Frugal Wood Stove Fire Starters

The wood stove I purchased through an ad on Craigslist last winter is heating my home this year.  First of all, I have to comment on this picture.  I was sitting in my chair to the side of the stove and decided to take a picture to see if the fire showed through the glass.  To my surprise when I looked at the picture there was a beautiful bluish violet Orb with a dash of light eminating from it's right side in front of the pedistal.  I quickly took another picture and the second picture shows the same Orb but it has moved up in front of the glass.  If you look closely you can see four round circles towards the upper left and in the second picture the four circles appeared again.

There are many websites on the web discussing Orbs both pro and con.  I happen to believe in them and am delighted when they appear in my photos to let me know they are visiting.  These captured me because I could see the same markings in two shots.  I know the photos are not precise in the blog but you will just have to accept that I cropped the pictures, enlarged them 200x and saved them.

If you are interested in Orbs please visit The Hamburger Universe by Dr. Miceal Ledwidth.  I know Dr. Ledwidth and can vouch for his credibility.  I do not believe Orbs are simply an anomoly of a digital camera or a dust spot.  These two photos were taken seconds apart and while there is certainly dust in my home around the woodstove (ok so I have dust all over the house I admit it) you will have to admit the first picture is remarkable.

Back to what I originally was going to write about.  I have been experimenting with methods of starting the woodstove.  Most often I take black and white newspaper (Mom saves her newspapers for me and I often pick some up at the recycle box) crumple it up into a wad and place it as a base for the kindling.  Here are some other methods I am trying:

• Take newspaper and hold it the long way. Fold the paper into a strip and fashion the strip in a  knot.  The result is a more compact product that seems to burn less quickly as a crumpled wad of newspaper.
• Save empty cardboard food boxes like cereal boxes.  Fill them with crumpled newspaper.
• Roll strips of newspaper around a dowl and tie with a burnable string.  Melt some wax or candle stubs in a coffee can placed in a large pot of boiling water (wax is flamable so don't put the coffee can or pan directly on the heat or you might have a flash fire).  Dip the tubes in the wax by holding the end of the strings.  These little bundles seem to burn awhile but the kindling needs to be small to get a fire going.
• In Girl Scouts we used to make fire starters by putting sawdust, wood shavings, crushed leaves, dry pine needles, dryer lint or pinecones into paper muffin cups placed in muffin tins.  Next we would add a piece of string or a piece of candle wick material into the middle of the muffin cup. Then we would carefully pour some melted wax over them and let them dry.
• Another version of this theme is to use cardboard/pressed paper egg cartons and make the same fire starters.  Sometimes we did not add wicks because we did not fill them all the way and the edges of the egg carton were easy to light with a match.
• Pine cones can be dipped in wax to make fire starters.
• Toilet paper tubes filled with lint or sawdust or wood chipps that have a bit of wax poured into them. So now I am saving lint, egg cartons, toilet paper tubes, newspaper...hope that show Hoarders does not find out about me and come knocking at the door!!

I use some cedar shingles for kindling.  They came from a re-roofing job and are dry.  It is easy to split them with my hands to make strips.  The cedar catches on fire easily and quickly.  I also save the bark from the wood I split.  Most of the bark is doug fir and again works well as kindling.  Sometimes when I go for a walk I bring along my old stained faded yet well loved canvas tote bag (coming from New England everyone had an LL Bean boat bag) and pick up sticks that have fallen during wind storms.  There are always branches around in my area to glean if one takes the time to pick them up.  Then there is always the ax to split wood into smaller pieces.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, keeping the cord and cut wood dry is a challange.  I do have it stacked for ventilation and have it covered with plastic tarps.  At this time I do not have a wood shed but that is a consideration.  Using wood that is damp obviously takes a hotter better fire to begin with.  I do open the vents and make sure the fire box is cleaned regularly by taking the ashes out to the garden beds.  When a fire first begins with damp wood most of the energy is going to dry the wood and evaporate the water.  Not very efficient but then I don't have an oil, propane or high electricity bill.  I am planning on using the electric heat only in an emergency this year to cut costs.  I have mentioned before in postings that I have lived with wood stoves in the past as well as pellet stoves.  I prefer the wood stove.

