[Womble]

A question for all you with stoves and open fires - how do you light them?

We have trouble keeping newspaper dry enough for it to really burn well, and I'm too tight to resort to commercial firelighters.  I've had some success using wax from those mini cheese things, but we don't eat enough cheese to keep up with the demand at this time of year! Any tips? 

[bloomer]

i confess to being lazy and using fire lighters occasionally...


but if im being good i use a sharp knife/axe to create a load of wood shavings off the edge of any scrap wood im using as kindling (usually old pallets that arent useable for anything worthwhile)


the other one to remember earlier in the year is collect up lots of pine cones they make excellent fire lighters when dry burn like crazy and are free....

[sss]

I have a regular supply of newspaper from the station handy the evening standard and metro being free.

pine cones are handy if you can store them as mentioned before.

Failing that a blow torch

[spandit]

Newspaper to get the cardboard going that gets the kindling going that gets the pallet bits going that get the proper logs going.

Try putting a tealight under a pile of kindling - store it close enough to the fire so that it stays dry but not hot enough to catch fire!

[doganjo]

just loads and loads of very dry twigs, let it flame up then add a couple of split sticks, then the logs.

[Womble]

Hmmm, my problem is getting the newspaper going enough to get the kindling going! Quite often the newspaper will burn out or go out without lighting the kindling  . That's why I was wondering if anyone had come up with something that would light easily from the newspaper (like a firelighter!  ), but would then burn for long enough to ignite the kindling.

[bloomer]

daft question is the kindling really dry???

[Womble]

daft answer: nothing is really dry in our house!

We used to keep the kindling in the warming oven of the Esse, but since that's gone.....

[Carse Goodlifers]

For starting a wood fire we:
-use half a Courier at a time.
-each double page wrapped around my fist and then twisted.
-all stacked on the bottom of the fire.
-then a lot of dry kindling/small twigs on top.
-air vent under the grate open then light the fire and enjoy.

Works for us every time.

The small wafery bark from a silver birch tree will always light - so its sometimes good to peel it off the tree and store it.

[Womble]

I think I'm going to start storing newspaper in the airing cupboard then, as yours clearly lights better than ours!

We get quite a lot of couriers up here making deliveries and stuff. I never thought to use them as kindling though  - thanks for the tip! 

[Fleecewife]

Womble - thanks for making me laugh.

Fire building is actually quite a skill.  Have a look at Ray Mears, who does the living in the wild stuff, maybe a you tube clip of him lighting a fire.  Obviously you don't need to rub two sticks together, but the bits about what to use for getting it going, then how to build the kindling in a pyramid etc is very useful.  So just start your fire by treating it like a bonfire.
I tend to make the grate a bit smaller by putting a small log along each side, maybe one at the back too, so the kindling is all in a smaller area.  This gives something for the small logs you hope to catch after the kindling has burned, somewhere to rest, without squashing the kindling down and putting out any flames.
We collect all our used tissues, loo roll tubes, and other scrap paper either in empty tissue boxes, or in empty flour bags from bread making.  Once alight, these burn for long enough to light the kindling.  The trick to get them to light is to tear some bits of the bag so there's a torn surface to catch the flame. Otherwise we use scrumpled newspaper, or on the rare occasions we have fish and chips, the greasy paper they were wrapped in.
We use a lot of willow which has dried for a year under cover as kindling and small wood ( after the sheep have stripped the bark) I find that some more paper or another tissue box on top of the pile seems to draw the flames up through the kindling, which also helps it to catch.
We adjust the air intake carefully - wood burner.
If you have an open fire, you can try the old trick of holding a sheet of newspaper (broadsheet) over the opening.  This helps it draw, but often catches fire and disappears up the chimney to cause problems elsewhere    You could also blow into the bottom of the fire.
We find it much easier to light the fire when it's windy outside than when it's a dead calm.
I use those extra long matches, Mr F uses a cigarette lighter.  I used to use firelighters, but after endless ridiculing I manage without now.

Finally, lighting the fire seems to be one of those things married couples can't help but squabble about, over all generations.  I have a lovely picture in my minds eye of a couple of Neanderthals or cro magnons doing exactly the same thing 

[Old Empty Barn]

Womble, keep an eye on the Aldi website, several times over the winter they sell a big box of firelighters ( box of 768 ) which are very cheap compared to the other shops ! they are great quality too, I use them with 6 half pages of newspaper scrunched up & thin bits of kindling chopped off my firewood logs, never failed me yet & it's effortless.

Bought in this quantity the firelighters are so cheap it works out better for me than trying to get the fire going any other way.

Dave

[chrismahon]

Pretty important the chimney is clean or the fire won't draw properly Womble. Setting aside the fire risk issues.


We use firelighters, but after my thread earlier in the year we have stored a lot of very dry pinecones. One thing I have noticed is that the wood burner lights far better if a thick layer (10-15mm) of compressed ash is left on the bottom. This stops the heat being lost into the casing as the fire is lit and gets the fire up to temperature very quickly. I was too clean last year and swept out the base (no grate, it's a Jotul 3) every morning. It was only on a lazy day I realised my mistake.

[Carse Goodlifers]

Finally, lighting the fire seems to be one of those things married couples can't help but squabble about, over all generations.  I have a lovely picture in my minds eye of a couple of Neanderthals or cro magnons doing exactly the same thing 

Surely not  ...I'll let the good Dr try and light the fire and when she gives up with frustration, I knee down and sort it.  No squabbling at all but the back of my head always seems to be warm as if someone has a laser focused at me   It must be the love radiating from the good Dr that she has for me 

We get quite a lot of couriers up here making deliveries and stuff. I never thought to use them as kindling though  - thanks for the tip! 

We get a load of couriers to the house as we're the centre of the post code.  The festive period is manic at ours but for all the wrong reasons - telling couriers where to go......I mean where to deliver!
But Womble I like your way of thinking though however I fear that they wouldn't burn properly.....not like the local rag sheet.

[ladyK]

Now going into our third wood stove winter I can't believe how much we struggled to get the stove to burn properly in the first winter... (despite using up large quantities of firelighters  )

Eventually we found that the single most important bit in getting it to light up quickly and reliably is to build a square, hollow kindling 'tower' (rather than a pyramid or any other shape). Not sure how to best describe it (there was a video on it but can't find it anymore) - position 2 bits of kindling in the middle about a hand width apart (parallel to the stove sides) then two bits across (parallel to the stove front) so you create a square and you keep stacking them in layers of two until you have created a little 'chimney tower', maybe 5 layers high (i.e. 10 pieces of kindling). Crumpled newspaper goes in the middle, two small logs on each side of the kindling tower (nothing else needed on a windy day, I might wrap bits of old candle in a newspaper on a still day).
The shape creates a chimney that literally sucks air through the layers of kindling, and just lighting the newspaper will create a strong draw very quickly, and the whole thing is ablaze in less than 5 mins. One more log on top (position it so that it will collapse into the middle as soon as the kindling burns down) job done.
For us this now works every time, all the time.