I've been burning wood since 1999 and......

[WILCO]

have found it a chore to build a starter fire with kindling wood. Have used a variety of tricks with paper, those starter sticks, WD40 and so on.
Recently cooked a pack of bacon and the idea came upon me to use the bacon grease on the kindling wood. I tried it and works like a charm. No fuss, no muss.
Even mixed in some chicken grease from the crockpot. Only takes a small amount smathered on a chunk or two and away it goes when lit. Just thought I'd share the discovery............:coffee:

[hoosierlogger]

plus it probably smells good too.

[WILCO]

plus it probably smells good too.

It does! :mrgreen:

[44man]

NO THANKS----I would be chewing on the firewood! :bigsmyl2:

[JSnover]

Must be tough to keep the dogs out of the kindling....

[c3d4b2]

I have had some success using newspaper soaked with grease or cooking oil to start fires.

[fishhawk]

just use a trioxane bar under the wood and it takes right off. steve k

[imashooter2]

I have one of those ceramic eggs on a stick that you soak in kerosene. Best fire starter ever. When camping, I always bring a few fire starters made from old candle stubs melted and poured into paper egg cartons.

[waksupi]

I buy a Presto log, and chunk it into small egg size pieces. Works great. One of the logs will last me pretty much all winter. They also sell smaller versions for fire lighting, but they cost a lot more, for the same stuff.

[WILCO]

I buy.......

That's the thing, I'll never need to buy another fire starter again. :mrgreen:

[Shepherd2]

We have an outdoor wood burning furnace. I light a fire with kindling and a trioxane bar in October and let in burn out in May.

[dragonrider]

I burn coal, start the fires with wood pellets, denatured alcohol. I use 1/2 of a 1 pound coffee can of pellets, pour on some alcohol, add kindling when going well, when that is going well layer some coal on top.

[jhrosier]

I would get a bucket of parafin and soak some thumb sized pine sticks in it.
One of those citronella candles in the little galvanized bucket sold for outdoor use would prolly work fine.
I worked for an outfit that used wood heat and we used parafin soaked kindling.
It was scraps from a company that made wooden bearings.
It works great.

Jack

[sundog]

Coarse sawdust (seasoned or dead wood), like from a chain saw rip cut, in cup cake paper poured over with some paraffin (used candle), but not too much, regular or mini size. Put'em in a zip lock bag to stay dry. They need to have a bunch of whiskers to work best. Paper can be peeled back for additional get'er started help.

Best make these in a cup cake tin so they do not wilt and go all over.

[bigdog454]

Don't use much kindlin, my fire hasen't gone out since about the middle of NOV. When I do, a shaved stick works good.

[Jbar4Ranch]

I've always used sawdust mixed with diesel. I keep a coffee can of it outside the door. I wonder if one of those self-lighting charcoal briquettes would work...? Maybe I'll break some of 'em into smaller pieces with a hammer and keep a can of 'em outside the door to try.

[John Guedry]

I used to soak corncobs in diesel. Works pretty good.

[timkelley]

I use a paper sack with a couple handfulls of paper chips from the shredder in it. It stays burning for a good long time.

[Typecaster]

Hey Sundog—
Maybe Pat Marlin can add another product to his line-up…

Richard

[pressonregardless]

Guy's, I don't what to think about the problems your having starting fires. I just start with dry wood, take the maul to it and bust off a bunch of pieces about three fingers size. The process results in lots of splinters on the pieces that when you throw them in the remaining coals seem to take off in a minute or two. If I brought kerosene or diesel soaked anything close to our woodstove my wife would grab the broom and beat me. Come to think of it, birch seems to be about the best starting wood we have.

[Geraldo]

Diesel fuel and roadflares...:kidding:

[Tom308]

I turn the thermostat up or lite the gas heater. We have electricity. It works great so far. If nothing works in the winter, I'll do what ever is needed. We have a lot of trees around here. If needed, they can ALL come down. A country boy CAN survive. Gasoline starts fires. How ever, extra caution is needed with gasoline. I usually use candles for fire starters. I also drop chunks of candle in my melted lead. I improvise.

