This evening/WE burning really runs through the kindling and starters....in the end, you find yourself with a bunch of good sized splits, and nothing else but the Grey Lady--the New York Times.
Yeah, I know I can make my own kindling with my maul, raid the dryer for lint, grab that wax I saved after the candles burned out, etc, I've done/heard all that, but I'm lazy and I want my fire NOW.
Can you light a pile of splits with nothin but newspaper?? Keep reading for the surprising answer.
I had long been doing a weird mix of wax (or S Cedar) starters AND a few newspaper 'bows' for a long time now, modified top down method. I've also been hating the bows for a long time--take some skill/time to make and then they don't light easily (am I doing this wrong?? Rolled newspaper doesn't want to burn??).
What I do (for a cold start): stack my splits in a 'criss-cross' with some wadded single sheets in the spaces (here and there). Then I put a few knotted rolls on top (they do have longer burn time than wads), and then load all the free space on the ends with wadded single sheets. Light it, the thing goes off like a rocket, step the door closed in steps over a few minutes, and we are off to the races.
Now I'm wondering why I should bother with that other stuff? I do get some ash, but for an eve/WE burner, not hard to deal with? Anyone else do this? Conversely, anyone mastered an even lazier, more instant gratification method (that does not involve, um, kerosene)?
Yeah, I know I can make my own kindling with my maul, raid the dryer for lint, grab that wax I saved after the candles burned out, etc, I've done/heard all that, but I'm lazy and I want my fire NOW.
Can you light a pile of splits with nothin but newspaper?? Keep reading for the surprising answer.
I had long been doing a weird mix of wax (or S Cedar) starters AND a few newspaper 'bows' for a long time now, modified top down method. I've also been hating the bows for a long time--take some skill/time to make and then they don't light easily (am I doing this wrong?? Rolled newspaper doesn't want to burn??).
What I do (for a cold start): stack my splits in a 'criss-cross' with some wadded single sheets in the spaces (here and there). Then I put a few knotted rolls on top (they do have longer burn time than wads), and then load all the free space on the ends with wadded single sheets. Light it, the thing goes off like a rocket, step the door closed in steps over a few minutes, and we are off to the races.
Now I'm wondering why I should bother with that other stuff? I do get some ash, but for an eve/WE burner, not hard to deal with? Anyone else do this? Conversely, anyone mastered an even lazier, more instant gratification method (that does not involve, um, kerosene)?