Day 25 Fire-starting
Start a fire? Do it all the time, right? Sure, outside for a campfire. But inside? No, not THE house, IN the woodstove? My hubby’s job. We have a Hearthstone Wood stove that use for supplemental heat in a room with poor insulation and few heat vents. In the winter we spend our “sitting” time there near the woodstove. He normally handles the fire starting before I awaken in the morning, then the feeding, overnight banking, and maintenance. I just enjoy the warmth.
So, my turn. “Open the vent, start with just paper to warm up the air in the chimney. If the chimney air is not warm the stove will not draft properly. Small and slow with just paper, then a couple pieces of cereal box.
“Open this, close that, see the circulation? Not too much! Use the tongs. Light the OTHER end! Close down the vent a bit. See the air coming from underneath and the flames going straight up? Chimney air is warm and the air is circulating properly.
“Ok, now the small sticks…close that, adjust the vent – or whatever that thingamajig is called, so the fire has enough air. Now the larger sticks. It is going.”
Whew.
With an outside fire, you can fiddle with it all you want. With a woodstove, you don’t want the smoke to back-up into the house. It can become a skill. Our Boy Scout Grandsons have skill in using campfires, and the fireplace at the other grandpa’s house, but trouble lighting a fire in our wood stove. Just a bit tricky to get the hang of it.
I guess I’d better practice more often to keep my hand in.