how do you start your living room/kitchen etc fireplace?

[Goatboy]

Matches or my Hudson bay kit. I do save all the unopened and unread junk mail to use to get it going though (If it's not addressed to me correctly it doesn't get opened).

It's a nice way to stay in practice lighting the fire with a flint and steel, and having a decent kit does make such a difference. The first steel I had was woefully inadequate in the spark department - I thing the manufacturer forgot to put the sparks in.

Some good kindling makes a difference too. I dislike kindling that is all stuck together by slivers of un-parted wood. each piece has to be free. When I'm cutting the stuff for friends or myself each piece is free, I also like to cut a variety of thickness's so that it can be graded onto the fire. Tend also to cut at angles so that there are thinner edges and more surface area to aid combustion. (Maybe I'm just picky).

Don't use feather sticks that often, mainly if I'm outside.

 

[dwardo]

Neighbour of mine used to use a small propane torch to light his fire. Few weeks ago he left it a little too close before retiring for the evening. Lucky for him the explosion woke him before the smoke could finish him off.

 

[sandbender]

Swan Vestas. We have a stove in most rooms which makes getting a fire going much easier, before the stoves were fitted I have used the newspaper trick mentioned earlier and after a while kept a bit of spare hardboard near the fire for the same purpose.

We have a fair amount of well seasoned oak, ash and sycamore for burning, I never feather the kindling but do chop some choice bits down to 50 mm - 1 cm diameter and keep them in the kindling bucket.

Like British Red we get tons of circulars and junk mail which we keep in a basket next to the stoves.



Edited to add:

All of the above relates to the family place in Scotland, over here we rely on Russian gas.

 

[mr dazzler]

Same every time-spend a minute or so making 3 or 4 feather sticks from willow, bung them in with 3 and 4 inch logs (willow to begin with), light with pound store lighter, fire takes within seconds without fail. It does help to have a super efficient woodwarm stove with a quality flue. As Tony does, I leave the door open for 5 or 10 minutes to get the flue good and hot ASAP, and the wood all alight, then restrict the air according to suit the day

 

[moocher]

An old trick to help start the fire in the old-fashioned open coal firegrates was to spread a sheet of newspaper across the opening for extra draw. I guess most real fires in houses are now woodburners or mutlifuel stoves so the above method has largely been resigned to history, as has banking up the fire with slack or potato peelings.

At old house,we had open fire and I used to use a metal sheet like a old baking tray,open vent and always worked.

 

[Steve27752]

With it being sideways, does the coal not fall out?

old paper and kindling consisting of thin branches snapped of trees (good one for the kids) or split wood, I've broken apart a lot of pallets lately and I've go a lot of pine blocks that split down very fine, they start great, then it's just progressively larger wood.

If i'm in a hurry and no small stuff I've no problem with firelighters or BBQ fluid and a blow torch, in fact my blow torch would be one of my treasured bits of kit

We put this in December to replace the open fire we had, it's lovely... Umm, even though it's come out sideways


View attachment 34777

 

[vestlenning]

Some good kindling makes a difference too. I dislike kindling that is all stuck together by slivers of un-parted wood. each piece has to be free. When I'm cutting the stuff for friends or myself each piece is free, I also like to cut a variety of thickness's so that it can be graded onto the fire. Tend also to cut at angles so that there are thinner edges and more surface area to aid combustion. (Maybe I'm just picky).

I'm with you - the fires started like that warms both body and heart.