Here are a couple of sites to visit regarding starting the woodstove Missouri Extension Education , Wood Heat  that you might find helpful.  Also here is a funny posting on what not to do.  This gal did not use enough kindling to get a fire going.  Just stuffing more newspaper only makes a flash and does not catch logs. Chickens In The Road

I mentioned dryer lint as a fire starter.  This fluffy stuff should not be thrown away!  For goodness sakes it has just been through the wash and been heated in the dryer. It is great for starting fires whether inside or out.  I keep a plastic bag on the laundry shelf and save every little bit.  I have even given a bag of dryer lint to a friend as a gift who was preparing her emergency bag. 

I read a post today that had a list of things to do with dryer lint.  It is great for the compost,  great to leave outside in a container hanging from a tree so the birds can make nests, it can be added to the bottom of a pot before adding soil, can be used to fill cold air stoppers used in front of doorways and one person said it can be saved, spun and turned into yarn to knit with.  Now that is stretching it a bit.  Then there was a conversation about lint not being good for the compost or the birds because there could be artificial fibers and not just cotton.  I have to agree with the answer that said laundry loads from cottons have much more lint residue than loads of artificial materials like polar fleece and polyester.  The artificial clothing does not give off the same amount of fibers. Upon close examination of my lint, I can plainly see my grey hairs and black short hairs from Mr. T.  Anyhow, we are not talking about dumping truck loads of industrial lint into the garden.  Personally, I save mine for fire starting.

I am interested if you know of any other materials (free of course - remember whom you are speaking with) for getting the woodstove going on a cold morning when I have not gotten up out of my nice warm bed with Mister T, my Dachshund, snuggled up against me to stoke the fire at night.  Leave me a comment below and share your experiences. Ha, I would accept any dry lint you are not using!  I have not tapped the local laundry mat as a source but possibly I should consider it.  I think that would constitute extreme frugality!

Urban Homesteading Update

Please watch this video on Urban Homesteading . Called The Power of Growing Your Own Food.  They also have a website called Path to Freedom which is excellent.  I highly recommend you view both the Utube video and  their website.

I would also like to recommend a website called Food Matters .  Food Matters has a free newsletter that I subscribe to for the latest on food issues.

I have written about my urban homestead and my edible front yard.  These are the folks who inspired me.

Now that we are in Fall and Winter is coming fast we are still working on putting the garden to bed.  The plant material has been cleared out and put into the compost pile.  Next step is to get a truck load of mature manure for the garden beds.  I have my eye on an area in town that has large maple trees.  When the leaves have finished falling I will rake them and bring them home in bags.  Again I am doing someone a service in return for getting the rich leaves.  Then the beds will be covered with (gasp) black plastic to keep them from growing weeds during the winter months.  The plastic was given to me and I recycle pieces used last year which makes me feel a bit better.  I am also watching a large road construction site that is using black plastic sheets to keep erosion in control.  I will ask the supervisor if I can have the plastic when the construction is complete. Again I will hopefully get more plastic free and prevent it from going to the landfill for a bit longer.

I know others plant green crops which are turned back into the soil in spring instead of covering the boxes.  I have chose to cover the beds because I am loading them with manure to make more good soil.  We have a substantial amount of rain usually in the winter and I am not confident the green crops would grow.  Maybe next year I will be brave and try that.

We are also collecting all the free wood we can for our wood stove.  It is the plan to only heat with wood this year.  I will be watching the electric bill to make sure it stays very close to what we consume in the Spring and Summer.  Within the past week we have picked up three truck loads of free burnable wood.  The wood included end cuts from a construction site, very large rounds of Doug Fir which will need to be split, plywood which will be used for building projects, pallets and assorted 2x4s, 2x10s and 2x12s.  We have built a relationship with one builder who will call us when he has a scrap pile. Since we have cleaned up when we have picked up free wood from him he is delighted and said he will deal with us only.  Yea!

While collecting free wood we have come across alot of wood that can be used to build more garden boxes.  I plan on adding boxes to the front yard which is now lawn free.  Then the back yard will be tilled and covered with garden boxes.  The boxes will be filled with mushroom compost which is a local byproduct of a mushroom factory, my composte and garden soil. It is a huge undertaking but will bring me step closer to being sovereign.

Check the June postings archive for more articles on Edible Front Yards.

