Lighting nut coal

to get wood i would go around your area to construction sites and raid their dumpsters for cut offs . very dry wood will light easy . becareful of nails . they won't mind . i work in construction people do it all the time .

cowboy charcoal......... its a no brainer..........


you will be amazed......

I'm On Fire wrote:I buy that charcoal bags at a time. I always have a stock of it. There are currently 4 bags in the small shed on my deck incase I need them. I had 5 but I used a bag to fire up the DS two weeks ago.

yep i keep a bag to get a fire going and better yet I also use it to cook steaks on the weber grill!!

it will get coal going cause it gets going!

For those who cannot locate Cowboy Charcoal, try your Walmart, around here it's called Royal Oak (in RED Bag) 100% Real Wood Charcoal...same as Cowboy.

I use a little kindling and a few chunks of bit coal to get anthracite going. I don't know if all bit coal is the same, but this stuff I've got could almost be lit with a match.

I guess I have it lucky ...I make kitchen cabinets for a living and have an endless supply of Hardwood blocks 3/4" thick by 3"X5" @ 6% or less in mouisture content....the Red Oak ones that do not make it as finished goods go in a box for me to take home.
For a fresh light ....3 sheets of newspaper and a few pcs. of cardboard ripped off a beer box or soda box along with 6 or 8 of the Red Oak 3X5's and WHALLA a coal bed that cannot possibly NOT light any Anthracite size Pea or Larger in bought 10 minutes.
For a TIRED ALMOST GONE fire ...as long as there are some Hot coals ...just lay a few 3X5's on the coals and give it a bit of air and in few minutes.. OFF she goes for a easy pick me up.
Tim

Tim wrote:I guess I have it lucky ...I make kitchen cabinets for a living and have an endless supply of Hardwood blocks 3/4" thick by 3"X5" @ 6% or less in mouisture content....the Red Oak ones that do not make it as finished goods go in a box for me to take home.
For a fresh light ....3 sheets of newspaper and a few pcs. of cardboard ripped off a beer box or soda box along with 6 or 8 of the Red Oak 3X5's and WHALLA a coal bed that cannot possibly NOT light any Anthracite size Pea or Larger in bought 10 minutes.
For a TIRED ALMOST GONE fire ...as long as there are some Hot coals ...just lay a few 3X5's on the coals and give it a bit of air and in few minutes.. OFF she goes for a easy pick me up.
Tim

Yes Tim, lighting anthracite Should be as easy as you said. Unfortunally I don't have the nice hardwood blocks you have and no beer boxes LOL, (should be so good to sit in front of your Glenwood with that liquid on a cold day...), but I cut re-splitted pieces of wood saw them in 2 so they get about 6" long. For the rest it's klike you said. Once the fire run good just begin the filling with thin layers. Must be as easy as for a wood stove, if not something is wrong somewhere.
nortcan
P/S we don't have Cowboys any more in Quebec

i was just thinking cut offs are FREE .

Hey folks! Hope you all had a good spring/summer/fall! Figured I'd say hello and wish all here a happy holiday season. Went back to wood this year for heat. All issues with keeping it going for a week straight, higher prices over coals ever further rising, etc. All that aside the biggest reason was every room in the house being covered with gray fine ash! I mean on every surface upstairs, appliances, etc. Shot dvd player downstairs as surely filled with ash, just no getting around this issue. Good to smell wood burning again as well, much nicer.

So sure I gave it a year, not for me, is what it is. You were all great in helping a noob though, so all my best to the community!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

No one ever said burning coal doesn't involve some dust. But what you describe only comes from careless handling of ash. Sorry it didn't work out for you and Merry Christmas right back at ya.

coldcoal wrote:Hey folks! Hope you all had a good spring/summer/fall! Figured I'd say hello and wish all here a happy holiday season. Went back to wood this year for heat. All issues with keeping it going for a week straight, higher prices over coals ever further rising, etc. All that aside the biggest reason was every room in the house being covered with gray fine ash! I mean on every surface upstairs, appliances, etc. Shot dvd player downstairs as surely filled with ash, just no getting around this issue. Good to smell wood burning again as well, much nicer.

So sure I gave it a year, not for me, is what it is. You were all great in helping a noob though, so all my best to the community!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Sorry it didn't work out for you. Were you dumping the ashes in the house or basement? At least your stove can be re-purposed and used as a wood burner. Enjoy the holidays and keep your chimney clean.

coalkirk wrote: But what you describe only comes from careless handling of ash.

I agree. I sold a coal stove to a friend that said it filled his house with dust. Another friend has a coal stove in his living room and loves it. The difference is how they handle the ashes. One of them carefully takes the pan outside and dumps it in the woods, the other would dump the pan into a ash can in his basement. I bet you can guess which one had the dusty house.

coldcoal, you & your family have a real Merry Christmas also my friend. If you ever decide you want to give it another shot, you know you are sure welcome back to the FORUM---don't pay any attention to the Grinch's Yup good fall--divorced the wife, bought her part of the farm, just me, the dogs & horses. I'm so poor I can't hardly afford to pay attention, but I'm sleeping good & the house hasn't been this peaceful for years.

This past time I used some wood that I thought was seasoned. Apparently not by all the black goo on my nice clean stove window. So I am thinking about using this charcoal method. Never used it before. Might be pretty cool to try.

As far as this cowboy stuff goes. Never saw the stuff in my life. Doubt they get that stuff here in the northeast corner of the USA. We are not exactly know for our cowboys. I have seen the royal oak stuff.