Starting your fire

[jeff]

Re: Starting your fire

Brother Robert.
Eucalyptus (gum trees), RS?
Mate,here in Heaven, river red and spotted gums are but two of many eucalypts used not only as fuel but also for smoking. Hickory is OK at a pinch....
Just kidding. Hickory is ok.
So send me the species of Eucalyptus you've been lumbered with, and I'll try to ascertain the root of the problem.
We have had two unpleasant fire experiences recently. Neither involved eucalypts, but both were disastrous. (And they were camp fires, not oven fires!!
Jeff.

[jeff]

Re: Starting your fire

Brother Robert.
Eucalyptus (gum trees), RS?
Mate,here in Heaven, river red and spotted gums are but two of many eucalypts used not only as fuel but also for smoking. Hickory is OK at a pinch....
Just kidding. Hickory is ok.
So send me the species of Eucalyptus you've been lumbered with, and I'll try to ascertain the root of the problem.
We have had two unpleasant fire experiences recently. Neither involved eucalypts, but both were disastrous. (And they were camp fires, not oven fires!!
Jeff.

[jeff]

Re: Starting your fire

Brother Robert.
Eucalyptus (gum trees), RS?
Mate,here in Heaven, river red and spotted gums are but two of many eucalypts used not only as fuel but also for smoking. Hickory is OK at a pinch....
Just kidding. Hickory is ok.
So send me the species of Eucalyptus you've been lumbered with, and I'll try to ascertain the root of the problem.
We have had two unpleasant fire experiences recently. Neither involved eucalypts, but both were disastrous. (And they were camp fires, not oven fires!!
Jeff.

[jazzfan]

Re: Starting your fire

I have a very low tech and non accellerant fuel method to start any fire that I build, and I teach the method to all customers that I build masonry heaters and bakeovens for, and anyone that will listen.

We call it the Top down burn, and it is the cleanest burning (as in no clouds of smoke) method to get your appliance's firebox up to speed. Fire start up is typically the dirtiest part of a burn, untill it gets up to speed.

I'm sold! Only recently had a chance to try this - It was the least smokey fire I have ever seen. And it is logical, when you think about it. The pre-ignition smoke is below the fire proper, and gets burned as it rises.

Thank you jp!

[Ken524]

Re: Starting your fire

Why do you say your oven is damaged goods?

Just joking. I'm in the middle of repairing a cracked/separating entry arch. I'll restart curing fires in a couple of days to see if it'll hold.

[fullback66]

Re: Starting your fire

Ken,
Why do you say your oven is damaged goods?
fb66

[Ken524]

Re: Starting your fire

Anyone try the drier lent yet?

Alright... I'm up for it. My oven is already damaged goods so I'll give the lint a whirl .

It'll be a few days before I try another fire. That will give me some time to collect a few handfuls (with 6 in the house, I should be able to collect quite a bit!)

[fullback66]

Re: Starting your fire

Anyone try the drier lent yet?
works good.
fb66

[Ken524]

Re: Starting your fire

I grabbed a box of "Fatwood" sticks at Walmart the other day. They work great. It only takes on or two sticks to start a roaring fire.

Fatwood is simply dried out pine that contains a high concentration of resin. When they burn, they have a nice pine smell that reminds me of Christmas.

Fatwood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[oventhusiast]

Re: Starting your fire

I was using newspaper and sticks (kindling) but I found these babies at Home Depot for $3.00 a box. They are awesome! You can put them under a pile of split logs and within two or three minutes, the logs are burning! I use two under the pile but I'm sure you could get away with using only one towards the middle of the log stack. I use one of those candle lighters to get under the stack to light them. (see photo)
Rick

[Frances]

Re: Starting your fire

Is there any reason against using nut shells as kindling? Peanuts and walnuts?

[Inishta]

Starting your fire

For starting fires and barbeques we in Turkey use Cirra. It is heartwood from a pine tree and has a high resin concetration. It bursts into flame with little persuasion and readily lights larger kindling reducing the time taken to get to cooking temps. Dont think it would work with the top down burn but if I put it in a couple of rows from the top it may work. Must give it a try.

[Mojoe]

Re: Starting your fire

Pair of long johns, wool stocking cap, hot cup of coffee, and the smell of burning wood... makes any morning a good morning.
Never calculated the total weight of my bread oven but I've got 1,750 lbs just in fire brick, couple more pounds in the 4" thick concrete cladding, few more pounds in the 4" thick vermiculite hearth slab and a couple more in the 4" thick concrete hearth slab...I'm cooking in less than 2hrs.

[PizzaPolice]

Re: Starting your fire

Me? ..Sticking with the weed burner. I've got 2500 pounds of mass to heat. Sticks ain't gonna cut it if I want to eat on the same calendar day.
What's really nice about this is that a man can tip out to the oven on a skin numbing, cold morning and set the torch to low and after some coffee and prepping in the kitchen, I can return and get the blaze a goin' in earnest. No thermal shock. My 2¢.

[RTflorida]

Re: Starting your fire

If I can't get a fire going with a match, newspaper, and kindling then I should have never left my electric range.[/QUOTE]

I will second that

RT