Wood Stove Tips

Anyone who has heated their home with fire will have picked up some wood stove tips and tricks: the little things that make life easier. How to make sure your fire lights first time, how to to get your firewood in without making a mess, or how to get used to wood heat after living in a thermostatically controlled box!

Some great tips already suggested...
(more at the bottom of the page)

Carol suggested a great firestarter, simply using egg boxes around your kindling. It doesn't leave a big load of ashes clogging the air supply and they catch so quickly. We grab any we can get and leave them by the stove...

Having trouble laying your fire and getting it started? James suggested a top lit approach. We use something very similar ourselves...

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What Other Visitors Have Said

Click below to see other visitors wood stove tips and tricks

Starting a fire: 
1st before trying to start a fire, open the stove, and notice if you feel cold air coming down in the stove. If so, try to equal the pressure - (open …

Steamer Question 
I have a wood stove in a vacation home -- when the stove is not being used for a few weeks at a time should I keep water in the cast iron steamer pot or …

Best Woods 
Yes, as a retired Arborist, I can tell you first hand that the list is short but sweet. Black Locust and Osage Orange will not only burn for a great length …

Cold Start 
To light a fire you need heat. A cold stove will suck up a lot of the initial heat of a fire, and can put it out. My answer: Get a BBQ charcoal chimney …

Uses For Firewood Ashes 
If you use stoves regularly you will quickly build up a lot of firewood ashes. Here are a few ideas for how you can use them: As a general garden …

Splitting Firewood Smaller for a cleaner and hotter fire 
Sometimes circumstances conspire to cause problems getting your fire lit or hot enough to burn cleanly. What ever the reason a good step to try and remedy …

Easy Firestarters 
When getting the stove going, we all know that you start with some crumbled up newspaper, and some small kindling wood. Sometimes, when I tryed to light …

Starting your fire for the first time, or again  
1# When it's time to split the firewood, I sometimes find a short branch or knot that is heavy (the wood is verry dry), I usualy throw it away with the …

Top-lit fires are best... 
When lighting a fire in a stove you can either put the small pieces in the bottom and keep putting larger pieces on top, or you can put the heavy logs …

Easy Wood Stove Lighting - Sawdust and Oil Firelighters 
To make sawdust and oil firelighters you will need a 5 gal. plastic or steel pail, sawdust and used motor oil. You can get sawdust from lumberyards …

Square wood Not rated yet
Split the firewood not in triangles but in squares. makes for easier sacking and longer burning overnight and easier stacking the wood inside the stove. …

Newpapers Not rated yet
I cut 1/4" thick rug tubes to 5" wide, rolled up a few newspapers and jammed them into the tubes. It kept the papers compressed long enough to become logs …

egg boxes and parachute pitching Not rated yet
re fire lighting with egg boxes tip the excess fat from the cooking pan into the box and let it set. when lighting the fire you can use a section at a …

Other tools for processing firewood Not rated yet
We rely on fallen trees and branches on our land for our Clearview 500 woodburner. I find that my Muckbox 4x4 powered wheelbarrow is invaluable for getting …

DDD Not rated yet
Dry wood for Camping or outdoor Survival? As a scoutmaster I found a rope/cord to be better than an axe as a tool for gathering dry kindling and wood …

Using wood pellets as firestarter Not rated yet
Here is a new way to get a fire started: Instead of kindling and newspapers it is more effective to use wood pellets. Wood pellet provide lots of heat …

Fast, Safe, Inexpensive Way to Clean Wood Stove/Insert Glass Windows - Newspaper and Ashes Not rated yet
If you have windows on your wood stove or insert that need cleaning, don't buy expensive cleaners or use razors which may damage the glass. Just wet a …

Wood Burning for over 30 years Not rated yet
I light my fires with USED MOTOR OIL and a ball of crumpled newspaper.. I never saw the point of paying for the fire starter blocks or messing with …

Using Drier Lint As Tinder Not rated yet
Lint from your dryer is great to start a cold start fire in the wood stove - it burns hotter and longer than newspaper or cardboard and I can use bigger …

Fire Safety - 26 years of burning wood Not rated yet
Hello,my name is Bernie,I have had experience burning wood primarily. It is the best not the cleanest but not the worst. I have never had a close call …

Be kind to your glass Not rated yet
Don't use firelighters - they can cause a 'milkiness' to appear on the glass. Instead light your stove the old-fashioned way, just using newspaper and …

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