[BD]

In Maine we always used the off cuts from the cedar log home factory. $5.00 for a pickup load, kiln dried and very easy to split with a hatchet. One pick up load lasted all year between the house and the shop. Both passive solar so you're building a new fire every evening. Not using newsprint or petro products about doubles the life of the catalytic combustor.

In SC, on the rare occasions when a fire in the fireplace makes sense, we use the big Southern Yellow pine cones that are all over the yard. Easiest thing I've found. Six of them under the logs and light it with one match.

BD

[Glen]

Last summer for Father's Day my grandkids made me a box full of fire-starters. They saved the lint from their dryer up and then took a box of canning paraffin and melted it in a saucepan. They would pull off a pinch of lint, dunk it in the melted paraffin and then put it into a paper Dixie cup to harden. They made me about 35 or 40 for virtually no cost at all, and they work really well, even on wet wood. I used several of them this year in hunting camp and was able to get a fire going easily, even with rain-soaked firewood.

[hoosierlogger]

When I was in boy scouts we took cardboard, rolled it up tight into 1-1 1/2" diameter rolls about an inch long. The corrugated middle of the cardboard showed at the top and bottom. We then tied a cotton string around it, and dipped the cardboard into paraffin and let it cool. Presto you got fire starters.

[Jon]

All great ideas. I've just been using a propane torch to get the fire going. A couple of minutes, and it's going well.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Not to say that I have done it... :bigsmyl2: ......but........oxyacetylene torches can get a fire going pretty quick........ But I wouldn't know for sure, of course.... :bigsmyl2:

[Storydude]

My stove hasn't went out since October :)

[EMC45]

I was gonna say dryer lint, but was beat to it. How bout "fat lighter"? It is big here, and works great! Just gotta find a stump.

[S.R.Custom]

I run two stoves --the downstairs stove by day, upstairs by night-- so I'm lighting two fires a day. And I'd just as soon spend as little time doing it as possible...

I've tried a lot of methods, but the quickest I've found is a squirt bottle made from poking a hole in the lid of a plastic motor oil bottle, and filled with #1 diesel. A couple of teaspoons squirted in the ash and on the wood right in front of the air inlet has a fire going good enough to close the door on in less than 3 minutes. No need for kindling, and five gallons lasts all season.

[Char-Gar]

I take a small, flat, round tin can like tuna fish or cat food and fill it have full of Kerosene and place it under the stack and light it. It will light a fire without the use of very fine kindling. When the first is gone, remove it from the ashes and use it again.

[Wayne Smith]

I take chips from the lathe from turning green wood and put them in an old paper egg crate. Then I pour pariffin over that. The wood and paper act as a wick and it works well.

[pmeisel]

my wife is in charge of the fire and I am not allowed to have an opinion on it.... just get some more wood for it now and then.

[jar-wv]

I used to soak corncobs in diesel. Works pretty good.


Same here, only soaked in kerosene.

jar

[bob208]

i use blue paper towels from work soaked in bacon grease the some pine cones on top of that or peanut sheels. on top of that old plaster laths out of my other house i am remodeling. gets a fire going real quick.

[encoreman]

EMC45 beat me to it. It is simply fat lighter. It is the longleaf pine stumps and sometimes logs that they make turpentine from. They don't rot because of the pine pitch in them. They used to make fence post out of them, and there are still fence rows with them that are probably 50-75 years old or older. I think sometime it is referred to as pitch pine. I have also heard of using pine cones.

