Does anyone else have trouble from time to time?

I have been lighting fires for countless years, but every once in a while, I struggle. I think it is because I don’t have the right ‘core’ and kindling, but considering I once got a blazing fire going from a used piece of kitchen roll and slivers of firewood, I don’t know why I get stumped from time to time.

Most recently, I at last had success when I took out everything and started again from scratch, but even then it took a lot of oxygen and TLC to keep it going.

Never. Half a firelighter (can’t afford a whole one!), six sticks of kindling to fence it in and a log on top. No problem.

I bung in an extra fire lighter if looks like it’s struggling to catch properly!! 😉

it took a lot of oxygen and TLC to keep it going

Something is wrong and it could be your wood. Do you have a problem getting or maintaining wood?

If you want to strike a match and walk away, scrunch up some newspaper and make a base of that. Then make an abstract sculpture of kindling. If you’ve got some smaller logs you can place one or two of them on top of kindling and or coal. Firelighters optional.

Your kindling must be dry and good quality or it won’t go easily and you’ll have to cheat and use firelighters. At times though if the flu is cold and the updraft poor due to winds it takes a bit more effort than normal. I use the same method as jimjam more or less.

I’m thinking, Drac, that you must be right. I don’t use firelighters, as I tend to think that they constitute cheating, but I never considered the cold flu and lack of updraft.

It’s not a problem for me, but someone on here suggested scrunching up newspaper and lighting that to warm up the flue, then when it’s gone laying the proper fire.

I like to have some larger pieces below or beside the kindling, where they can warm up and start burning in their own time. And they can lift your initial fire off the cold metal firebars.

Firelighters are cheating 🙂 but if I needed them I’d use them. Well actually I’d make them. There are lots of different ways to fashion firelighters, mostly from crap you’d probably throw out and some of them work very well. Old sausages are a personal favourite. I also like sawdust compacted into a cardboard tube or box, then pour some vegetable oil on and allow it to soak in.

6 balls of newspaper…never fails 😉

Have a 6 year old who can light them for me, trained by his 10 year old brother, all skills passed down from Dad (Me)

Use well dried wood, it may feel OK but it takes time for wood to be good enough to start a fire.

firelighters – never use them.

We have one always cold side of the house, flue is cold, and damp a bit – it’s always that side that is difficult to use. Paper – plenty – and don’t skimp on the kindling. Lately I’ve been clearing my folks house, my dad had a pile of old wooden shelfs which I’ve split – they must have zero moisture in them (been inside for decades – and they go up like a bomb – so yes kindling is key..

couple of small wood sections on top and yes strike a match and admire from afar.

Have you got a bed of ash or is it when you’ve cleaned the grate out? I don’t really clean the grate just empty the ash pan and let gravity do the rest: the ash provides a base for the newspaper

Cold flue is often a reason, as is the base of the stove having too much ash in it – mine lights best when it’s been cleaned out.

(No kindling in the box – had to resort to a fire lighter for the first time ever. I am so ashamed.)

Half a firelighter (can’t afford a whole one!),

Seriously?

They work out at about 5p each…

Seriously?

No, but I am as tight as a frog’s arse 🙂

As above, it’s all in the materials. This was a cold flue and stove and a bed of ash about 10mm thick…

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUCUz4M5lok&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Don’t be a tight arse with the kindling. Always burn wood on a bed of ash.

If you want to strike a match and walk away, scrunch up some newspaper and make a base of that. Then make an abstract sculpture of kindling. If you’ve got some smaller logs you can place one or two of them on top of kindling and or coal. Firelighters optional.

When I was a kid, the fire in the living room was the only heating we had, in ’63 I had frost patterns on my bedroom wall, so getting a fire going was crucial, and my dad did it with scrunched-up newspaper, kindling stacked in a pyramid in top, then coal* on top of that.
Sometimes needed a bit of help, but nothing more than a bit of fanning with a paper.
*Didn’t have wood available back then, had coal delivered on a horse-drawn wagon, then a bit later an open backed lorry.
My dad swept the chimney himself, had a full set of sweep’s brushes; I used to love running out into the garden to watch the brush come out of the top of the chimney-pot! 😀

Fire lighters are great !! Never fails. Got a nice bed of ash (can’t be bothered to empty the ash out, didn’t realise I was doing it right haha), usually have some charcoal left over from previous fire to get things going.

Birchbark ftw.

And a good splash of petrol!

in this wind, just about anything would be lighting a stove. blowing some gale outside, downdraughts and updraughts galore in the flue..

Rolled newspaper is great for getting a good draw.

I have a eucalyptus tree in the garden and collect the bark that falls off. Leave it to completely dry out and it makes a brilliant firelighter, burns really well.

Twinw4ll, is that some sort of wood preheat system on the top of the fire? Warming ready to go in?

No, but I am as tight as a frog’s arse

Then it isn’t you “can’t afford”, it’s “rather be cold than spend 5p”.

Use properly dry wood and light it any old way you fancy. Can’t go wrong!

Blowtorch FTW

It will solve your problems and possibly increase your manliness way above rubbing sticks together over a small mound of dried lichen and moss.

