[Greenbuilding] [BULK] Re: Starting Wood Stoves

[Lawrence Lile]

Bob sez: Jeez, Lawrence, did you miss out on Boy Scouts?  

Life Scout, And darn proud of my ability to start a fire in the woods
with two matches and no paper or other storebought materials. Usually
with one match left over. My troop went camping, rain or shine, snow or
sleet, every two weeks year round.  And we started fires in the wet
woods.  (hint:  cedar is your friend)  



>Starting with dry, 
construction scraps of pine should be a no-brainer.  Split them much 
smaller, smaller than a pencil for the smallest, then use a sharp pocket

knife to raise numerous slivers off the small pieces making it into a
fuzz 
stick, stack them close together but with adequate and open air flow,
and 
light it at multiple points.  Sometimes a piece of metal tubing and your

lips can be useful for gently adding air to the point of the growing
flame. 
Check Amazon or half.com for a used Boy Scout Handbook.  


Yeah, that's how I used to start woodstove fires, and it takes a lot of
effort and time to do all that shaving and fine splitting. Blowing into
the stove, before the draft kicks in, results in an equivalent amount of
smoke blown out into the house or back in your face.  After about ten
years of that, I finally gave up and got out the blowtorch.  

My mom says they kept a jug of "Coal Oil" which is something akin to
kerosene right next to the woodstove. (there were no fire mashalls back
then)  Soak a few sticks in coal oil, and if the jug doesn't catch fire
and burn the whole house down, you had a fire liketty split!  

-Lawrence