| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| country lawyer |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 06:59:53 AM
What is your method for building a fire? Does anyone else use "fatwood"? Has anyone ever made their own firestarters? |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Love-in-a-Mist |
Posted - Feb 07 2008 : 2:35:34 PM
My husband fills a card board egg carton with dryer lint then pours melted wax over it. After it drys he cuts the egg holder part into little "fire starters", then we store them in ziplock bags to take camping or for the fire pit outside. They work really well.
For inside I just use lots of kindling and paper.
http://diaryofafarmerswife.blogspot.com/ |
| lisamarie508 |
Posted - Feb 07 2008 : 07:39:51 AM
Frannie, hardwoods don't have the pitch that pine trees do. But they burn for a long time, ie: you don't have to stoke your fire as often. They are especially great for the last stoking before bed. That way your fire lasts all night and no one has to get up during the night to stoke it.
As far as chimney cleaning goes: Once or twice a year is good if you only burn occasionally. If you burn 24/7 like we do, you have to clean it every 2 months or so. Some folks here clean theirs monthly. Better safe than sorry.
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| chicken necker |
Posted - Feb 07 2008 : 07:37:38 AM
Frannie, the fatwood sticks need to be from a resinous tree. The way it was explained to me (& don't take this as pure fact) was that once the tree is cut "off" the sap continues to move up into the stump and concentrates there. It's kinda "soaked" in the resin. That's supposedly why it lights easily and burns really hot and fast.
Another earlier question about build up in the chimney. It's kinda the opposite of why you shouldn't burn pine logs. The pine logs would burn more slowly and not as hot so it doesn't burn off the creosote, but the fat wood does the opposite. We had our chimney checked last year and the guy said it was already clean enough.
I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by. ~anon |
| LynnMarie |
Posted - Feb 07 2008 : 07:35:30 AM
Heads Up!!! It has been my experience to NOT use dryer lint. When we were using it, we had an usual number of chimney fires from the build up of residue from the dryer lint. I guess if you dried only cotton clothing it would be ok but today's fabrics always have a blend of something. Remember that polyester and nylon fibers do not burn, just melt and produce a residue.
That said, I use newspaper, dried sticks, and a small bit of candle wax. I melt candle stubs and pour on a cookie sheet in a thin layer. When cooled, I break into very small pieces to put in the crumpled up newspaper. I only use a small amount.
Yep, I've seen the wood stoves go to 550 degrees when my other half built a fire. So many chimney fires here, it was scary.
Well, that's my lesson for the day. LOL
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Feb 07 2008 : 07:18:48 AM
we've only had our gas fireplace for a couple weeks .. and i cannot tell you how many times i have passed it with 'fabric strings' or crumbled paper in my hands .. heading for the trash can and have ALMOST tossed them into the fire! that is one thing i miss about a good 'ole woodfire. on t'other side though .. hank does not miss the 'chopping and hauling' .. and i don't miss the 'mess' though.
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Feb 07 2008 : 07:17:10 AM
luzy .. what a GREAT idea! a great use for that 'dryer lint' .. gonna' start saving it from now on .. for my raging fires! thanks!
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Feb 07 2008 : 07:15:52 AM
soooooooooo ..without sounding 'citified' here .. it MUST come from a PINE tree that has been cut down? we have a big (i think oak) tree that was cut down .. and an apple tree that fell over .. NOT THE SAME???
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| Tammy Claxton |
Posted - Feb 07 2008 : 05:18:01 AM
The only fire we build is outside in the firepit, but I usually let hubby do it. He gathers up his kindling and paper and off he goes! I stay out of his way because he likes to make a blaze first that would most likely cinge my eyebrows off! Then he has to position eveything just perfect and poke at it awhile....He'd sit there all night if I let him..lol The kids enjoy it too - after the blaze dies down, that is :)
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| windypines |
Posted - Feb 07 2008 : 04:37:24 AM
My suggestion on fire building is.....Don't learn. Cause once you do, it may becomre your job! :) That is my expierence anyways. Ha I had a ball reading all the great suggestions! Save any dry quick to burn wood for fire starting. Chop it up small, put it on top of newspaper, and light it and cross your fingers!! have fun
Michele |
| Nancy Gartenman |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 3:54:10 PM
RICHARD.
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| Alee |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 3:23:11 PM
Jen- The cedar should be fine, just let your fires burn hot, rather than cold (Let the fire catch hold then reduce the oxygen) and that should help prevent a lot of the creosote build up. Also don't forget to clean the chimney once a year, or even twice a year if you worry about it, but everyone should do that! You can buy chimney cleaning kits instead of hiring someone to do it.
Alee
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| mikesgirl |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 2:36:10 PM
I have a funny fire building story. When my youngest son was three, we built a new house - cleared our acreage of heavy woods, burned brush and stumps, etc. Well, he was there everyday, alongside us, hauling brush, picking up sticks, and watching, apparently. When he was about 6, people bought the property across the gravel road from us. We were all our there when they were clearing, all four kids went over to watch and mess around while dh and I were working at our place. Later in the day our older son came back and said "Mom you should have seen cody - those guys (the workers over there) couldn't get the brush pile to burn - they worked on it for about an hour (it had been raining) and Cody just went up and told them exactly what they had to do to get it to burn, where to pile the sticks, and where to light it." He said the guys laughed at first, but then they tried it and the fire started right up. So, he was our fire consultant the rest of his childhood days and still has no trouble - even in the back country in the snow and rain. Just has a knack I guess.
