We use our wood stove to heat our shop during the winter, and these are the best fire starters we’ve found yet! The economics are very good, and they light up easily and burn well. You’ll like them!
When it’s cold and the shop and it’s time to get the woodstove fired up, it’s no fun trying to get a fire started with wadded paper, alcohol gels, or a lighter. The same is true for getting a campfire started or the fire pit lit up. And while we’re sure our outdoorsy friends could best us with their fire-starting skills, we’ve found a much better way for us.
We use cedar fire starters from Midwesthearth.com. These cedar sawdust and wax pucks ignite easily and burn long enough to get kindling ablaze. You can buy them in boxes of 8, 16 or 36. We like the box of 36, so we have plenty on hand. The price at the time of filming was right at $40. At first glance, that may seem like a lot, until you realize that these are pre-scored to break into quarters.
I actually cut up the batch into quarters on my band saw (being sure to clean the wax off the blade from time to time). These smaller chunks actually ignite easier and provide plenty of flames to get the rest of the fire going. And, there is no residue left over. They burn cleanly and completely, with no offending smoke. Nice!
That means that each chunk costs about 28¢! That’s hard to beat for such an effective product! I simply keep the batch in large zip lock bags, making it easy to keep them in the shop, camper, or bug-out box in the back of the truck.
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DirtFarmerJ here from DirtFarmerJ.com.
We think we have found the best darn fire starters.
Let me tell you about it.
You're gonna find it handy
for all sorts of fire starting needs.
Hey, DirtFarmerJ here from DirtFarmerJ.com.
We have found these great cedar sawdust fire starting pucks.
Now they come from Midwest hearth.
You can see all of the information
on where to get them down in the description below.
Now, the reason I'm telling you about this
isn't to sell product.
It's to solve an actual problem that occurs.
Now we heat our shop during the winter here
with a wood fire stove and getting that stove started
when it's really cold here in the desert west
of the United States,
we're talking in the teens or lower in Fahrenheit.
Well, you don't wanna be fiddling around
trying to get something to start
and these fire starters really light quickly,
burn a long time and they're pretty economical.
Now they come in different set packs.
So in this case, I bought the 36 pack right here
and that costs me about $40 for that.
You can get sets of eight and 16 as well.
And you may have thought $40 for fire starter pucks.
That seems like a lot.
Well, hold on just a minute.
Number one, these are pre-scored right in here
to be cut into quarters.
I actually cut them to about six on the bandsaw
and then they burn long and hot enough
to get all the other kindling started.
And the really cool thing is there's no unpleasant odor,
no black smoke and no residue when it's done.
So if you do the math on that,
if I get just four per puck,
that's about 28 cents per fire starter.
Great solution.
Well, let's go ahead and cut one of these up
and show you how you can cut it up on the bandsaw
and then put it to work.
So to get better economics
and to make them be in smaller chunks
so they're easier to start,
I just cut them on my bandsaw.
I'm using a fine tooth blade
and I clean off the blade about every two pucks
that I cut up just to kind of clear the teeth.
And I cut these into six.
So I'm just gonna cut it down the middle.
Pieces like that.
Now, some of you may be wondering,
why don't you just go ahead and use materials
that you can find, kindling and that sort of thing?
Well, that's great for many of you,
but for this guy, I want something really convenient
to get a cooking fire going or this wood stove.
Let's look and see how well this fires up.
So I'm just gonna go ahead and use one of these here.
We're gonna just put it right there
and we'll see how quick this lights.
And there you go with a minimum amount
and you can get this to burn pretty quick and fast.
That's getting just a little bit uncomfortable,
but you can see there,
there's a great flame right there.
Now, we're just gonna go ahead and set that in the grate,
let it get where it burns.
To make this really convenient,
what we do is store these chunks
that we've made in Ziploc bags.
We keep one here in the shop,
keep another one in the back of the truck
for our bug out kit.
If you're stranded someplace and you need to go start a fire
these are really handy and they are water resistant
because they're wax and soda.
So you can get them to ignite even if it's moist,
as long as you have an ignition source.
But this really helps when all you've got
is wet kindling all around you.
So that's very helpful.
You know, when you're all done with that fire
and it burns down, you're gonna end up with a lot of ash.
And if you're concerned about what to do
with all of that hardwood or softwood ash,
check out this video where we tell you a little bit
about how to make use of it.
The good, the bad and ugly of using ash
and that it is a great resource, not a waste product.
And then check out this other video
that we created for you in our library
that YouTube thinks is perfect for your interests.
Until the next time, this is Dirt Farmer Jay
from DirtFarmerJay.com enjoying a nice warm fire
in the shop.