[docone31]

Gee, lets see,
Back when I still had my house, before the divorce, I had 10acres of trees, brush, branches, etc.
I would go out and ring a couple of trees I wanted to take down. I would ring them in the spring. The branches I would cut down to 18" pieces. Some with the chainsaw, the rest with a machete.
I used to make my stove.
I got a 55 gal drum and had a kit I got to turn it into a wood stove. I tried the double kit, but it was waaaay too much for the house I had. I would fill the stove with sand and gravel to teh bottom of the door, toss in the branches and take some balled up newspaper. From there, I would toss in the 1" diameter branches, then the 3" diameter, then the rounds. The stove could take 14" diameter rounds.
I kept the stove idleing. I never cranked it up. The heat was far too much for the house. It could be -20 outside, and I kept the stove throttled down. It had tremendous radiant area.
The best logs were the wet ones. The logs were 22" to 28" in length X 12" to 14". One log lasted a night, the ashes idled untill the next night and then another log. Knocking out the creosote in the chimney was simple, a few whacks on the pipe and down it came. I did not even have to remove the pipe.
Spring and summer was household trash! One bag kept us warm. The logs did not come out untill December.
I did not even really have to cut trees. One year, we got this hurricane. I had firewood for many years after that.
I got it going, it stayed going, and all was well.
My system seemed to work. In 10yrs, no chimney fires, no smoke in the house issues, very little dust, no random dirt for the cats to use under the stove.
It all worked out.
I thought it through, and, I was lucky.

[Sprue]

7/8 bucks at the local anymart. I just buy the commercial starter bricks, they last for a couple of seasons. I keep it simple, the Hot Warm fire going and save the bacon grease for gravy & biscuits.

[Down South]

We have a lot of pine knots around here for all of you that know what I'm talking about. We sometimes call it rich lighter pine. When cut into it's sticky with pine sap. I cut it into small strips. It splits real easy with a hatchet. If you just get a lit match close it will ignite. I usually cut up a 5-gallon bucket about half full in the fall and it’s enough to last all winter. I have the pile of the pine knots out behind my shop. They don’t rot or deteriorate over years of being piled up. The old timers used to make fence post out of this stuff. I have some of those old fence posts in the pile. It’s no telling how old they are. Every time that I find a pine knot, I add it to the pile.

[Bullshop Junior]

I use a match....................

[hydraulic]

The big record December storm hit Nebraska last Wednesday and the electricity went off Thursday. 20 inches of snow and 40 mph winds. Saturday afternoon we got the power back. The neighbors stopped in for hot coffee and then went back home and stayed in bed. My wood stove kept the house warm and Ma cooked on it. I usually burn about 11 pickup loads of wood each winter. The gas furnace and water heater cost me $160 for all of 2009. I'm 72 and it's getting tougher to cut and haul firewood, but I will have a wood stove as long as I am able.

[ArmedMainer]

All great ideas. I've just been using a propane torch to get the fire going. A couple of minutes, and it's going well.I've got the torch sitting about 5' from the woodstove. Best way to get the kindling nice and hot.
I'm a beekeeper and we have plenty of used wax hanging around which I heat up and mix with dryer lint. I make little firestarters which ignite well when placed on top of the kindling and giving a gentle push with the propane torch.

[JohnH]

We use the dryer lint and wax method, but Ms. Bonnie uses the cardboard egg crates. She takes a flat and stuffs each pocket with lint then pours melted wax over it. Once set, just peel off a pockt lay it on the bottom of the stove and lay your fire and kindling on top of it, lite it and enjoy the best heat on the planet.

I like the bacon grease idea though. Been heating with wood since the early 1970's. It's always been work, working with chainsaws is dangerous as is felling standing dead timber, parts I've never liked, but I wouldn't trade my wood stove (built it myself, a copy of my Dad's Fisher Papa Bear he bought about 1977-78) or the quality of heat it produces for any electric, gas or oil fired unit I've ever lived with. Been heating solely with wood since winter of 1994.