How to Heat Your House Almost Free

 The power goes out fairly often in the Pacific Northwest due to storms knocking down trees.  This area is predominantly covered with doug fir pine trees which have shallow root systems. When the ground is saturated or the trees are covered in a thick ice layer or there is a stiff windstorm, the pines are easily toppled over pulling down long lines of power poles. About once a year there is a nasty storm that leaves some areas without electricity for up to a week. Since I believe in always being prepared for anything, last year we put in a wood stove so that in emergencies, when the power is out, we will be toasty warm.

We have a kerosene heater that is quite effient for it's size and heat output.  The key to kerosene heaters is to always pour the fuel, light them up and extinguish them outdoors.  Doing this eliminates most of the nasty smell.  But you do have to store kerosene. Once the supply runs out you are out of luck if traveling is limited in an emergency.  I store a few 5 gallon metal cans of kerosene.  My stove holds about a gallon of fuel and will burn a whole day (8-12 hours).  I would probably be set for two weeks using the stove very frugally.

There are ample trees in my neck of the woods,  Firewood is abundant so as a choice for fuel it is my number one choice. We chose to look for a woodstove and began to put away a store of firewood for not only emergency use but to cut the electric bill. My electricity bill has not been over $60 a month in the past and we have electric heat, an electric stove and hot water heater. Ok, are you through gasping? Electricity is still inexpensive here in Washington. We still wanted to cut the bill.

Pellet stoves were ruled out because I can not create my own pellets and they are not renewable.  I have lived with pellet stoves in rental homes and really liked the heat they threw out but the stoves are dependent on electricity to run the blower and pellet dispenser so in an emergency they are useless unless you run a generator nonstop. On the positive side, the pellets are easy to haul inside because they come in bags.  There is no need for kindling, so there was less dirt and mess than a wood stove.  I always bought pellets by the pallet in the springtime before they were in great demand and less expensive to save money.  I also did some research on which brands had the best rating and did not just buy the least expensive brand.  So since I have fully experienced pellet stoves and know they will not perform in a power outage I eliminated them from the running.

Being the Frugalista that I am, I shopped around for a wood stove. I made a wish list of what I wanted in a woodstove: a window to view the flames, a small one that would not too large so I wouldn't be blasted out by the heat, constructed on cute feet was esthetically appealing, one with a flat top so I could cook and keep a pot with water boiling to rehydrate the room and one that was efficient and would not be a hog to feed.  Personally, I like the house to be cooler than most people.  I would rather snuggle up with a polar fleece blanket and  have Mister T on my lap than be too hot. 

We visited the local stove companies, scanned the internet and talked with friends.  Tim suggested we put in an old stove he had once used in a shop.  Now ladies, would you want this in your living room?  Of course he sees it sanded down and painted with black fire stove paint in his head but all I see is rust and the fact it has only three legs.  He couldn't get over why I would mind having a couple of bricks to replace the fourth leg.

I, on the other hand, loved the soapstone stoves but they began over a thousand dollars.  In fact, most of the stoves I began to consider began at $1,400. The price of the stove does not include the pipe and chimney and all the other parts necessary to install a wood stove.  Reducing the power bill by $25 or so in the winter months would mean it would take about eight years to make up the savings on such a large expenditure.  Not too encouraging but a savings none the less and essential in an emergency. I kept looking and dreaming.

I drew a picture of a wood stove and put it up on my mirror in the bathroom.  Then I looked for pictures of the wood stove of my dreams and posted it as my desktop page.  In essence, I was seeing images of woodstoves all the time.  I know that when I focus on an image I will create it.  I may not know what form it will show up in, how long it will take or how it will appear but it will appear.

A few weeks passed by and I was still thinking about wood stoves, contemplating buying one and having Tim install it.  One day I happened to go to Craigslist and search woodstoves.  There were three listed.  The third one had a glass window, stood on a stand, was black and was $350!  I called the lady and made an appointment for Tim to ride up there (about 45 miles away) to look at it.  I gave him money and told him to call me when he got there and not to buy it without consulting with me.  I waited to hear from him while at work.  He called and said he had it loaded in the truck and was on his way home.  Tim is a man of few words. Now I was worried.  Remember, what he sees as ok is often not what I think is ok.

I got home to find the stove sitting in the middle of the living room. It was a beauty! It is more than I bargained for.  He offered her $300 cash and she took it gladly to get it out of her house. It has double walls, an optional blower and was pristinely clean and unblemished. The only thing it did not have that I had dreampt about was  cute feet.  It stands on a pedestal.  Within a week, Tim and a friend who is an electrician installed it with all a piece of double lined stove pipe that Tim already had secured new at a yard sale and new additional caps and chimney that we purchased at the local home improvement store.  The electrician put in an outlet behind the stove (for free of course).  We put down a simple prefab pad and installed a sheet of Fiber Rock behind the stove. The additional costs of the  parts we did not have was about $75.

