Thanks for that - hope you've kept warm and dry in this our wettest year ever - apparently! On the kindling cutting, also have a look at the 'sissy stick' technique and splitting with a froe - both really good too.
Simple technique, short video, and straight to the point. Great Job. I really enjoyed this. Looking forward to trying this later on today, i got about a half cord of oak in my backyard for smoking and grilling food.
I have a huge stock of disused telegraph poles; they're made from pitch pine. Lovely tapers are made just using my Swiss army knife that effortlessly cuts the tapers to 1/4-inch. The rest of the logs are cut with a chainsaw, but our wood burning stoves' chimneys have catalysis that burn off any creosote fumes, so nobody in my village would even guess we get cheap heat this way. Your channel is lovely; I'm so glad for finding you! Wishing you all the best, Wendi UK 🌻
Thanks Wendi, About 40 years ago, when I first managed a forest, we made hundreds of telegraph poles. They were all Scots or Corsican pine that were then heavily impregnated with a thick tarry creosote to preserve them. Have a great winter and thanks again for your comment. Vince
Thanks - I peel them into a starfish shape and dry them by my stove, they certainly help. This idea was picked up by a magazine once which advised people to dry the peel in an oven!
I love splitting my kindling, Vince. I have only started doing it for myself this year (2023) and I have achieved a fair amount at the moment. Thanks for sharing…
Hi Vince, just found your channel and knew I would love it from how your wood pile looked. Beautiful. Anyway, just ordered your book. I have been burning wood and using the top down method for a number of years, but consider such a natural process with all its inbuilt variability to be a constant strive for perfection. Looking forward to reading it and learning more about wood types. Thank you.
Hi John, Yes burning firewood well is almost an artform - a bit like cooking good food from scratch. I know with a modern efficient wood-stove we don't need to know the burning characteristics of each tree species, that's an open-fire skill, but for me it makes it all the more interesting. I try and stack my wood neatly for a couple of reasons - you get more wood stored with neat stacking, and I have to look at it every day! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the book, best wishes, Vince
Enjoyed your video and the orange peel tip! I learned what I was mainly after, which is how to cut kindling properly and spare my precious fingers. Thank you so much! Your book is on my wish list
@@MultiBikerboy1 I reckon I saved about three quarters of my logs when I stopped using an open fire, love open fires but they get through too much wood. Insets are good as you have already found. Have a good winter, not far off now!
Thanks for the video. This was very helpful. All went well.. other than the dog running off with the pieces I just had made. I used a small hatchet--- need to go out and get an axe for sure.
Check out two other good kindling techniques. One is the 'sissy stick' to use with a hatchet (good videos on RU-vid) also I'm thinking of getting a Froe, these seem really good too.
Well after decades of lighting woodburners I've realised that some shavings are a great intermediate between newspaper and split sticks. I have a good quality outdoor knife and use that to carve some thickish "shavings". They never fail to get the fire started. I'd like to see if I can manage without matches or a cigarette lighter though, especially outdoors in the rain. The trick there seems to be some kind of shelter for the kindling...
Ari - when the book first came out there was an e-version, but it had problems so was withdrawn. I lived in a caravan once so appreciate having little space - maybe borrow the book, library? I hope you get to have a copy one day. Best wishes, Vince
Sounds good! Like a lady who commented that she uses a slasher with a short handle. Thanks - anything that keeps us our fingers is a good technique! All best, Vince
The ash question is an interesting one. Definitely a wood fire burns well on its own ashes, the embers just sit there glowing and radiate heat. I would advise always leaving some ash when cleaning the fire grate. There is a grate under the massive pile of ash in my open fire - but I'm testing something here. My fireplace smoked a bit and I was seeing at what height the fire needed to be to stop it smoking - old wisdom is about 10 inches above floor height and that worked for me. Best wishes, Vince
Yes I just noticed the fire grate poking through. I'll take your advice and leave ash under the grate; I was concerned it would affect the drawing of air but yours seems to be burning quite nicely since im guessing that pillow of ash is quite porous. We're also eating oranges and tangerines like mad to get some dry skins for kindling. thanks again.
Well, ive since got through about 300 kilos of kiln dried ashwood logs, havent cleared the grate at all, and still have only about 6 inches of ash. Its amazing how little is left behind after the wood is burned. Gonna clean the fireplace this weekend so will see what its like when totally cleared.
Thanks Mary, I was a bit surprised that a wood fires video attracted this. But everybody else has been great and the book is doing really well so I guess I should be very happy. I want to do more wood fire videos, but they take me ages to film and edit - maybe next year. Maybe you can still do the FB thing - your friends will see beyond someone being silly. Best wishes, Vince
That's great - many thanks. I am thinking to make a video on what's so different about the firewood from broad-leaf and conifer trees - any other ideas always welcome!
@@WoodFiresWithVince it'd be awesome to see your run down on how you typically use your wood stove. In chapter 8 you talk about the perfect fire, it would be awesome to see some of the techniques you describe in person, from the concertina that your grandfather or mother in law used to the v shaped wall you use to light the stove. I was mesmerized by the book and have re-read parts of it as I am relatively new to using a wood stove.
I use birch bark when I get it, but orange peel? Learned something today. Never would have though of using a big axe like that for kindling either. Been using a hand bill since I was 7 or eight when I was entrusted with keeping the kindling box full (open fires and paraffin heaters only, no central heating in the house I grew up in). Like you demonstrate with the axe, I 'knock the hook on' and then 'knock it down' so my 'holding hand' is nowhere near.
