Fire Starters

[Clan Delaney]

So, still don't have an evaporator, but I know that when I get one, it'll be wood fired, regardless of the new low price of oil, because I've got all this free wood and I can't burn it in the house.

Today while it snowed and snowed and snowed, and after I helped the girls dig out a snow cave, I made some fire starters. Stuffed lint from the dryer into cardboard egg cartons, then soaked the whole setup in grease. Now I've got Bacon, Burger and Meatloaf scented fire starters. They work great. Burned one out one the sidewalk - lasted for 14 minutes in the falling snow and wind. It should start my arch just fine.

Oh, and my wife wanted me to be sure to mention that it was her idea. Maybe so... but I had to eat a LOT of bacon for this project!

[HHM-07]

Sounds ok but to much work , i normaly cut a little dry pine split it in 4-5 inch thikness put a couple of news papers in and fill with the pine and it's off in a cloud of smoke. works real good for me, but go ahead and use your egg cartons if you would like. GOOD LUCK

Dick

[3% Solution]

Yup pretty much do the same.
Wad up some newspaper, get some of the real thin peices that come in the slabs, break them up and lay them on the paper.
Put a few larger pieces on, then put the Bernz-o-matic to it for about 3 minutes.
Close the door, turn the blower on and here we go!!!!!
Clan,
I bet all the grease will make you hair shine!
When did you have meatloaf??

Dave

[Clan Delaney]

When did you have meatloaf??

Dave

Last night. With a spicy brown sugar glaze. Mmmmmmm.

[3% Solution]

Must have been meatloaf night, we had it and my neighbor did too.
Anyother traders have meatloaf last night?

[Dennis H.]

Cool idea with the fire starters, I mean tell the wife it was a cool idea.
I use all the little splinters of wood and wood scraps that fall to the ground when I split the wood, just gathered it all up and put in a few buckets.

But my way isn't the best way, your way sounds like you ate better than me.
Eggs, bacon, meatloaf, dang-it now I am getting hungry. Thanks for the idea.

[Clan Delaney]

Must have been meatloaf night, we had it and my neighbor did too.
Anyother traders have meatloaf last night?

This thread is now about meatloaf. :D

[3% Solution]

Nope, I got side tracked!!!
Back to fire starters!!
How many did you make??

[Clan Delaney]

Nope, I got side tracked!!!
Back to fire starters!!
How many did you make??

Couple dozen. Probably more than I'll need. I have been saving lint for quite some time.....

[peacemaker]

use to do the same thing kinda with lint toilet paper rolls and either wax or a nice pine cone
or some birch bark

[jtthibodeau]

Never though of the toilet paper rolls or the pine cones. Great ideas, guys! I always seem to enough empty 12 packs kicking around from the day before. Along with the bernz-o-matic torch, it only takes a few minutes to get things roaring.

[Dennis H.]

Toilet paper rolls? What did you do stuff them with lint?

I am assuming the lint came from the dryer not your belly button?

[peacemaker]

yes stuuf the roll i use to take a pine coat if u bring them in a warm them in a toaster they pop open then i would stuff it with lint and slip it in the tp roll and then pack the lint in take two and put it in a ziplock ... and always kept one in my hunting stuff fishing stuff in the emergency kit in the cars and the sled ... and always when i hiked ... u hit that lint with a flint stick and buff it goes then the pine cone starts the tube and off you go the other thing i use to do wa roll some lint in a piece of birch bark ... .. the other thing that works good for a emergency fire is a tea light or a road flare

[peacemaker]

well any lint will do but year dryer ... and i am a cabinet maker so my dryer lint is mixed with wood chips ..

[cncaboose]

I use cornstarch packing peanuts which I get all the time with shipments for my business. They light easy, burn very clean, and I have to get rid of them anyway. Just put a pile under my kindling and away we go.

[peacemaker]

uwant to see something burn... so nice to start a fire in any condition try a corn chip store brand is better ..

[Haynes Forest Products]

So a small weed sprayer with kerosene is cheating

[peacemaker]

i say its only cheating if u have someone else carry it deep into the woods for you ...i know clan said for starting the evapand i use the blow torch paper method there i was talking for emergency use wise i guess..lol

[Beweller]

Cut corrugated cardboard into about 2x4 inch strips. Dip in melted candle stubs and let cool. Ignite easy, burn hot.

[peacemaker]

even seen that done the roll them up as wel

[maple flats]

My way is simple. I have a propane weedburner torch that is hooked up to a 20# propane tank. The burner fires up to 250,000 btu but I only go part way. First I pile the first charge of well split firewood into the arch, criss crossing to give lots of air space. I stack it about 1/2 full. Then I light the torch and rest it just inside the arch door so the burner head catches on the bottom of the door opening, adjust the flame to a gentle ROAR (full open ROARS real loud) and set up a few other things while it lights, usually about 90-120 seconds. Take torch away, close door, open draft and it is hot fast. This year I am installing my draft fan. I will need to figure out how long to torch and how to give a little air and gradually increase so as not to blow it out. Using this method I have a full boil in about 15 minutes, sometimes a little less. I tried this when the wood was not dry enough and had to run the torch 4 or maybe 5 minutes. Dry makes the difference.

[Brian Ryther]

I do the same as Maple Flats, only I use my oxy/act torch. Light the torch, set it under the wood, look away for two minutes and I have a good fire started. I then close the doors and turn on the first of three blowers. Once the fire is established at about the five min mark i will turn on all of the blowers. By minute fifteen I have a front to back boil. After thirty five to forty minutes I will get my first draw. This will be a big draw due to the super sweet syrup pan as a result of the previous boil's cool down.

[TapME]

Just use some wood pellets and some starting jell and light a match and add wood. hot fire in ten minutes.

