How to Light Wood Stove??

[stoveliker]

I put a layer of large splits down. Mostly oak. On top I put smaller splits,. preferably of a softwood (pine in my case). On top I'm slowly working thru the splitting trash I have. I add 4 or 5 letter format waste paper (no colors) rolled up (kids in school, so a large amount of that in my home).

Then I use a propane torch (as e.g. plumbers use).

The one super cedar that came with the BK is still sitting nearby....

 

[TomRC]

Bottom up light with Super Cedars it shall be.

I will say the "top down" light method while it may sound "gimmicky" is actually very easy and efficient IF YOU HAVE kindling and it was the recommended way to light my stove. I placed kindling on top of my splits. I then held one of those propane torches on the kindling for about 30 seconds to get the kindling lit, left the door barely cracked and walked away. Stove would be raging in no time. Then close the door and adjust vents to taste and all was good. The reasoning for the top down light from my understanding was these newer stoves work better if the top elements are heated up sooner. I remember when I read that I should light it from the top down how silly I thought that was but it was actually very quick and efficient way to light the stove.

 

[stoveliker]

I think that is a correct characterization.
If you go bottom up with the super cedar, I'd put it bottom front. Given how the air flows in most stoves that.may not be all that different from a top down.

I'm curious though why kindling can go top down easily, but with a super cedar the consensus seems to be that that is not the way to go, suggesting it's less easy to go top down. Any idea why?

Not to start a top down vs otherwise debate, but to learn why this is apparently different for super cedars. Is it because they burn long, and are thus more efficient in getting splits lit up without burning down before the splits are going? Kindling is shorter duration. (But then again how is that different from top down using kindling?)

 

[TomRC]

I would guess that the top down method with kindling works so well is due to the size of kindling and that once it gets lit it spreads much quicker to all the other pieces kindling in a short period time. With Super Cedars and NO KINDLING and just larger main splits this quick and even lighting process seen with kindling wouldn't occur with Super Cedars, thus the need to go bottom up light with Super Cedars if this poor explanation and run on sentence makes any sense.

I was very surprised how easy and quick my stove came to temp using the top down lighting method with kindling. I am a little particular and split my kindling down to some of mighty fine looking thin pieces of kindling with that dreaded 5lb sledge hammer which in turn lit quickly. Probably why my shoulder hurts and why I'm looking for a new method to light my stove.

 

[hockeypuck]

Yes. Bottom up. I experimented with the top-down gimmick one season, and it works, but I really didn't see any point in it. Note that folks like Poindexter, dealing with the smoke Nazi's in Fairbanks, may have a legitimate reason for it. But for the rest of us, it's just a more tedious and less reliable way to do what folks have been doing for tens of thousands of years, if not longer.

WRT chemicals, SuperCedars and fatwood are the only two I've ever purchased, and both are completely free of any chemicals that will harm your cat. The SuperCedars are just cedar sawdust compressed into a puck with a paraffin binder. The fatwood is just high-resin conifer stumps split into pieces the size of pencil.

In Boy Scouts, Order of the Arrow, we were allowed two. If you couldn't get something lit with the second, you slept alone in the dark. But in my own living room, with no wind or rain, it's pretty rare to need more than one.

Side note, my wife keeps buying these stupid Scripto grill lighters. She likes them for lighting deep jar candles, and thinks they'll be useful for lighting stoves, especially since none of our local grocery stores carry regular wooden matches anymore. But I'm pretty sure I've never gotten more than a dozen uses out of one of those grill lighters, before it stops functioning reliably. I would guess that nearly every one of those I've tossed in the trash still has 75% to 95% of its fuel remaining. This is a good example for some of our threads on wasteful single-use plastics, as these lighters are very nearly so. My matches never fail.

All this talk of lighters just reminded me that I have one of my grandfather's old stainless Zippo lighters sitting in a cupboard in the garage. Might dig that out today, put a new flint and fuel in it, and put it in the glovebox on the tractor. Lighting the outdoor firepit on windy days to burn off splitter waste is one place where a lighter is sometimes better than a match.

I did this for several years. Now I just leave the cedar big, and stack it in the rack I used to use for kindling, to be used to burn down oak coals before the evening reload.

I too experimented with top-down and they work great. With dry wood, there are many ways to start a fire easily. I use FireLiters purchased at my local ace hardware store. I break them in half and with a hand full of small splits, away you go.
(broken link removed)

 

[Crummy]

I have both super cedar's and fatwood. I prefer the fatwood because the super cedar's are messy unless you use the whole puck, if you break off a 1/4 you end up with a sawdust mess in front of the stove. One small piece of fatwood works just as good and doesn't crumble in the process. I haven't let the fire go out in 17 days so a box of fatwood will last me years.

