... I just had to go out and buy one to start my fire in the woodstove. I don't have a stack of them anywhere, anymore. Progress?
A variation of the "fish wrap" trope, I suppose.
NOTE I'm out of birch.
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Other sources for paper
Lambert,
Is it some kind of paper you are needing to start a fire?
Would bits of corrugated boxes work?
I only go to my local "liquor store" very rarely to buy wine. But. they also set out, next to store, huge selection of cardboard boxes for all comers.
Way back when, in the process of moving, I learned that "liquor stores", "package stores" or whatever the local state by state term is, are a great source for packing boxes. And cardboard.
Never tried to start a fire by ripping them up (ripping up cardboard boxes) , but can't see why that wouldn't work, tearing them up to start a fire. VG
Good idea...
... but I don't know how fast it would flame up. I'll try! Birch is best, but my wood guy was light on birch this year.
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
Yeah, and btw
Yeah, and btw,
I don't have a stack of newspapers myself. Gave up on that about 15 years ago.
Just on principle. fwiw
For the past few years,
I have bought a Sunday paper every now and then to line the floor and walls under and around the cat litter boxes. That's about it.
You've inspired me to stop my subscriptions
to WSJ and Sunday Times. I have enough envelopes and scrap paper usually to start a fire.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Groucho Marx
WSJ
I subscribed to the WSJ for almost 20 years. I called it quits about 2002 and it took about 5 years before the propaganda started fading away. Now look where I am! :)
The important thing is to never stop questioning. - Albert Einstein
Free papers - dailies and weeklies
Free dailies and weeklies perform the newspaper related tasks around my home. I stay away from the color sheets for fire starting because I want to use the wood ash in the garden and some color inks use metal based dyes. I address the ethics of this by figuring that the publishers are operating on advertisement income, which comes based on the number of papers distributed. They should be happy to have me take a couple of dozen every now and then.
I often start my wood stove with a propane torch. Use the more finely split wood, and lay the fire so that the wood is about a thumb width apart. Put the torch down with the flame running right into the middle, and do something else for a minute or two. The fire will be self sustaining remarkably quickly with no paper ash.
The propane torch idea is awesome
No safety issues? Like, keeping the torch out in the toolshed or whatever?
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
No safety issues, stored as described below in the basement
I have a couple of torches that I keep in the plumbing tool bag. All stay apart from their fuel canisters when not in use (I don't trust the valves). There are two sets of valves involved. First, the valves on the torch control the flame when the torch is in use. They are all more than a few years old, and not kept in a particularly dirt free environment. So, when the torch is off and stored away, the torch is disconnected to prevent leakage. The small propane bottles have a valve on the tank that I trust to work while the tank is in service. I never refill those small tanks because I do not trust the valve longer than that. I also use a 20 pound propane tank if I am dong a lot of plumbing at the bench, for example when I was fabricating the manifolds for my radiant heating system (10 zones, with as many as six loops per zone, with valves and bleeders on every zone and every loop in every zone, plus mixing valves, pumps and sensors). That tank is refillable, and very inexpensive to use. You could use a smaller refillable tank, say a 10 pounder, for the same purpose. The necessary equipment includes a hose to connect tank and torch. I use a six footer.
"... was fabricating the manifolds for my radiant heating ..."
Screams out for pictures and how to!
Thanks for the tip on thinking about valves. Funny, I just went through a replacement episode on my steam radiator valves.
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
haven't bought a paper in years...
i skim them when i'm at the store waiting in line, but i honestly cannot remember the last time i paid for one. the big ones like the NYT and WSJ are propaganda, the local ones barely contain relevant information and are mostly celebrity rags, the only ones i do read are the local indies which actually do a pretty good job on local issues, but my interest in such isn't so great that i read them every week.
i recycle all my paper and do use a lot of it in the fire. those ashes go on the compost pile. i try not to burn the colored stuff with plastic lining or metal inks. but i do start a lot of fires with cardboard. it's much better than paper, and quicker too. where you have to bunch up paper (neatly stacked sheets of it don't burn as quickly), with cardboard all i have to do is sprinkle a little fire juice on torn sections and voila, even wet logs will burn. it's been so warm this year though, it hasn't been the case that i've needed to burn a lot of fires until just recently.
Oooh, that's a neat tip on cardboard
Just for due diligence, though, if you're burning wet wood be sure to check your chimney for creosote! I was astonished at how much there was from mine, when I had to go into my green woodpile (because I didn't order enough seasoned wood last year, dammit). The metal pipe from my stove to the chimney looked like a clogged artery.
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi