How do I light this thing? Need help with starting a fire.

[jpl1nh]

I am unfortuante in that I moved from a deep firebox stove to a shallow one. I can no longer lay two spits side by side and build the fire in the middle since the air intakes will be blowing against the side of a log and not on the fire. North to south stoves are easier to start IMO. I had been a religious paper baller for my whole burning life. It's what my dad did and he taught me. It works fine and will always work but you have to find newspaper and you have to scrunch it up every day.

My latest discovery, courtesy of this group, is the supermarket wax log. I bought the jumbo one for 1.50$ at Albertsons this weekend and opened it up. I used my hatchet to carve off a chunk about the size of a cookie ball. You can squeeze the chunk into a ball and it will hold. You can quickly make a pile-o-balls. I set the cookie on my gravel driveway and easily lit it with a regular lighter. It took off and burned with about a 6" flame for a good 15 minutes with no smoke. I have lit two fires now in my stove with the wax cookie instead of paper. Much quicker. I set it right on the ash bed and stack kindling criss cross above it and then small splits criss cross above that to the roof of the firebox. Easy peasy. I just need to watch the kids since they look like big balls of chocolate.

At first I thought you said your kids looked like big balls of chocolate :wow: Now I get it! If they ate one of those it would probably put them off of chocolate for quite a while!

 

[TresK3]

Gooserider

I also think Thomas makes a nice firestarter, although I’ve decided that you are much better off to learn how to reliably start a fire without that sort of “artificial assisitance” - It’s like riding a bike, you’re better off without the training wheels…

Do you consider newspaper to be "artificial assistance?"

 

[njtomatoguy]

Here is what works for me-
loosely ball up full sheet of newspaper in middle of stove.
roll another coulple sheets very tightly, and alternate layers with the flat slats from a pallet.
light from back to front with long fireplace match.
once that gets rolling, add splits. Be careful with pallets, as they heat up quickly.
I have been known to use propane torch to speed things up.

 

[backpack09]

Does no one tie newspaper knots anymore?

My trick has always been, tie 2 decent paper knots. Place a crumpled piece of paper under them in the stove, Add some small kindling over the top and fire it up. Slowely ramp up to larger splits as the fire burns.

 

[Gooserider]

Gooserider

I also think Thomas makes a nice firestarter, although I’ve decided that you are much better off to learn how to reliably start a fire without that sort of “artificial assisitance” - It’s like riding a bike, you’re better off without the training wheels…

Do you consider newspaper to be "artificial assistance?"

Newspaper is borderline IMHO... I guess my border is along the line of "found" materials versus "purchased". Since newspaper is "found" in most homes, it's legit, but it wouldn't be if you went out and purchased a paper just to make fires with. Also I look at how easy is it to substitute something else for the material in question - If one is dependent on a firestarter, it is hard to find a naturally occuring substitute, especially on short notice. OTOH, one can substitute all sorts of things for newspaper if need be.

Perhaps it's an artificial distinction, but I think it works well for my low-budget nature.

Gooserider

 

[Xena]

Thanks everyone. I have a fire now.
I'm working on keeping it alive. Boy, I hope I get better at this or it is going to be a COLD winter

No pictures? You do know it's mandatory that when you
get a new stove you must show us some pictures of
it lit up.

 

[maplegirl]

Thanks everyone. I have a fire now.
I'm working on keeping it alive. Boy, I hope I get better at this or it is going to be a COLD winter

No pictures? You do know it's mandatory that when you
get a new stove you must show us some pictures of
it lit up.

I know. I took some nice pics but I can't find my camera cord. :roll: *sigh* I will have my husband search through the computer stuff to try to locate it once our current situation is resolved. (see my latest post for details..... every one's advice was good..... a little too good! :red: )