I recently met someone whose husband had just nearly severed his thumb chopping kindling, I know of two others who have badly cut a finger - it is so important to learn and use a safe technique . . . this is not 'safety gone mad' it's critical! I use so much orange peel, dried in front of the fire - not as good as birch bark, but then nothing is! I like the sound of the house you grew up in - my three children could all help with the wood from about the same age as you. All best. Vince
Great video. I'd like to try the orange peels. Should smell good. I used a small axe once to make kindling. Ended up with four stitches. I now use a froe. It works well for me.
Thanks - I know two people who had got badly hurt using a hand axe to split - now three! Glad you got away with stitches. I am still using a billhook as a froe - must get a real froe one day. best wishes, Vince
Hi, I have put that axe in my shed somewhere and can't find it now. We did most tree work with a small 4 pound axe, but I think the axe in the video is bigger, maybe 7 pound. Sorry not to be more definite. Vince
No sorry, where I got that axe is lost in the mists of time - I probably just nicked it from a pile of forestry tools that were being scrapped back in the 1980s! When I was a woodland manager my 33 tree felling men were replaced by three machines - masses of hand tools were dumped at that time, tragic. Maybe try old tool auctions. Good luck, Vince
Hi Douglas, I do prefer using an old felling axe but, a small axe/hatchet is fine if you use a 'sissy stick' with it! I have not made a video using one, but you could check it out. I have known two people lose a finger chopping kindling with a small axe, so the important thing is to keep the holding hand away from the impact area. Good luck. Vince
Hi Vince, interesting video, especially liked the orange peel advice, great for Christmas! Can I ask; your fire jn the vid seems to have a pile of ash banked up quite high. I use a fire basket and clean it out every few fires, so was wondering what was the benefit of your method. Thanks, and kind regards
You don't need a fire basket for wood, that's for multi fuel fires such as coal. Better to burn on a bed of Ash. Wood burns from the top, coal burns underneath. If you've got a log burner with a basket and a riddler, take it out, the logs will burn better. Empty the Ash out of the fire it it gets really full but leave an inch in the bottom
Now that is a really good idea! Thank you so much. I do plan to film some more on lighting fires, good woodsheds, seasoning, etc - but to put them all together!!
I very much agree! Vince's voice is pleasant and combined with the natural background sounds of busy birds - very nice indeed. I would love to see a series of instructional videos.
Sign up for google partner and make small videos like you already did. Teasers if you will. Then make an "extended" clip of each episode available at Amazone. That way you get revenue from both the videos shown, and for those of us wanting more that buy the video. :) I've been told, that the best way to keep a recurring audience is to spread videos. Meaning even if you can produce 3 videos af weak, only upload on every week or 2 weeks. That way subscribers doesn't get spammed, and you risk less leavers. Anyway, I wish you luck!
I was given mine by a friend who buys at a lot of tool sales. It is the weight of an old felling axe - I guess just watch ebay and gumtree, but mostly put the word out that you want one. There always seem to be old axes for sale at farm sales too. Good luck. Vince
Hi, just got a quick question for you- my mum's got an enclosed wood burner at her house, and she'd like to know if you can use the Orange peel in a burner like her's? she has a liner in the chimney and thinks the oils that come from an orange peel could stain her liner and possibly damage it- what do you think? Also what about other fruit peels? I.e. banana, thanks a lot
Hi Gareth, I think your Mum should be fine using dried orange peel as a firelighter. She is right it has lots of oil but when the fire is first lit it should have loads of air - and so all the oil is burnt - that's what makes dried citrus peel so good. I've never tried banana, but I don't think it would be any good. You could talk to her about making your own firelighters from things like pine cones and egg boxes? best wishes, Vince
I'm wanting to sell kindling for fundraising but I don't know how much it should cost. I will probably sell it per kilo in 2-5 kg bags. The wood is from pallets. How much would you suggest to sell it for?
Indeed.. So far so good! I've managed to keep the fingers away from my old table saw for all these years... I almost lost one when cutting some mohagany decking... phew
I have not heard of that, something to look into. If I find any good info' I'll post it. It can't be the oil content or birch wood with bark would not be used either.
Hi I have bought a builder's bag of logs for my new multi fuel stove, I think it's all hard wood. I'm finding it very slow to 'get going' compared to kindle dried bags of logs. It appears to be seasoned - moisture content about 15. I wondered if I was doing something wrong. I use newspaper, 4 firelighters and chopped up pine pallets for kindling. This burns very well, but then the bought logs tend to smoke a lot and produce little heat, threatening to go out. My other problem is I can't identify which tree the wood has come from. I'd love to be able to look at the bark and know what the wood is. Got any tips? Thanks
Hi Julie, This is a tricky one. A moisture content of 15% is really good and you should be fine with that. And the fact that your kindling burns ok suggests you have the air flow about right too. As i'm slow in answering I wonder if you're ok now? My gut feeling is that the builder's bag wood isn't dry all through - maybe store this and get more ready to burn logs from another supplier. If it would help to talk more my email is, vthurkettle@msn.com Yours, Vince
Thanks for this. I think I'll try another supplier. Next winter, I will have my own supply of wood that I acquired and chopped up this summer. Hurray! Thanks again.
That all sounds great. Wood is such a good fuel as we can get well ahead on building up a full wood store - and then know we'll be ok whatever the weather and power cuts throw at us - as long as we have the room to store all the logs! Let's hope for a good long summer to season everything well.
I’m upset. Last week my wife made marmalade and the peel went in food waste, month ago I bought a nice hatchet to make kindling. Timing. 🫣 What axe do you recommend?
I am not too fussy about which hand axe I use, but I now use only a Fiskars X27 splitting axe, which I really like. And yes to saving and drying your orange peel - I lit my fire with it this morning! Thanks for your comments. Vince