 

[begreen]

I break the SuperCedar puck inside the stove, before loading. This keeps the crumbs in the firebox.

 

[Crummy]

I break the SuperCedar puck inside the stove, before loading. This keeps the crumbs in the firebox.

Yeah that's what I do but then what do you do with the pieces your not going to burn? You have to handle them like cracked eggs and set them aside but inevitably they make a mess.

 

[begreen]

I just set them on the hearth near the kindling container. I get a lot more ash and wood trash on the hearth than the occasional crumb. It all gets cleaned up daily.

 

[Crummy]

I just set them on the hearth near the kindling container. I get a lot more ash and wood trash on the hearth than the occasional crumb. It all gets cleaned up daily.

When it's time to reload I use a Waxed Canvas Log Carrier to bring wood in from the porch and set it down in front of the stove. Once the wood is loaded I fold up the canvas and all the debris stays inside it until the next trip to the porch when it gets dumped over the edge. This method keeps the mess to a minimum which keeps the wife happy. I do have a little shark handheld vacuum close by for the occasional crumb but I don't have to use it very often.

Don't get me wrong the Super Cedar's do a great job of lighting the fire but I just personally find it inconvenient to clean up the mess and discard of the plastic wrapper. A chunk of fatwood has no debris and doesn't have a wrapper to throw away.

 

[begreen]

Yes, I have a handy B&D battery vac at the hearth for quick cleanup.
FWIW, SuperCedars can be ordered unwrapped.

 

[Crummy]

Yes, I have a handy B&D battery vac at the hearth for quick cleanup.
FWIW, SuperCedars can be ordered unwrapped.

That sounds like a bigger mess 🤔

I had to order them on Amazon as even with the discount code the Alaska shipping from the manufacturer was unaffordable. Didn't see any unwrapped ones on Amazon.

 

[Ashful]

Yeah that's what I do but then what do you do with the pieces your not going to burn? You have to handle them like cracked eggs and set them aside but inevitably they make a mess.

I just leave them in the wrapper, until all four quadrants are used. Then I toss the wrapper in the trash. Like begreen, I do the initial break and parting out of the wrapper inside the stove.

This reminds me of one of our recently-departed Brother Bart's witty comments, which I'm not clever enough to remember now. I was new to SuperCedars, and had voiced a similar complaint about the crumbs, and he called them "firestarter pixie dust", or something of the sort... with the same advice to break them inside the stove.

I use the SuperCedar by plowing a small divot in the ashes, front and center, and set the lit supercedar in there. Then I start loading my splits (usually oak) north-south right over that, such that the flame is impinging on the end of the splits closest to the door. Close the door on the latch, which keeps it propped open just less than 1/2", which draws the flame from lower front to upper back, along the length the splits. Set a timer for 3 minutes, go tend the other stove.

After 3 minutes, close stove, and set a timer for 15 minutes. At the end of 15 minutes, verify we're ready to close bypass, which you will be, if you didn't screw something up. Close bypass, set a timer for 20 minutes. At the end of 20 minutes turn down stove and head to work.

 

[ksks]

Prof, that's what I do. Amazon sells blocks of 36 count egg cartons. Melt the wax on the stove and pour it in. I too use to mix stuff in (sawdust) but found I didn't need it.

 

[NorthernFireplaceFool]

My go to is 2 splits down low with a super cedar in the middle. I keep a small pail on the hearth with a dozen of the unwrapped supercedars(I break them in the pail as to not make a mess). I personally buy unwrapped supercedars and leave the box in the garage to fill the pail. I hate making more plastic waste than I already do! Just for reference the sawdust from breaking when the pail is empty is sufficient to fill in for a 1/4 supercedar. I will usually put a 3rd smaller split across the top of the two splits. Stove heats up quickly without much or any smoke coming out.

 

[Ashful]

I tried the unwrapped option once, but given the garage cupboard where I have to store them, they made a huge mess in the cupboard.

 

[Todd]

I’m in the homemade egg carton crowd. My stove is a N/S loader and burns front to back so I load the stove up and place a starter in the bottom front. No kindling needed. With an E/W loading stove this method is not as effective and the top down method probably works better.

 

[barnaclebob]

How much kindling are you using to start a fire? 4 or 5 peices is all I need if you cross stack them in the right place. If its good fatwood, i can get away with 3 pieces sometimes.

