As wood burning stoves increase in popularity due to their ability to drastically cut down on traditional heating bills, there are some things we should expect to see. Firstly (and I can greatly sympathize from my own personal history) we can expect thousands more children to groan as their fathers announce on Saturday morning that its time to go get wood. Secondly, we can expect hundreds more of these fathers to spend the money they would have saved on heating on chainsaws and gloves. Thirdly, we can expect these fathers to hurt themselves out there working and complain about it through the winter.
And fourthly, we can expect hundreds of proud new stove owners to spend countless hours trying to get fire lit in their stove. Well, while I hated getting the wood, I always loved burning it. Here’s what you’re going to want to do.
Fire is alive. It breathes and moves and needs space to do so. What you want is for your logs to form a twisting passage between them, about a half inch wide. Underneath you place black and white newspaper and kindling (never color paper as it can damage your catalyst). If your wood is dry (and if it isn’t you shouldn’t use it—three years of seasoning is best). This fire should start burning little twigs and snags in the avenue, and because the heat has space, but not so much that it will cool down, the combustion will grow. It takes some getting used too but this system has rules and a heartbeat, and if you try to understand the fire it will reward you with quick lighting and heat all winter long.