Clan, now you have me wanting to go and start a fire in the evap.
I do like the different ways that us traders thick of to start our fires.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I use about a 5 gallon bag of shredded paper and a gallon or two of lose pieces of bark or scrap framing wood or 1" boards and stack a couple of layers of firewood on top of that and light it with a soldering torch for about 15 seconds and shut the airtight door and crank my 760 cfm fan wide open and let er rip. I have had the entire evaporator boiling in aprox 5 minutes if my level is not high from the prior days shutdown and if I do it right.

[dano2840]

i havent read the thread but heres what i use some envelopes and paper (non waxy kind) that get thrown out from opening mail and stuff, then whatever little pieces of wood on the woodshed floor then put tiki torch oil on it and light it with a piece of paper, (tiki chorch oil wont blow ur hand of when you light it) If this fails ( usually doesnt if ur wood and kindling is dry) use a propane blow torch and hold it on kindling for 5min THAT WILL DEFINETLY WORK EVERY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!! diesel works to but watch out! HEHEHE

[Maple Restoration]

Hi guy’s this is probably not the best method but it does work great my grandfather has been downsizing over the last couple of years and he gave me three cases of road flares he had back when he was fire chief, they burn for about 60 min. And will light any fire no matter how wet or frozen the wood is. I figured this was the best way to dispose of them still have about 100 to go!


I hope you all have the best of Christmas.

[peacemaker]

there ok but a flare sucks the o2 out of the firebox ..i would think like a chimney flare fireman use

[Haynes Forest Products]

Just one more thing if the road flare has a fuse coming out the end DONT USE IT (no I didnt learn this from expariance)

[caseyssugarshack93]

I use some bark from my slabs and some little peices of wood then light up the ol blow tourch


Nate

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

What a bunch of pyromaniacs we are:)

[Haynes Forest Products]

Speaking from experiance I can tell you that if you take a 100 watt light bulb and put it inside a tin can and then put it inside a shoe box full of newspaper and rags and put in two pigen eggs and call it a incubator and put it in the closet it will become a fire starter. Got 2 days off of school and a new bedroom and they say it was a short in the wiring and thats the story im sticking too.

[RileySugarbush]

Haynes:

I vote that the POST OF THE WEEK.

[peacemaker]

me too i think that was the best yet

[dano2840]

Just one more thing if the road flare has a fuse coming out the end DONT USE IT (no I didnt learn this from expariance)

Heheheheheeheheheheehe i like those flares alot,


they let wood chucks see inside their dark holes,,lol

[Hal]

I use about half a cup of "Boy Scout water" (kerosene or diesel fuel as available) poured on whatever absorbent paper or cardboard trash is hanging around. Cover it with split pine or spruce slabs, then hit it with the Bernz-o-matic. Let it burn for half a minute, latch the doors and hit the blower, and away we go. Full rolling boil within fifteen minutes unless the pans are frozen.

[Clan Delaney]

I use about half a cup of "Boy Scout water" (kerosene or diesel fuel as available) poured on whatever absorbent paper or cardboard trash is hanging around.

I'm an Eagle Scout, and I can say with some certainty that such products were referred to as "Girl Scout Water". A Scout never uses combustibles to make a fire, he uses them to make a fire BIGGER! :)

[mapleman3]

Haynes That is the best.... how old were you???

Patrick, ever see a scout use water to put out a bacon grease fire ??? I Did... wooosh!!!! now thats fire water!!

[peacemaker]

seen a fella throw denatured alchol and his stove on the trail he grab the wrong water bottle
good thing he wasnt choking

[Haynes Forest Products]

Mapleman I was in 7th grade and the fire started about 10PM and gutted a big closet and part of the bed room. I went to school the next day and the principal sent me home from school because I smelled like burnt wood.

[3% Solution]

Nice one Haynes!!!!
Good thing they said it was a short or it have been a short in your shorts!
We have this little thing for fighting brushfires, it's called a drip torch.
Well you use diesel fuel and gasoline, mix it 3:1, now that makes a hot fire!!
Never have used it to start my arch and NEVER will!!
Back in school I went to help a classmate boil and we got to screwing around and never got started until after his dad said he was on the way home.
His brother went out and stoked the arch with just a little gasoline, now that was pretty cool ............... instant boil ................ !!!!!!

[Brent]

the lint / grease combo doesn't sound great to me. Unless you wife only buys cotton clothes, most of that lint will be plastics - nylon, polyester etc.

When that stuff burns in a house fire or a aircraft crash fire - it kills fast and the unburned gassy parts will likely condense on the bottom of your pan and in the stack.

KISS -- use dry kindling.

[Clan Delaney]

the lint / grease combo doesn't sound great to me. Unless you wife only buys cotton clothes, most of that lint will be plastics - nylon, polyester etc.

When that stuff burns in a house fire or a aircraft crash fire - it kills fast and the unburned gassy parts will likely condense on the bottom of your pan and in the stack.

KISS -- use dry kindling.

Thanks for the concern, Brent. Actually, the bulk of all the "lint" that got saved came from two days of washing and drying burlap sacks. Turns out, when you put burlap through the dryer, you get most of in back in the lint trap! So, most of what I'm using is 100% jute. All natural.

[Clan Delaney]

I heard a story from one of my brother/sister in law's friends during a Christmas gathering... about his attempt at using Coleman stove fuel to get his potbellied stove started. Filled with wood, poured on fuel, went to get a match (giving the fuel plenty of time to evaporate) then returned and dropped the match in.

He said it ignited before the match even entered the stove. The ignition popped the second stove cover off, and continued his state of perpetual eyebrowlessness. Stupid, but considering the lack of serious injury to person or property, hilarious.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Its even better with a gas insert. WOOOMMMMP and then the smell