[geargnasher]

As a side benifit of my job and the fact that humans will be human, we often end up with many gallons of gasoline/diesel mixed in various proportions. The mixes too concentrated to burn in the employees older gas cars get collected in drums. I take home a few gallons of the "nearly all diesel" stuff and mix it about 50/50 with used automatic transmission oil and use a pint on each fire I start, whether in the wood stove or Rumford. This will light 2" seasoned oak, no kindling required. Also heats the flue quickly so it gets to drawing properly before it smokes the house up.

Gear

[jbc]

I buy a Presto log, and chunk it into small egg size pieces. Works great. One of the logs will last me pretty much all winter. They also sell smaller versions for fire lighting, but they cost a lot more, for the same stuff.

off topic but those firelogs are a mix of sawdust and wax and make a darn good flux for the pot too especially when smelting outdoors, they smoke like the devil but do a very good job and they are pretty cheap when you consider how many pots you can flux with one

[AZ-Stew]

When I was in Boy Scouts (no, I didn't know Lord Baden-Powell) we had as an advancement requirement that we be able to light a fire using nothing but twigs and two kitchen matches. No leaves, no pine needles, no birch bark, no paper and no accelerators. Once you get the hang of it, it's easy. I can still do it and have passed the skill along to my kids. Sure, all of that other stuff works and is easier than the twigs and matches, but it can be done. It's not that difficult.

Regards,

Stew

[Lead Fred]

Put yer kindling in a teepee stack. Steal a cotton ball from the ole ladies make up kit.

Dip it in petroleum jelly (Vasoline) set a spark to the jelly, the cotton ball will ignite in a big ball of flame. stuff it in your kindling.

[TraderVic]

I've burned wood for quite awhile. For kindling I visit an area sawmill where they saw pine and collect the scrap, which I cut with a circular saw in 6-8" lengths. I split these down with a hatchet and use about 5 or 6 on top of wadded up newspaper ( not any of the glossy color ad's ). About the best fire starter I've ever come across are pine cones. Not sure I'd use bacon grease, but it sounds interesting - almost a propellant I'd think.

Vic

[Boondocker]

Its all about warming up the draft. Cold chimney will not pull a good draft, burn a few wads of news print in there first. Then lite the kindling and air pulled thru draft will do the rest. A warm chimney will pull a better draft. Have you ever noticed a little back draft smoke when you first lite on a cold chimney. Just my humble observations. Boon:-|

[rickster]

Used engine oil for smaller fires. Oil plus tires for bigger fires.

[Lloyd Smale]

burned wood for years. Now im getting older and its tough to go out and cut wood for me and access to free wood to cut is gettting slim and none up here. the last couple years i burned wood i bought it and found its not enough cheaper then useing gas to make it worth all the hastles. Now i just turn up the thermostat.

[KYCaster]

Well, I've tried to stay out of this discussion, but I just can't seem to keep my mouth shut......

Flammable liquids in a wood stove scare the **** outta me!! I have a cousin who burned his house down trying to light a stove with kerosene. Kinda like smelting wet wheel weights...it can be done safely, but there's a huge potential for disaster.

I heated with wood for 25 years or so and now I agree with Lloyd. When I was young and dumb and nigh invincible a day in the woods with a chain saw was just part of the routine. It finally dawned on me that the neighbor down the road would sell me enough wood to last the winter for the same amount of cash that I could earn in one day. Now that I've moved into a house with NG heat I find the cost is not much different than wood.

I still heat my shop with wood and the ice storm last January provided enough wood to last a couple of years. When that's gone I may fire up the chain saw again.

Jerry

[405]

Good one BSJr.
I've used wood either as primary or secondary heat since 1982.
Since I've lived around the type of forests/trees that can produce some "fat wood" (heavy pitch) I've used that as the booster. Collect the fat wood chunks while out cutting and bucking the larger stuff. Usually found in downed/ decaying timber.
Last year finally got tired of it all! Don't use a match anymore, just a thermostat on the pellet stove :)

[wallenba]

My mother was a diabetic and used those alcohol prep pads in the foil packet. I got the idea that they could be carried in your wallet and be used to help start campfires in a pinch. Always have them with me now.