Although the purists might disagree 😀

Kittens, never fail to start a good fire. Noisy but a good flame. A constant pain to find a good sauce of kittens.

I always clear a small gap in the ash bed to allow air through first, then put two logs on the bottom followed by paper/half a firelighter, a few sticks/bits of bark then another small log or two on top.
When you light the paper/firelighter the burning kindling drops down onto the bottom logs and lights them – this means you can effectively close the door and leave it to it and not have to go back and add logs after 5 or 10 mins, which runs the risk of disturbing the small existing fire.
Once you try it you’ll never go back.

I find shredded paper works well, recently I’ve fallen back to newspaper as the shredder is packed away. The strip type is probably better than the crosscut version we have.

Blimey. I light my stove in October and it goes out in April/May. I don’t plan on lighting it in between.

And never use firelighters. Waste paper/rubbish and a few bits of kindling split from old pallets and way to go.

Didn’t have wood available back then

So what was your kindling made of?

What’s newspaper?

Firelighters and kindling here maybe with some rubbish, the paper I generate never burns well and tend to chuck rubbish on when it’s going.

teasel – Member
As above, it’s all in the materials. This was a cold flue and stove and a bed of ash about 10mm thick…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUCUz4M5lok

Teasel at what point do you chuck the next load on? i’d imagine six kindling sticks would burn out pretty quick?

Pretty much as soon as the video stopped. I throw on some 70mm ash or hazel log halves after that lattice starter, which is actually silver birch so burns for a bit longer than, say, fir or pine. The lattice holds the next layers above the bed so there’s plenty of air flowing about the base as the fire settles. The top layer is just a slab of nicely dried oak or ash or similar. I like the above because it gets it going in next to no time with a high heat output due to the mini parallel log starter technique, and I can shut the doors and rest up for an hour or so before needing to add more wood.

I keep meaning to try the upside down technique that Sharkbait alludes to but old habits and all that.

I suspect Slackalice’s approach would be most expedient, though…

If I’ve got time to sit around and feed the fire I’ll just start with a fire-lighter (made from compressed sawdust) and small kindling, and add progressively bigger kindling until there’s enough heat to get a small-medium lump of split wood going. Playing with fire is always satisfying 😀

Most days I use the “top down” method though. Start with two smallish bits of split log on the ash bed. Each one is maybe 5 x 10 cm in cross section (not that they’re regular shapes, but about the same cross-sectional area as a 5 x 10 cm rectangle, give or take), and ideally something soft like pine or wattle that gets going easily.

Then I’ll add a layer or two of smaller bits at 90 degrees, starting a lattice a bit like teasel’s kindling video up there ^. These will be maybe half the cross-section of the bottom layer. Then another lattice layer or two using small kindling – finger-size stuff really, usually pine plank offcuts from local wood yards that I’ve split myself.

I normally then add a fire-lighter (I’m with mikewsmith, we don’t have any newspaper and packaging paper/card is generally quite hard to keep alight. Maybe it’s a southern hemisphere thing) and a couple of bits of small kindling on top.

You can add more medium and small layers so that the top of the pile is right at the top of the firebox.

You just light the fire-lighter, close the door, set the draw to maximum and walk away. The kindling burns fast and hot right at the top of the firebox, which does two things: it generates a load of heat quickly which rises up the flue, starting a solid draw and pulling in lots of lovely oxygen for the fire; and as the flame is right at the top of the firebox it also directly heats the top plate which helps to maintain a good draw while the flue is still cold.

The embers then drop down through the lattice and ignite the next layer down, fanned by the healthy draw, and Robert’s yer mother’s brother. Ten to fifteen minutes later the bottom layer should be well away, ready for some bigger stuff to be added on top.

Once you’ve got the hang of it and (more importantly) you have your wood supply split into appropriate sizes, it takes maybe 30 seconds to build and light, then you don’t have to do anything else until it’s ready for the big stuff to be added.

Can’t believe people are admitting to using fire lighters. That’s a basic man-skills fail right there.

Scrunched up newspaper and kindling is all you need, as long as the wood is dry. We don’t buy newspapers but there’s plenty of free ones available all over the place.

grum I don’t buy newspapers and I’m not going hunting for free papers just to burn them when I can pick up a box of lighters and use them. I’m more terrified by the 6 or 7 paragraph and you tube guides above complete with wood measurements an types listed, it’s just a fire hardly that complicated.

Also the term Man Skill is very sexist and I’m very offended 👿

It’s a fire ffs just use a firelighter and a bit of dry wood.

No one looks at their gas hob and says:

“No, I’m going to use an artisanal match made from hickory struck on a hand crafted piece of 200 grit sand (not glass!) paper”

they just press the button and let the technology work for them.

Also, can’t believe that no one’s accused the thread title and first line of the OP of being a euphemism…

I have a problem sometimes and smoke ends up coming in the room. It’s really annoying me. It’s a new stove (dovre) in a new house to us. I think the issue is the chimney stack is quite short (bungalow height) and also in a sheltered position. Once its going it’s absolutely fine.

I place an extra bit of loose newspaper on the top to get a bit of a whoosh up the chimney and start the draw. Somedays it works first time, others not but can’t ever say what I do different.

Maybe I should try firelighters, never needed them before.