How to Use a Wood Burning Stove 

I'm a retired chemist, new to wood stoves and I've watched dozens of videos. This one covers the science and theory, in lay terms, BEST on the subject, that I have seen. Thank You

I'm new to wood stoves and this was the video I was looking for. Everything put into simple terms and explaining the functions of everything. You're a lifesaver man.

blowing through the fingers is the best tip ever!

Best explanation for new woodstove owners I've seen on youtube so far. Building a nice bed of coal, giving the fire all the air it needs to build the coalbed and after that feeding the large stuff to it, regulating the air down for your heating needs when you have the fire up to speed.

Great video, but one suggestion, build the fire upside down. Put a couple logs on the bottom, then your medium branches on next, followed by your vine bark and birch bark on top. Light the birch bark first. As the fire burns, the coals will fall down into the layer below igniting it and building your bed of coals and ultimately your logs. You get a lot of instant heat up the chimney with this method helping to clear any cold blockages. Works a charm each time.

I'm moving into a log cabin in the woods with a wood stove, so this is great for me! Thanks!

Ive built hundreds of fires this way-and still do sometimes. But nowadays when im at home i just use a propane torch, kindling in a can. I use regular kindling splits and blast it with the torch, and alternately blast the chimney pipe with my torch too, to force heat to the insode of my chimney pipe and induce draft. Getting a draft started is the biggest help to starting a fire quickly. Also, if ur wood stove sat unused for several days and ur trying to start a fire in damp chilly wet weather its best ti blast the outside of ur chimney pipe with the torch for a bit to push that heavy plug of damp cold air out of ur chimney and help prevent an inversion, which is when ur stove reverses on start up and smokes out ur house

This is why i love RU-vid for videos like this, i so appreciate you for this video my beautiful brother please don't stop making these, thank you so much, you just never know how many people need this info, i just bought a wood burning stove and i am very glad to have found your video, this is valuable to an amateur such as myself

Just bought a new Home that has a Pellet Stove upstairs and a wood burning stove in the basement. This was a great help.

I have the same exact stove. The instructions said to not install a damper on the stove pipe. Doing so stops your secondary burn. The way this stove works is when it gets up to temp.(close to 1000 degrees) you close the primary air and the draft will cause oxygen to enter through the secondary air tubes at the top of the fire box that burns the smoke. This is why this stove is so efficient.

Thank you so much. Newly divorced and needed sone tips. You’re awesome!

Thanks alot! Got a wood stove in our new house, this was really helpful!

Wish I was fireproof like you.

Diamond hack is awesome, gonna show my kids they will love it. Thanks bro!

Thanks so much. Very well taught for first time wood burning stove owners.

I’ve been adding a few corn chips to my kindling. It works great. I learned this from an episode of The Big Bang Theory!

I was looking everywhere to figure out what the little knob was on the front of my wood stove. You were the first video I found it on and I hugely appreciated the instruction on how to use the airflow.

My new house in a rural area has an oil furnace but also used to have a wood stove, the chimney has a hole for the stove. I like the idea of the wood stove as it looks cozy. Thinking about getting a stove put in. Thanks for the informative video.

I use a wood stove to heat my house when it’s real cold…like it is now, at -30. There were some tips in here that I didn’t know about. Great video, very informative

Nice guy, happy to watch to the end.

Thank you so much for this video!!! Super helpful this is our first year with being in charge of a wood stove in our home and we've had such frustration. This has made all our errors obvious and we should be better with it now... best learning video I've found for us

Wow. Thank you for this video. For years we used electric and propane heater. I plan to install wood burner soon as i expect the price of propane and everything else to skyrocket. We live in the country where we have lots of trees. Thank you.

Very helpful video. You made the instructions clear and easy to follow. Thank you for posting!

This is everything I always wanted to know about wood stoves - thank you!

You explained this really well. Definitely gonna save and re-watch a few times. I look forward to more videos!

Great explanation of key points of how to get a fire started in the wood stove. Thank you, greatly appreciate the tutorial!

Yeah, I been heating with a wood stove since I was a kid. I’ve cut hundreds of cords in my life. Get it cut and split in the spring and let it bake in the sun all summer and you’ll have dry wood to burn in the fall and winter. Keep it out of the rain and snow! Split some kindling and start it with newspaper. Pretty simple!

Thanks! Currently at rustic cabin in the north. First night I was very patient and things went well. The next morning I just wanted to get the stove going and get my coffee fix. Certainly did not work! I don’t own a stove, but will know from now on what steps to take when I’m semi rough camping. Excellent lesson.

Thanks very much for this superguide!!! I now know how to correctly use my woodstove!👍👍👍👍

thank you for this! so informative with tips and tricks and clear explanations, this video is a life saver, thanks so much!

Very helpful and informative video. Some things never thought of before. I like the technique of how to blow the fire without getting all the heat back at your face.