[SPRINGFIELDM141972]

I take a small, flat, round tin can like tuna fish or cat food and fill it have full of Kerosene and place it under the stack and light it. It will light a fire without the use of very fine kindling. When the first is gone, remove it from the ashes and use it again.

If you use a soda can the fire will consume the can and you get the benefit of reduced ceresote build up in the chimney. The gases emitted from the burning aluminum will harden the ceresote and it will fall to the bottom of the chimney. Ever since I stared throwing a can a day in the stove, my annual fall chimney sweeping has produced very little creseote to clean out and I burn about 40% green to dry wood. I probably don't even need to do a sweep, but do it anyway in the name of safety.

Regards,
Everett

[pmeisel]

Roger on the cans.

Lloyd, I haven't been in your area in over 25 years, but it's hard to imagine the UP without lots of trees....

I get enough firewood from the deadfall and trimming on our 2 acre lot, but then the heating days aren't that much here in Mississippi.

[Herb in Pa]

Good one BSJr.
I've used wood either as primary or secondary heat since 1982.
Since I've lived around the type of forests/trees that can produce some "fat wood" (heavy pitch) I've used that as the booster. Collect the fat wood chunks while out cutting and bucking the larger stuff. Usually found in downed/ decaying timber.
Last year finally got tired of it all! Don't use a match anymore, just a thermostat on the pellet stove :)

I have natural gas but heated with a woodstove from 81 to 04, now I use the thermostat on the pellet stove!

[yondering]

I'll have to try the soda can idea.

I try to shut off my fire at night before it's burned down to white ash, so I have some black charcoal in the morning. This helps a lot to get a hot fire going quick.

I mix my used motor oil with a small amount of gasoline, just enough that it will light when soaked into the ashes. I keep it in a squirt bottle. With the small amount of gas in it, there's no gasoline smell.

[ArmedMainer]

If you use a soda can the fire will consume the can and you get the benefit of reduced ceresote build up in the chimney. The gases emitted from the burning aluminum will harden the ceresote and it will fall to the bottom of the chimney. Ever since I stared throwing a can a day in the stove, my annual fall chimney sweeping has produced very little creseote to clean out and I burn about 40% green to dry wood. I probably don't even need to do a sweep, but do it anyway in the name of safety.

Regards,
EverettI'm glad to hear this can thing still works. I never tried it because I was told the aluminum cans are of a different metal composition now and they don't work for this anymore. I'll be trying it out this weekend when we go up to the house in Maine. Thanks for the heads up .;)

[S.R.Custom]

I'm glad to hear this can thing still works...

Umm, that's been pretty well debunked over the years. There's plenty of discussion on the interwebs as to why, so I'll spare you the chemistry lesson. (The short version being that both aluminum and the oxide it turns into when burned is pretty inert, and have no proveable effect on creosote accumulations.)

On the other hand, a chunk of Magnesium tossed into the fire... :twisted:

[ArmedMainer]

Umm, that's been pretty well debunked over the years. There's plenty of discussion on the interwebs as to why, so I'll spare you the chemistry lesson. (The short version being that both aluminum and the oxide it turns into when burned is pretty inert, and have no proveable effect on creosote accumulations.)

On the other hand, a chunk of Magnesium tossed into the fire... :twisted:Like I said I've never tried it so I don't know if it works. I wonder what those Chimney Cleaning Logs have in them for an active ingredient ? I've tried the chimney cleaning crystals and didn't think they worked. Like the logs but was hoping there was some truth to the can method. Now that I'm burning properly aged hardwood I don't get much of a buildup anyway.

[docone31]

Last year, my son, and I swear he is as dumb as a box of rocks, shoveled out his woodstove. He put the ashes in a plastic bucket in his living room.
He then procceeded to go out to lunch.
When he returned, the bucket had melted, he had ruined the floor, and the smell was amazing.
This year, he and his wife want to have a child.
I am speechless.
This from a person, who is 35, who melts buckets in his living room.
Yes, he is a Liberal.
I hope he has the brains to clean out his chimney before the creosote fire does.
I tried.

[405]

Reminds me of neighors about 25 years ago. Super nice young couple. He a jarhead and she a new mom with a couple of small kids. She decides to vacuum out the fireplace, then puts the vacuum back in the garage- partially burned the garage down. Lucky it didn't take the whole house with it.

[Ed Barrett]

I have heated with wood since 1976. The bigest problem I have had lately is trying to find the stuff to burn to get the creosote out of the system. The MFA used to sell some stuff that turned the creosote into black popcorn(light and fluffy). But they don't carry it anymore, the fancy fireplace stores have stuff that's 12 to 14 dollars for a little 8 OZ. bottle. I was talking to a friend who is a retired chemist and he gave me a tip I'll pass along. Get coppersulphate chrystals, they are used to kill tree roots in drain pipes and Borax thats used for laundry. Mix in equal parts and put a half a cup on a hot fire once a week. I have used it for two years and the creosote doesn't seem to build up at all. And I have more money to buy primers.

[Three44s]

Fire persuaders:

Weed burner torch

Old tires



Three 44s

[Lloyd Smale]

lots of trees here but its mostly owned by the state and the logging companys and in either instance you need permission to even take the dead falls. that and the fact that we probably have more people per capita in the us that burn wood makes it tough to just go out and get your own unless you own land. Ive got 40 acres but my dad and one brother in law take wood off of it and its not near enough for either of them. Most people up here buy it and then split it themselves to save money. But thats eithe bull work for a guy my age or you have to buy a spliter and factor that into the price along with a saw every couple years. gas for your truck, a trailer, and wear and tear on all of it. thanks but ill just turn up the thermostat.
Roger on the cans.

Lloyd, I haven't been in your area in over 25 years, but it's hard to imagine the UP without lots of trees....

I get enough firewood from the deadfall and trimming on our 2 acre lot, but then the heating days aren't that much here in Mississippi.

[Shepherd2]

Tractor Supply Co. (TSC) sells a compound for removing creosote from wood burners but I've never tried it. From reading the label I couldn't get a handle on whether it would work for an outdoor woodburner or not. I think it is for the indoor units with a smaller firebox.

[largom]

Have heated with wood for as long as I can remember. As a 10 yr. old kid it was my job during the summer to get enough wood in to last the coming winter. Never owned a chain saw then, used a Oliver 70 tractor to drag logs in to the farm. Wood was cut to length with a buzz saw powered by a flat belt from the tractor PTO. Logs too big to be lifted onto the saw had to be cut with a buck saw or a cross-cut saw and then split with wedges and a mull.
If kids worked like that today their parents would be locked up for child abuse. As a kid I learned what work was and to be resourcefull. Today I have a new home that is total electric but I also built a double chimney and installed an oil furnace and a wood burning furnace. I also have oil and wood furnaces in my shop. Have never used the electric heat in my home and have used less than 500 gal. of heating oil in the past 5 yrs. I only use the oil heat during early fall and late spring. I burn about 10-12 cords of wood a year between my home and shop. Have about 5 acres of woods which provides my firewood. At 66 yrs. old I am thankful for Chain Saws and my Wood Spliter.

Larry

[SPRINGFIELDM141972]

Umm, that's been pretty well debunked over the years. There's plenty of discussion on the interwebs as to why, so I'll spare you the chemistry lesson. (The short version being that both aluminum and the oxide it turns into when burned is pretty inert, and have no proveable effect on creosote accumulations.)

On the other hand, a chunk of Magnesium tossed into the fire... :twisted:

I guess someone forgot to tell my wood furnace and chimney. Debunked or not it has made a big difference in my annual cleaning efforts. All I can say is try it and if it works for you great, if not I'll keep on doing what works for me.

