Real Kindling or "Fire Stix" ?

[Dale]

Was wondering. I started using those Fire Starters that they sell in a box at the harware store as my starter.... seems to start better than true natural kindling wood, and I need no paper. Are there any drawbacks to this manmade stuff ? either to the stove, or the pipe ?

 

[JUDGE1162]

I use the compressed fire starters too, I have seen no real issue over the last 3 years of using my stove, I prefer "Fatwood" over the compressed manmade stuff but the box of firestarters is a lot cheaper especially when you buy it in the spring on clearence from Wal*Mart. middle of the heating season I will tend to buy the fatwood stuff not sure if it is any better or not.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

+1 for FatWood sticks.



Id like to find the type of tree they make them out of.

 

[LarryTheCableGuy]

+2 for Fatwood.

.

 

[JUDGE1162]

I tried to make my own out of a few pine trees I cut, left the stump (2 foot high) and let the sap build up in the stump then the next year I cut the sump down and split it up real small (ended up using a hatchet towards the end) it worked ok but nothing like real fatwood I left another one for 2 years not a big difference between one year and 2 year old stump. If I cut down anymore pine trees I will let the stump sit again but I am not sure it was worth all the work for the quality of fire starter it produced

According to the Fatwood site they sell 50 pound bags and 25, 35 and 50 pound boxes of fatwood but I have yet to find a dealer that sells anything bigger than their 10 pound bag and that I have to order and pay shipping on Wal-Mart and home depot carry the 5 pound boxes which tends to be the best deal around me.

 

[JUDGE1162]

I think fatwood is made of southern yellow pine and some south american pine trees

 

[Sprig]

With the petroleum based fire starters I'd be very careful as the by-products they produce are toxic and who knows if these are cumulative or not. Special care if you have wee tads in the house too. Even using cedar or any high creosote containing woods must have consideration about exposure as well imo., so good venting (like a nearby window for example) if you happen to smoke the place out, is a must. Burning cut-offs from treated woods is a no-no at any time indoors, I don't know about treatments of wood down south but up here it is commonly pentachlorophenate (sp?) based waxes etc. (because it keeps the wood pretty, sheesh as the darkening on fir does nothing to structural integrity anyway), this crap does not break down (and if it does its into other non-friendly toxins) avoid this and anything manufactured like plywoods or pressboard (epoxies, formaldehydes, all sorts of nice stuff, not.) these un-natural chemicals are only now being link to all sorts of respiratory ailments and long term damages to body organs as well as cumulative effects doing genetic damage to future children. Not much different from any heavy metal poisoning (can add pesticides in there too for that matter) It is a huge topic so the least I can say is keep your fires natural as possible. Myself I'll keep cutting kindling out of the wood at hand (a nice straight piece of dry fir with some decent pitch on it is excellent (old timers would call this '????? wood' as in the olden days it was worth its weight in gold up north, and tradable for, um, lets just say 'certain pleasures' lol). If I'm having troubles I admit to occasionally cheating by wiping up the grease in a pan with ppr towel and stuffing it under the kindling or fill a cardboard egg container with needles and scraps. So in short, for your own health and the health of your family, burn clean well seasoned wood, start your fires with kindling (even lopped off whatcher burning), the extra (minor) effort is worth it, and try to avoid cheats. Thats my 0.02$ worth for the day.



Serge

PS. Once I start burning its 24/7 and if the fire goes out my penitence is cutting some kindling lol.

 

[John Ellison]

The woods around here are full of fatwood, rich pine, pitch wood or whatever its called. I assume that it can be found all over the south where SYP grows.
Iam not sure why some pines die and just rot but others die and the center turns pitchy. You can find it in some stumps and in the center or heart of some trees. A dead pine on the ground rots fast, but if it is pitchy in the heart, that part I think would last forever. You might find pitch wood and no sign of the rest of the tree.
My guess is that as the tree dies stress makes it produce resin, maybe somebody else knows for sure.
The best of it is kind of shiny when you split it and smells like turpentine. Lite a piece the size of a big cigar with a match and it drips and burns like crazy.
SYP stumps that are pitchy can be set on fire and they will burn in the ground for two or three days until there is just a big hole in the ground where the roots were.

