NW Fuels said:
They did tell me it is the only paraffin based firestarter they have approved of many that have been tested.
Again, Thomas, I did not mean to imply that your firestarters are unsafe to use, merely that kerosene will burn a lot faster and with a lot less soot at the same temperatures because it is composed of shorter length hydrocarbon chains. There is nothing scientific I can think of about kerosene that would lead me to believe it would harm a cat stove since it will burn into the same byproducts as will paraffin when it burns. That was the original question - will burning kero harm a cat combustor? I was only using the wax-based starters to make a comparison. Obviously to me, they will be just as safe to a combustor as kerosene would be.
But now I gotta ask. What did you do to your product that makes is pass an independent test where other similar products fail? Is it a special grade of wax you use, or is it the other junk that may be in a competitors product? Is the formula a serendipitous discovery you stumbled upon or did you submit numerous versions with different components for testing? Most importantly, do folks at home making their own starters out of wax and sawdust risk causing irreparable damage to their stoves? If so, we better get the word out, because there are an awful lots of folks here making their own firestarters.