Newman
Well-Known Member
- #1
I had a friend over yesterday to cut down some dead cedar trees I have on my property. He was looking for kindling and as far as that goes, cedar is very good. He's the kind of guy who doesn't keep the fire in his wood stove going all the time, so he finds himself starting plenty of fires. I totally understand what he's going through. It seems that during the winter months, I can never find enough paper to start a fire, but during the summer, it's all over the place. The same is true for kindling. It's never there when you need it.
We cut down the cedar and split some of it up. It was beautiful. Nice and dry, since it was standing firewood. It'll be perfect for him. We filled the back of his hatchback car with logs and I'm sure he'll be back for more. I actually tried some of the very same wood to make a fire in my stove last night and it was incredible. Cedar is such good kindling wood. Maybe the perfect wood.
So I ask you, what's your favorite kindling wood? In the past, I've used tree bark, chunks of random hardwoods that were a result of splitting, and branches I've found in the woods. But more recently, since I've got tons of dead pine, fir, and spruce trees here on my property, I've been cutting up logs of that and splitting it. I bring it inside the house to let it dry out in my wood box. It's mostly black and white spruce and balsam fir. I've also got some white pine thrown in for good measure.
My friend mentioned that a saw mill in a neighboring town is offering bags of wood scraps that he may want to purchase. I asked the mill what type of wood they were selling and they told me that it's primarily birch and ash. That's really good stuff, but I'm not sure it's the best for kindling. If the chunks of wood were big enough, I'd use it for actual firewood. They're charging around $5 per 80 pound bag. That's not a bad deal.
The best kindling to me is some sort of pine that's really dry. If it's got some pitch in it that can ignite very hot, that's all the better. Fatwood is great too, but that's somewhat of a challenge to find. The drier and lighter the wood, the better.
One more thing - I've been cutting down some dead white birch trees and the bark has been falling off the wood. I'm saving that to use as kindling as well. We all know that white birch bark is used to get fires going while camping, so why not in the wood stove?
We cut down the cedar and split some of it up. It was beautiful. Nice and dry, since it was standing firewood. It'll be perfect for him. We filled the back of his hatchback car with logs and I'm sure he'll be back for more. I actually tried some of the very same wood to make a fire in my stove last night and it was incredible. Cedar is such good kindling wood. Maybe the perfect wood.
So I ask you, what's your favorite kindling wood? In the past, I've used tree bark, chunks of random hardwoods that were a result of splitting, and branches I've found in the woods. But more recently, since I've got tons of dead pine, fir, and spruce trees here on my property, I've been cutting up logs of that and splitting it. I bring it inside the house to let it dry out in my wood box. It's mostly black and white spruce and balsam fir. I've also got some white pine thrown in for good measure.
My friend mentioned that a saw mill in a neighboring town is offering bags of wood scraps that he may want to purchase. I asked the mill what type of wood they were selling and they told me that it's primarily birch and ash. That's really good stuff, but I'm not sure it's the best for kindling. If the chunks of wood were big enough, I'd use it for actual firewood. They're charging around $5 per 80 pound bag. That's not a bad deal.
The best kindling to me is some sort of pine that's really dry. If it's got some pitch in it that can ignite very hot, that's all the better. Fatwood is great too, but that's somewhat of a challenge to find. The drier and lighter the wood, the better.
One more thing - I've been cutting down some dead white birch trees and the bark has been falling off the wood. I'm saving that to use as kindling as well. We all know that white birch bark is used to get fires going while camping, so why not in the wood stove?