Regards,
Everett

[Storydude]

Powdered TSP thrown on a fire will scour the flue clean of creosote. ;)

That's the main ingredient in the Chimney Sweeping Log.

[fishhawk]

ok and just what is TSP?

[docone31]

Tri sodium phosphate.
Found at Home Depot, or Ace Hardware.
Floor cleaner.

[Shepherd2]

Largom - I burn about 12 cords of wood every year. I'm 69 years old and I to am thankful for chain saws and log splitters. We should be doubly thankful that we can still do the work.

[Storydude]

MY biggest worry about burning KEro/Diesel/Non-natural chemicals to start a fire is that I don;t know what types of corrosive stuff they are making.

My Chimney is like $2.50 an INCH.....and it's 20 foot tall. I don't want to make that investment again when the thing rots from the inside out due to me using Kero to start a fire.

[ArmedMainer]

Tri sodium phosphate.
Found at Home Depot, or Ace Hardware.
Floor cleaner.I'll give that a try. It's probably alot cheaper to use than the chimney sweeping logs too !! Thanks for the heads up.

[Ed K]

Largom - I burn about 12 cords of wood every year. I'm 69 years old and I to am thankful for chain saws and log splitters. We should be doubly thankful that we can still do the work.

I'm only 49 but also heat entirely with wood I cut and credit this thinking toward overall endurance. Almost 2 years ago I was diagnosed with a serious disease and have cut all my own wood and done whatever else I could through 18 months of chemotherapy (fortunately ending just a couple of weeks ago). Sometimes I would return home from a day in the hospital after a 6-hour infusion, get one night's rest and rise to a day of felling or splitting. Of the 40 or so patients involved in the same clinical trial over that period at least a dozen are no longer with us. One person I became close to as we started therapy the same day has not yet returned to work and likely never will.

I do try to exercise more caution than I did when felling at 16 :wink:

[outdoorfan]

This is what happens when being in a hurry, combined with the occasional use of a dangerous practice, combined with some carelessness, all collide. I won't be doing any casting for at least a couple of weeks. The pictures were taken on Day-4 (yesterday).

I'm embarassed to even comment on how this happened (gasoline). I do not expect nor do I want people's sympathy. It is one lesson learned the hard way, and I'm fortunate it wasn't worse.

[fishhawk]

oh thats got to hurt! think i will stick with my trioxane bars for fire starting. steve k

[mroliver77]

I fell asleep early last night and didnt stoke the stove. Hutch Rebal only heat since 79. It was cold this morning and dog and I hid under blanket until nature would wait no longer. I put a garbage bag og rubbish in the stove covered with some 1" pieces of elm with loose bark. Lit her up and fed it all the air I could. Stove was very hot in 10 min followed by a good stoking after 30 min and we are fine. Stove rarely goes out after lit in the fall. I have lined masonry chimney we built 20 year ago. It never needs cleaned if fire is burnt right. Trap needs cleaned every year. I try to burn a hot fire at least once a day with newsprint or toys that were laying around etc. Works for me.
Jay

[Superfly]

Hey Jay Call me you old CooT .

Happy New year.

Oh Yeah i heat with wood i have 11 cord of tamarack here 9 to cut up and then 16 more chord coming

What do u all use for saws I use a 266husky XP
Jaime

[outdoorfan]

Hey Jay Call me you old CooT .

Happy New year.

Oh Yeah i heat with wood i have 11 cord of tamarack here 9 to cut up and then 16 more chord coming

What do u all use for saws I use a 266husky XP
Jaime

Stihl 440 (muffler modded) and 20-inch bar for most stuff
Stihl 260 (muffler modded) and 18-inch bar when I'm cutting small stuff AND don't feel like hauling around the weight of the 440.

[mroliver77]

Stihl 009, 024, 034, oliver77 and homade 8horse splitter on 12"x12" I beam.
Jay

[ArmedMainer]

Stihl 044 and 046. Home Depot MTD 27 ton splitter w/Honda engine.