We fired it up and turned on the blower at full speed.  OMG it felt like standing in front of a blow torch!  Within an hour the temperature was 90 degrees in the living room and I was gasping for breath.  I cried and thought I had made a terrible mistake.

We have now learned to just turn the blower on for a short while when a fire is first lit for the day and then turning the blower off.  If it is a wicked cold day the blower stays on low.  The double walls are great.  I can touch the walls when the stove is going and do not get burned.  When the kids next door come over I am not worried they will burn themselves. Since Mister T is a lap dog and Mommy's boy, I have no fear he will snoop around and get burned. The heat radiates from the front of the stove and heats my 1,109 square foot house very efficiently with just a few logs.  The stove heats the living room, kitchen, bathroom and office.  The bedroom doors are kept closed.  This type of heating is commonly refered to as zone heating.  To heat our small zone just one cord of wood a month is needed. A cord of wood is 4x4x8 feet. If we are gone all day we let the stove die down and stoke it up when we return in the evening with one load of wood.  The house stays warm all night and we begin again the next morning.  There is a Dutch oven pot that came without the lid from a yard sale that serves as a humidifier and an enamel speckled coffee pot that provides hot water on demand. My dream has manifested and our emergency needs are taken care of.

Next posting will be on how to find free wood.

Note:  It is now November 16th and we have not had to turn on the electric heat once.  The temperature has dipped into the 20's and the woodstove has kept us overly warm.  There are days I have to open the sliding glass door and let out some heat!  I am sitting here now with my companion Mister T in my lap, a cup of tea and my laptop.  The woodstove is burning end cuts we salvaged from a construction site and our only costs have been the gas to go to and from to pick up wood and some healthy sweat (which both Tim and I can afford to expend!).  It is pouring rain out, dark and dreary but nice and snuggy warm in here. 

If you are not using free heat can you hear the cha ching of the electric, gas, oil, pellet meters grinding away?  I'm sorry.

10 Ways to Find Free Firewood

Even in urban areas there is free firewood to be had!  Here are 10 ways to find free wood and heat your home for free (assuming you have a wood stove in good working order). This year the market prices for a cord of wood ranges between $150-$250.  An unknowing buyer can end up with a load of unseasoned wood which will not burn well.  There are unscrupulous woodcutters out there so beware.  Getting firewood yourself allows you to be sure whether the wood is seasoned or needs to rest a year.

First of all, you must be willing to do some work.  A chain saw, hand saw, pruners, ax, maul, wedge, pickup truck, wheel barrel and good back are really helpful.  Know how to use these tools and use them safely. Cutting and splitting wood is hard labor very fulfilling but does have an element of danger.  Do not attempt to use a chain saw without proper instruction or experience.  It is not worth a deep gash or a missing limb and I don't mean from a tree. 

Always ask the landowner permission before taking wood off any property.  Stealing wood can quickly add up and become a felony.

Here are 10 sources of free firewood:

1. Storm Debris - After a storm there are branches and trees down everywhere.  Some lie in the road, in backyards and business parking lots.  Get out there with a chain saw or hefty saw. Let your neighbors know you will clear away and take away the big stuff while making the small stuff more manageable for them to handle.
2. Dead Trees and Pruning - Someone has to do this job and it might as well be you.  It is a fact of life that trees eventually die and need to be taken down before they fall and do damage.  Make sure you know what you are doing before felling a tree.  There is a science to it and you don't want to cut into it with a new chain saw and have it fall on a neighbor's car.  Trees and bushes need regular pruning resulting in a mess to be cleaned up.  Our apple trees not only make good firewood but we save some of it for smoking meat and fish.
3. Burn Piles - When lots are being cleared for construction, the trees are often cleared by professionals who take out the cash trees leaving behind scrub trees branches and stumps.  This wood is piled up with a bulldozer and left to age and wait to be burned.  Burn piles can provide truckloads of wood.  First ask the landowner or contractor and get permission.  Some will say no stating problems with insurance.  In that case, keep looking.  If you get the go ahead inspect the wood carefully.  Be sure it has not been covered with dirt or rocks.  Dirt and rocks will ruin a chainsaw blade quickly and end up costing you money.  Look carefully and harvest the hard wood first.
4. Dumpsters - Construction sites often discard end pieces of wood.  Ask first then carefully pick out burnable wood.  Watch out for nails and pretreated or painted wood.  Pretreated and painted wood can give off nasty unhealthy fumes and is not recommended for woodstoves. Manufacturers who have goods and equipment shipped in wooden crates are also good sources for free wood.  We have gotten many perfectly good pieces of odd sized plywood from businesses.
5. The Government - I figure since I pay taxes, public lands are great places to get free food. Sometimes a permit is needed or a small fee is required.  Check before chopping! Look over the area first and see if what is available is worth your time and money.  Contact the local highway department and public works department to find out where they are taking down trees and branches.  Often wood is left for the taking.  Maybe you can make a good connection and get a lead once in a while on thinning sites.  Military reservations, the forestry service,  the park service all have wood that is often available.  Just spend some time calling the local, state and federal offices found in the yellow pages.  Sometimes free just means a phone call. Call WA Department of Natural Resources  permit information. 
6. Landscapers, Tree Doctors and Logging Companies - All of these professionals create wood capable of becoming firewood.  Sometimes their employees moonlight and sell firewood from work sites on the side. Call and ask if there are sites you can help clean and haul away their debris. Some wood professionals will decide is too small in diameter to be worth dealing with and it might be available.  Establish a relationship with these people and know where work sites will be. A good idea is to bring them coffee, lunch or a six pack once in a while to cement a relationship.  Maybe they will even deliver!
7. Ads - Check the free advertising sites on the internet like Craigslist ,  Freecycle,   SuperPages,   City Data,  Free Ad, Trading Post  for postings for free firewood.  Also watch the local newspapers, supermarket bulletin boards, church notice boards and free ad papers. Don't answer ads that say bring logger truck and jammer.  Those jobs are for guys with lumber boots, high water pants and striped denim shirts.
8. Pallets - Wooden pallets can be found everywhere. They are used to move materials in industry and   often are considered one time use only. Pallets can be heavy and are full of nails and staples. They can be cut up with a chain saw and as long as the nails and staples are looked for in the woodstove ash container they are safe to use in wood stoves. I sift the ashes before dumping them in the garden. Most often pallets are made from less expensive soft woods so they burn quickly and it takes a larger pile of pallet wood to match a pile of hardwood.
9. Saw Mills - Sawmills, cabinet makers, furniture makers and wood manufacturers all create scrap    lumber.  Contact them and arrange to pick up end cuts.  Sometimes you will be saving them disposal costs. Collect saw dust in bags while there to use as kindling.
10. Networking and Asking - This is the most important method of finding free firewood.  Tell people you are looking for free wood and will clean up wood debris, work sites or take away unused wood.  You will be surprised who will call you with an offer or tip.  Always be on the hunt.  Make up some business cards with name and contact information and pass them to friends, family, co-workers, contractors even people buying supplies in home improvement stores and staff at estate sales. 

The final element needed to complete the fuel storage for the winter is kindling. Fire starting material can be found by:

• Asking neighbors to save their newspapers or walk around the neighborhood on trash day and collect papers from recyle boxes.
• Supermarkets have free papers, real estate, rental or car booklets.  Take them home, read them then use them to start the fire.
• Collect pinecones 
• Pellets sold for pellet stores can be used in a wood stove to start the fire.  Watch for broken bags which can be gotten free or at a greatly reduced rate.
• Cardboard is readily available.  All stores and business have cardboard and pay someone to take it away.  Offer to take it away free for them.
• Walk the beach and pick up drift wood, walk in the woods and pick up sticks and squaw wood.  Squaw wood is dead wood on the lower branches of trees that can be snapped off easily.
• Cedar shakes make great kindling.  Find someone who is reroofing and take away the old shakes.
• Kindling Sources is a great article on ideas for kindling.

All the wood in our backyard was gleaned freely combined with the sweat off our backs. A few hours work can create a large woodpile. Just think you can also save the cost of a gym membership. You could save at least $25 a month and get real aerobic exercise! By collecting firewood I promise you will work up a good sweat and be rewarded with a warm toasty fire in your woodstove. Do it yourself and go find free firewood.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler. -- Henry David Thoreau