In addition to the super cedar suggestion, you can buy boxes of fatwood. Not sure if its cost effective relative to the super cedars.

I light my kindling with a propane hand torch.

 

[Crummy]

In addition to the super cedar suggestion, you can buy boxes of fatwood. Not sure if its cost effective relative to the super cedars.

As far as cost I feel it's very close. A 40lb box of fatwood is roughly twice the cost of a 36 count box of super cedars but will basically start twice the fires. They both do a great job of starting the fire.

 

[GrumpyDad]

Yes. Bottom up. I experimented with the top-down gimmick one season, and it works, but I really didn't see any point in it. Note that folks like Poindexter, dealing with the smoke Nazi's in Fairbanks, may have a legitimate reason for it. But for the rest of us, it's just a more tedious and less reliable way to do what folks have been doing for tens of thousands of years, if not longer.

WRT chemicals, SuperCedars and fatwood are the only two I've ever purchased, and both are completely free of any chemicals that will harm your cat. The SuperCedars are just cedar sawdust compressed into a puck with a paraffin binder. The fatwood is just high-resin conifer stumps split into pieces the size of pencil.

In Boy Scouts, Order of the Arrow, we were allowed two. If you couldn't get something lit with the second, you slept alone in the dark. But in my own living room, with no wind or rain, it's pretty rare to need more than one.

Side note, my wife keeps buying these stupid Scripto grill lighters. She likes them for lighting deep jar candles, and thinks they'll be useful for lighting stoves, especially since none of our local grocery stores carry regular wooden matches anymore. But I'm pretty sure I've never gotten more than a dozen uses out of one of those grill lighters, before it stops functioning reliably. I would guess that nearly every one of those I've tossed in the trash still has 75% to 95% of its fuel remaining. This is a good example for some of our threads on wasteful single-use plastics, as these lighters are very nearly so. My matches never fail.

All this talk of lighters just reminded me that I have one of my grandfather's old stainless Zippo lighters sitting in a cupboard in the garage. Might dig that out today, put a new flint and fuel in it, and put it in the glovebox on the tractor. Lighting the outdoor firepit on windy days to burn off splitter waste is one place where a lighter is sometimes better than a match.

I did this for several years. Now I just leave the cedar big, and stack it in the rack I used to use for kindling, to be used to burn down oak coals before the evening reload.

I am familiar with this boy scouts thing. I think it's toward the end when you are nearing an eagle scout. Sounds interesting.

Yes the plastics consumption drives me a bit bonkers. I am by no means an eco friendly kinda guy, however when I see the amount of waste that occurs for convenience and marketing, it just makes me shake my head. Example, cup cakes from a grocery store. Why can you not put those into a paper box with a damn little red tie around it like they used to? Reason: Because it's more profitable than having someone put them in the box, and people are more likely to grab n go with those than stop at a counter , wait, ask for a certain quantity. Solution: Show ONE example of what they are in a plastic bin, put the others in a paper box with a label on it.
I opened up a box of snacks one evening, I cant remember what it was. 1/2 full. Plastic bag inside of a paper box. Why?
Plastic crap lighters that work 10 times then die. Long matches work great. Since my grill decided it wont light anymore with the clicker, and I dont want to muck around, I use wooden matches not a plastic lighter.

Zippos are nice for starting bottom up fires. I can place one near kindling and just let it go until stuff catches. I used to do that for outdoor fires while camping. I have no idea where my zippos are now.

 

[Riverbanks]

You ever had a Zippo leak while being in your pocket? My thigh itched like crazy for a day or so, done, thanks for the memories

 

[GrumpyDad]

You ever had a Zippo leak while being in your pocket? My thigh itched like crazy for a day or so, done, thanks for the memories

You must have just filled it or something, but yes Ive had it leak a bit. Never has discomfort associated with it, just friends that notice and joke around about how I should light it so it doesnt stain. Daherha Ummf. That was back in my smoking days. I could flip it up then flick to light it then smack it shut. So cooooool

 

[Riverbanks]

Yup, I was the lighter guy when ice fishing, I never felt it leak,. until that night

 

[Ashful]

I've never seen one leak. What do you think caused it? Overfilling, or do you think the wick material deteriorated?

Other than maybe a few months as a teenager, I never carried one. But my grandfather must've had one in his pocket every day of my childhood, starting likely 40 years prior to my time, and I never saw or even heard of that one leaking.

 

[Riverbanks]

I filled it all the time? No problem, it possibly went upside down while I was drinking, er um fishing