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| jenbove |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 12:27:02 PM
Hey Fatwood Girls -
Do you have any trouble with the resin gumming up your stove pipe? I've been scared to use our cedar because of the goo.
Jen
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| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 12:03:04 PM
Kindling and newspaper for sure to get the woodstove going and outside in the fire pit I do the boy scout firebuilding thing. Actually my 10 year old likes to set it up for me outside. I wish it were warm enough for that today!!
Jenny in Utah
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| Sage |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 10:21:23 AM
I love a crackling of a fire when it is snowing but I never ask my husband to start the fire. First he makes it all smoky and then if it starts he makes a raging inferno. Yikes! The fire was so hot one year, the wall above the fireplace got HOT.
Here's an easy way to start a fire everytime. Lay one layer of kindling or fat wood down with spaces between each stick and a second layer with spaces on top going the other way. Next add crumpled paper and splinters of kindling or or other small stuff & leave air spaces. On top add small pieces of kindling and several small split logs in a teepee shape. Then light the paper. It also helps to put a piece of paper on top to warm the chimney which helps with the draft.
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| willowtreecreek |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 09:23:34 AM
dryer lint
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| bboopster |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 09:21:50 AM
Sherry and Frannie you are Hoots. We have an outside wood boiler that Hubby takes care of and I do the inside fireplace. We get our wood free or should I say I do, as DH goes to pallet companies in the area and gets their cut off free and then others call us when they have trees down or need to have them cut down and DH takes the wood in exchange for payment. I then walk into the garage and get my wood. Dh has made this pen in the back that houses his dozens of wood bins and stacks of cut lumber. I wonder what our neighbors think? When I build a fire in the house I use newspaper with smaller wood then pile on the larger stuff. I just need to remember to open the flue so the house does not fill with smoke. 
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| Alee |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 09:08:08 AM
I do pretty much the same as Lisa, and if the fire place has one of those grate things, I make sure to leave a layer of air at the bottom my laying my kindling up against the grate. When all else fails- Newspaper makes a great fire-starter!
Alee
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| Luzy |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 08:31:16 AM
I do the pyramid thingy too, but I save my dryer lint and stick it in there too with a little paper and poof! I have a nice fire. Works great!
--
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| Linder |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 08:01:45 AM
Wow, thanks for all that info girls! I didn't know what fatwood was either and I stink at starting fires! I do the thing they taught us in girlscouts with the teepee. Maybe you just have to have "the touch" kind of like a green thumb only maybe this is a red thumb? Hmmm. LOL!
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk to blossom |
| chicken necker |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 07:49:33 AM
Fatwood is usually a piece of pine cut from the stump of a tree that's already been cut down. It burns hot and quickly because of the resin content.
We have it delivered. We currently live in a development and aren't allowed to cut down anything, although I would love to.
I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by. ~anon |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 07:47:39 AM
oh tasha ... that's a scream .. since putting in our 'gas-fireplace' insert .. i yell for Hank to come 'turn the knob'!!
I do love lighting a 'firepit' fire though .. pretty much do what lisa does .. anything i can find handy that burns quickly .. i throw in there.
hey chile .. WHAT is 'fatwood'? xo
True Friends * Frannie
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adopt a 'rag-chile'
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treasures .. new and olde .. up for adoption:
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| jenbove |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 07:44:02 AM
Sherry, you are hilarious!! I can just see it. Glad it didn't end badly. Around here, we have those tendencies too, but mostly we just do it Lisa's way with newspaper & kindling (unless our stove is being stubborn; then we break out the cardboard).
What's fatwood?
Do you cut your own wood or have it delivered? This is the 1st year we're cutting ours, right off our own land.
Jen
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| Carolinagirl |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 07:38:35 AM
I have a very big, very hairy man from West Virginia- he graciously agrees to start my fires and, if nothing happens to get it going, he promises to keep me warm in bed.
BUT really (sort of)- we have fatwood (MIL gives it to us for Christmas) and he (the big, hairy WV man showed me how to make the fire by building a pyramid out of the wood, kindling, fatwood and newspaper. Seems to work every time I do it, but it amazes me that it does! :)
I've seen lots of fire starter "recipes" online- wax covered pinecones, lint filled toilet paper rolls. I've not tried them though.
Kim |
| one_dog_per_acre |
Posted - Feb 06 2008 : 07:30:33 AM
I got prego and Dave bought me a pellet stove! Yes! Our new house has a tiny little woodstove, so I guess I should get prego again.
Dave's old roommate's dad used to make his own fatwood with dryer lint, bacon grease, and sawdust. When I was a kid we used splinters of pitch wood.
Farmgirl Sister #91
Make cupcakes not war! |
