you look at it and think "There's no way I'm going to use all that." And somehow, I always do.

This year's is mostly construction waste from a major renovation to a friends house. I get to start many fires and he got to dodge paying the disposal fee at the dump.

 

[darren_nh]

I take on section of the Sunday Union Leader folded in half (so twice including the factory fold), lean it up against a piece of maple, take three pieces of white pice "cut-offs" from the local sawmill against it, throw another piece of maple on top of the kindling, and light. Once it is going throw in as much of any type of wood brought in from the barn.

I buy (gasp!) the kindling from the mill for $4 a bag. The bags last about a month, and even the wife can start the stove with that stuff. Makes starting the stove idiot proof so there are no excuses!

 

[Zodiac45]

I take on section of the Sunday Union Leader folded in half (so twice including the factory fold), lean it up against a piece of maple, take three pieces of white pice "cut-offs" from the local sawmill against it, throw another piece of maple on top of the kindling, and light. Once it is going throw in as much of any type of wood brought in from the barn.

I buy (gasp!) the kindling from the mill for $4 a bag. The bags last about a month, and even the wife can start the stove with that stuff. Makes starting the stove idiot proof so there are no excuses!

Yep that's the key. Ease of operation. Around here most people(who don't cut) will buy a bundle of lathe from the hardware store.

 

[jcrenfrow]

Mine never gets shut down during the winter to need kindling. I usually use the firestarters that come in a box. I've cut kindling before and it never gets used. A box of them starters will last 3 or 4 seasons.

Same here.

 

[woodbooga]

I buy (gasp!) the kindling from the mill for $4 a bag. The bags last about a month, and even the wife can start the stove with that stuff. Makes starting the stove idiot proof so there are no excuses!

I saw an ad in the Alton Baysider for kindling. 40lbs for $10. If this is a good deal for you let me know. I would have been tempted but I still have a boatload of split 1" board and 2x4s. Tossing in a 16" 2x4 at an early stage along with a few small barkless hardwood rounds really gets the stove up to temp quick.

 

[darren_nh]

The bags I buy for $4 are about 40 pounds. They are the woven Tyvek bags typically used for grain. They are a great deal. Glad the mill is close.

 

[Coldfront]

I buy (gasp!) the kindling from the mill for $4 a bag. The bags last about a month, and even the wife can start the stove with that stuff. Makes starting the stove idiot proof so there are no excuses!

I'm surprised you have to buy it, the saw mills around here dump the pine slab wood in piles and it just sits there and rots. What I'm talking about is when they saw the logs into boards the left over outside skins of the logs with bark on it, that can't be used for anything really, they just dump it. They are in about 15- 20 foot length and still need to cut into short pieces so I load it on a long trailer. Some of the piles have been sitting for a couple of years so the wood is dryer than a popcorn fart.

 

[woodbooga]

The bags I buy for $4 are about 40 pounds. They are the woven Tyvek bags typically used for grain. They are a great deal. Glad the mill is close.

Good deal. I'd look into such an arrangement if I didn't have access to a virtually unlimited supply of white pine tops close by.

 

[Coldfront]

I think those woven white grain bags are worth about $2 a piece alone.

 

[darren_nh]

The beauty of the klindling is that it already cut to length (about 12" long) to fit into the bags sideways. All the wood is S4S finished, not bark and surfaced, so no mess. Sometimes I have to get out the hatched to split it, but that is about it.

Our transfer statoin has just started to required separation of plastic by specific numbers, instead of just plastic. I am going to use the bags for easy sorting in the barn. When they start to smell, I will toss them. They are indestructible.

 

[woodbooga]

The beauty of the klindling is that it already cut to length (about 12" long) to fit into the bags sideways. All the wood is S4S finished, not bark and surfaced, so no mess. Sometimes I have to get out the hatched to split it, but that is about it.

Our transfer statoin has just started to required separation of plastic by specific numbers, instead of just plastic. I am going to use the bags for easy sorting in the barn. When they start to smell, I will toss them. They are indestructible.

In the past year, our dump no longer allows anything other than brush in the burn pile. It's all got to go into the demo pile. Bummer for me since old barnboards, 2x4s, etc. were easy pickens for kindling and "filler" wood.

 

[hangnail]

i use pallets that i cut into 14-18" pieces.

crumple up a bit more newspaper that you guys do, and add a few pieces of pallet wood. stepping up in size

I have a jotul 400 which struggles sometimes to get going, probably my technique, but screw it. so i cheat and open the ash door for a few minutes to help things along. usually it only stays open for 2 minutes or so.

I as well pack it in around 9 9-30 each night, and most of the time if i found some good overnighter sized logs, i wake up with some red coals, i give the stove a rake thorugh, toss in some pallet wood, open the ash door to empty the pan, and then i can usually close it, just those few moments are enough to fire it up again.