How to Start a Fire in a Wood Stove

Wood stoves can be a little tricky when it comes to starting a fire in one. But it can be done.

Materials:

• Newspaper
• Cardboard in 2 inch strips
• Kindling
• Small pieces of firewood
• Matches

Take 4 or 5 pieces of the newspaper and separate them, bunch them up and lay them on the bottom of the firebox bunched near the door.  Lay a couple of the 2 inch cardboard strips over top of your newspaper, then place some of the kindling on top of the cardboard. Lastly, place 1 or 2 small pieces of the firewood on top. Be sure they are smaller and not much over a 2 inch diameter.

Open your stove vent all the way and start your fire. Once your small pieces of firewood have caught fire and burned for several minutes you can add a couple more pieces of firewood. Using a fire poker, or other wood stove tools, you may want to carefully bunch and turn the debris in the wood stove before adding the larger pieces of wood. Keep your stove's vents open until the larger pieces of wood are well ignited and then you can adjust them to your desired heat output of the stove.

It is said that wood stoves work best when they are used in cold weather (32 degrees and below) and for longer than 1 hour.

For more information on Firewood Visit:
How to Cut Firewood
How to Season Firewood