 

[MIspecial]

The fatwood stick do work well. Someone usually gives them as a gift for christmas. Just don't like buying them. I run my pick up on waste veg oil. So I use some of the "dirty" oil mixed with saw dust or wood chips in a milk carton. That really works well. This type of fire starter lasts for quite awhile which helps to get an oak fire going.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Lots of pine around my place. No need for the store bought stuff. We go through a lot of eggs, so my other kindling is the cardboard egg flats, with a bit of veggie oil soaked in. When we get a good stack, I just take a turkey baster and a jug of oil, and drizzle a bit on each flat. Stack 'em up, and the oil gradually spreads out. When I need to start a cold stove, I use a quarter flat and a few pine sticks. Works great. Clean, too.

 

[Gark]

I'm too cheap to buy starters. Most any home construction site around has tons of framing lumber ends laying about that the crew is happy to be rid of. Cut and hatchet it down to size, usually have 4 bushels by winter. Starts great right from 2 sheets of crumpled newspaper. On that (2 ea.) 3-inch sticks of poplar will get the toplog burning.

 

[Patrick62]

waste oil method

I have been using a few good snorts of old motor oil for years. Not a lot of kindling is needed. I even converted Mother (dear) to this method.
Quart bottle with a hole drilled in cap works just dandy.

-Pat

 

[laynes69]

I'll find a good straight grain hardwood and work it down into kindling. I'll also use a little newspaper, and the tree bark from the locusts. I've never even thought of buying firestarters. I can take a red coal about the size of a quarter and within 10 minutes have a roaring fire. Its all on what you are used to.

 

[asb151]

I'll often use the small rectangular StarterLog. They come in a box of 24. When those run out, I'll use kindling and paper. The starter logs are easier though.

 

[SmokinDodge]

The sugar maple in the yard is good for dropping small limbs perfect for kindling. :angry2:

Also, when I'm splitting wood the nasty knotty pieces I lay them down and rip them with the saw as opposed to using the splitter. It's just as fast to saw 'em. I save the "curly fries" from one or two episodes of that, they make great starter on top of a piece of newspaper.

I refuse to buy anything I can make myself. :greenchainsaw:

 

[SRT-Tech]

i cut a round or two along the grain with the chainsaw, to get those long curly shavings. about 10 lbs of dry shavings, compressed tightly into a bucket. I then melt old wax candles and huge amounts of pitch that i have collected over the summer. Pour the mixture over the shavings and let it soak in. Once cool you can cut with an old sharp kitchen knife, into cubes.

to use, you grab a two cubes, crumble one into a small pile of paper. Put the other one on top of the kindling. light the paper, and the waxy/pitchy dry shaving crumbles melt quickly and flare up, the heat melts the other cube over the kindling and in seconds you have a blaze.

 

[chowdozer]

I use cardboard. I have an endless supply. It works really well to build a small hot fire with cardboard first to get the stove heated up for a good draft, then add wood. Usually I cut up a weeks supply of cardboard and put it in one of those nice sturdy recycle totes the refuse man gave me I have another tote for firewood

 

[Dale]

Fatwood ?

I've never heard of this Fatwood ???? Sprig scared the sh!t out of me though with his post

 

[Rydaddy]

Fire Starters

I use the fire starter "bricks" various brands. Rip one in half. Lay smaller (very dry) pieces of wood on top of that. Bigger pieces of firewood on top of that. etc... Seems to be the best method I have come up with to get my wood stove up to temp the fastest, if the fire died completely out.

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Newspaper, twigs and kindling splits for me; usually Black (Cherry) Birch, Silver Maple, Poplar, Cherry or Ash split real thin for kindling.