How to Start a Fire in a Wood Burning Stove

This article will help to explain the art of starting a fire in a wood burning stove.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Matches or lighter
• Paper
• Kindling wood
• Firewood

1. The first step is preparing. Make sure you have everything you need before you strike the first match. Within arms length make sure you have paper, kindling wood, as well as some larger pieces of wood.

2. Let's begin with a few pages of newspaper... crumple them up and place them into the wood stove. Some people like to tear the paper into strips, but I find the paper burns better when crumpled.

3. Next, find some small pieces of kindling or some twigs from the backyard. make sure the pieces you select are nice and dry. Arrange the small pieces of wood like a tee-pee, with the newspaper in the center.

4. Now light the newspaper with a match or lighter. As the paper burns, the surrounding kindling wood will soon be ignited. As the small pieces of wood start to burn, carefully begin adding slightly larger pieces of wood to the top of the fire.

5. When the fire is burning nicely and a bed of hot coals is starting to form, you can start to add some of the bigger pieces of firewood.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember to use seasoned, dry wood!
• Always exercise caution around a fire.
• Make sure to close the wood stove doors once you have your fire going.