This is incredibly helpful, thank you!

this is an absolutely fantastic video and it helped me get a wonderful little fire going. unfortunately i realized that my problem is that i am not getting a draft because the vent in the room is sealed from the outside, which became clear after filling my house up with smoke, lesson learned lol

We’ve been getting ready for our wood heater for at least a year know; harvesting wood, splitting, stacking, etc. I’ve saved all the scraps created when splitting the wood. It will make some fine kindling, along with the dryer lint that my wife has been collecting. I’ve also invested in a really nice moisture meter. Spot checking my wood racks shows a moisture reading of no higher than 12%. Everything I’ve read says keep it below 20%. My Buck Model 81 will be installed in a few weeks. We’re pumped. Thank you for the info!!

Thanks for this! Our new house will likely have a wood burning stove and I'm now much more confident I WON'T burn the house down. :-)

That diamond thing to blow on the fire was magic. Lol great tip.

A great video on how to turn an easy job into a difficult job.

This was so helpful-thank you! City girl gone bush girl here and I need guidance 😁👍

Perfectly informative. Thank you.

That diamond tip was so awesome

Thank you! This is a really informative video. Also, I appreciate your production quality. Well done all around.

This has been the biggest help. Thank you so much for making this!

Good information, but you forgot to mention pre-heating the flue before starting the fire. This step seems to be missing from most wood stove videos on YT. I struggled to understand why my house would fill with smoke for the first few minutes, despite the fact that I was doing everything shown in the videos. I eventually learned that not pre-heating causes cold air to push down on the fire and prevents smoke from exiting the flue (until it warms up).

I agree with all you say. Though the following are more tips: A propane torch is the easiest way to start a fire and advance it to the stage when you just wanna jam it full of wood, set the air and walk away for a few hours. Fooling with the fire and opening it up every hour or so to add just one log loses a lot of heat from your house. After a full night burn push everything to the back and rake the coals to the front. After about 3 days of burning let her die down all day to burn up most of the coals, the bottom might be about half full. After about 5 days of burning you then need to let her die down all day with air damper wide open to remove the ash and restart.

Thank you so much for this video, I am now able to easily and safely start and maintain fires in my wood burning stove.

Been heating with a wood stove for 32 years! Never went through all that nonsense to start a fire!

If you have to leave your door open when you are starting your fire, you are using too much fuel during the starting process. An efficient fire doesn't smoke much and it won't die when the door is closed. Provided that your draft is working properly. I open all dampers to ensure full draft through the stove in the beginning. Try creating a space that will hold the heat but allow good air flow. I usually put a larger piece on either side and build my fire between them. I start with newspaper, then some small kindling, and a few small, thin flat pieces on top to help hold heat. It will smoke a bit for a minute or two. I let the fire mostly consume the kindling before adding larger pieces. About 5 minutes. But my door is closed as soon as I light the paper. You are aiming to create air flow but hold enough heat to keep the fire. By leaving the door open, you could be venting gas into your living space. If you can smell the fire, it's venting into your home. Go small in the beginning and add sparingly. Just enough to keep it going. A soft wood builds the best bed of coals in the beginning. Poplar, cottonwood, aspen, birch, etc. I've found that pine or spruce starts the best. As soon as there is a nice bed of coals built, front to back, between the 2 larger pieces, you can fill your stove as full as you need, preferably with hardwoods like oak or maple, and get the draft shut down. 1 thing that some stoves need is colder temps outside. The cold temps create draw in your flue (pipe). I have problems getting draft above 50 degrees F. So, I will load the flue with newspaper and light it a couple seconds before I light the fire. That encourages the draft to go the proper direction. I have had a reverse draft a couple times.....the stove was drawing the warmer air from outside and venting the exhaust through the air control valve into the house. All because I wanted a fire on a warm but rainy day. I also have times where the chimney pipe is the entire air flow. It vents fresh air from the outside and the exhaust on separate halves of the pipe. It's kinda cool but impossible to control the burn rate. It happens mostly on windy days.

This thing can hold a fire!! I burn a lot of wood and it holds up. I would recommend this product.

Great teacher! Thanks! I appreciate your video!

I've been heating my house and shop since 1976 and I can tell you I've got a fire going and I'm drinking a cup of coffee long before this gentleman gets his fire going. I'm also a retired firefighter so I clean my chimneys often

This was awesome!! Thank you for the additional education on the stove itself. Great, great, great!

Wowed by your teaching class today You have taught me everything I needed to know God Bless You sir!!!

Thank you! Great video for beginners.

I think this tutorial is as comprehensive as one would wish for.

Really informative video. I enjoyed it a lot and I don’t even have a wood stove or a fireplace 😂😂😂 but can’t stop me from dreaming of having one in the future 😂

Glad to learn the diamond tip. I wondered when something eventually hits my eye.

Great video man! I completely understand all the logic behind it. I don't know if i miss it but i wonder how the air intake mechanics works in this one

I've never heard such a detailed description of building a fire lol

Excellent detail and explanation, thank you

You can buy a box of those starter sticks for like $12 that will last a season and then just throw logs on it.

Since starting up a wood stove is a ritual for me, I enjoyed learning new things.Im not sure why my installer didn’t put in a damper. I will check with Lopi stoves to see if I can install one.

Side note if you have a good newer wood stove do not ever put in a damper this will make the wood stove run bad!! These newer wood stoves are made to run properly without a damper 🙂

Great video. Very thorough and helpful. 👍🏼 🔥

I bought a property in a cold whether and I have one of those thank you for the explanation

Great video

Nice video. Thank you for your time and effort Sir.

Dad taught me to roll the paper into a bowe tie. Light the ends the middle is denser. If you have to use paper.

This is a lovely and meditative way to spend time. You wont be wasting your time making a fire like this. There is far faster ways to make fires. Such as using larger kindling and pre prepared fire starters. Bunched up paper covered in mayonnaise can be a fire starter! The best way to make flame is with lighters. The same lighters that most people use for light cigarettes. Nothing beats that for a fast and efficient flame. It also is on your person and wont fail if wet. What will you have on your body if you miraculously find yourself unharmed and flung from a fast moving car in the middle of nowhere in the rain? A lighter! Everything else is for fun. Which it is. Fun. All the creative ways of making flame are absolutely for a last ditch attempt. If you consider yourself a survivalist, a lighter is the ultimate tool. I own a striker and would attempt to make flame using friction if i had the time. If I was in danger, lighter.

very informative.

Saved my ass with this one, thanks for the in depth video

Best video yet

Thanks buddy. Great video

I could watch this a billion times

I've NEVER seen anyone but you tart a wood stove like that before. ... while leaving the door wide open !

Some of the video is alright, but the lighting technique is D+.

Nothing like a house full of smoke while you’re trying to get that puppy going lol

My dumb ass came home from work, threw in some logs and paper products and then wondered why I had mild coals and why was I shivering. I added a small log, a schmedium stick and 2 more pieces of paper. And now I'm roasting in here. _Kindling made all the difference in the world_

I know how to use a wood stove, mines in my basement n it has a long way to exit the chimney. U left out an important factor. U must create up draft. Open window, or bilco door before lighting fire. It also is sensible to use big small n medium sizes of wood. Not bad video u did not bad

This video is still fire

Thank you! 😁

cant believe I just watched someone light a friggin wood stove . . . . . Jesus H Christ how far do I got to fall :) I don't even got a stove !

Great review, my only suggestion..., always best to start with a clean wood stove. Be sure to remove ashes from previous burn. This makes it easier going forward. Thanks again for the post.

I just use a self igniting hand held soldering torch that cuts down on time and the need for smaller kindling and helps get the draft going.

Great video, thank you for this!

I hope that you can make more instructional videos for us green horns lol Great job

Hi, i use pine cones to start my fire in old wood stove....wiith little wd. On top...works grt. Thank you, you are v. Consise and clear ....

I prefer to light the stove from the top. It's simple, efficient and with a minimum of smoke: I put 2 larger oak logs underneath, a few thinner chips across them, then some thinner spruce logs, then more thinner spruce pieces, then finally a pile of chips. The whole pile of wood extends to about 2/3 to 3/4 of the height of the chamber. I stick a fire starter (or paper or very thin chips) under the chips and the preparation is done. It takes about 5 minutes, even with cleaning the stove. When I come home from work, I just light the burner with one match and immediately close the door, the vents open to the maximum. Within minutes a pile of chips ignites brightly and creates a draft in the chimney. At that point I reduce the air intake vents and occasionally check that everything is burning "just right" - a bright fire, but not too fiercely. The fire slowly burns down to bigger and bigger logs. The lowest logs start to burn after about 1 hour and the whole stake burns to glowing ash in about 2-3 hours. Only when the last flames disappear, I open the door, add 2 oak logs and close it again. I leave the bottom flow for a while for a faster burn and then pull the vents down again. Try it out; -)

Thank you so much! :).

Great job 👍

Great video thank you.. I am not familiar with wood stoves but defínelly thinking on gettin one for the cold Wyoming winters 🥶🥶 we are waiting for temps as low as -30 this coming week.. I like it but seems like it takes a while to have a good fire 🔥 😅

Thanks !!!! V ery helpful!

Great video! Thanks

Great video but please can you let people know that this method does not work for all wood burning stoves. Ours has a top oven and back boiler and if we left the door open like that the whole house would fill up with smoke. My mum recenty house sat for us and watched this despite instructions from us, and she has been leaving the door open thinking it was OK but came home to a house stinking of smoke and black ceiling :(

Vine bark? Where do you find vines with bark lmfao

Thank you

If you have or had a standing dead pine or similar, the sap will have settled into the trunk and the will be areas soaked in sap. It’s often called fat wood (phat wood?) and great fire starter on match 😁

I load my logs on the bottom with kinder and news paper in top, a top start option which works well.

Top down is much easier. 2 big logs on bottom, 2 medium then kindling on top/in the middle.

Thankyou 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜

Thank you! Really helpful