They are great - pine or spruce resin is hard to beat and birch bark is a joy! Thanks for your comment. All best. Vince

Agreed, the calm and timeless peace that an evening fire brings to a home is much needed just now - and, for me, sort of bonding with our distant past. Birch bark is king! I'm lucky that it is a common firewood species over here in the east of England too. I have a hunch that pine resin might burn better than the spruce resin I'm using - something to explore one day! Thanks as ever for your thoughtful comments. Vince

This one was great fun to make - thanks for your comment. All best, Vince

It was a fun one to make - thank you

That all sounds rather wonderful - enjoy upgrading your cones! Vince

Absolutely - and they are attractive, and smell nice, and fun to make - and they work really well! Thanks for watching. Vince

I've never really got on with leaves as tinder, there always seems to be something better at home and out in the woods. But I did prune my bay tree one year and that made great tinder/kindling!

@@WoodFiresWithVince is that the same bay leaf that is used for seasoning? I guess aromatics have oil, and that burns. Eucaliptus, I believe, is highly flamable too.

Thanks Mike - the suped-up cones are really working well, I lit the stove just now with one!

Thanks - this is fun if you have the time to do it.

Thanks for that, ages ago I landed on Brownsea island when I was crewing on a small yacht, I went looking for red squirrels but not cones! Vince

Great stoves Jotul, my first stove was one in a cottage with no other heating. And the 'super cones' work fine, but are mostly a bit of fun - there are quicker ways to light a fire, but I really do enjoy the whole wood-fire lifestyle thing. Have a good winter.

Thanks. I made up some more super-cones today - they're great!

Wow, that sounds interesting - good luck!

I love your ideas! You are right that the resin that melted out of the cone would have helped the kindling beneath to catch fire. I think the concept of making, what we used to call 'toffee apples' with the pine/spruce resin and then stick strips of birch bark is a great idea, and would smell so great that you wouldn't need anything else for aroma. But, for me at least, I don't think I could collect that much resin. Also there may be a subtle issue that by heating the resin to melting point, some of the most volatile oils in the resin may evaporate away - definitely something to do outdoors! I know my fire lighting cones are a bit messy, so I will look at better more efficient ways of making them. Thanks for watching and commenting - Best wishes, Vince

A tricky question really as most books offer something. These three are favourites - for camping the 1945 'Wildwood Wisdom' by Ellsworth Jaeger, it's fun and full of ideas. For a great read about humans evolving with fire, 'Catching Fire' by Richard Wrangham. I did enjoy the general wood burning book, 'It's all about the Firewood in Britain' by Richard Herkes. Wood fired cooking is tricky as there are so many books, I have enjoyed 'Wood-Fired Cooking' by Mary Karlin. I want to learn real barbequing, the several hours techniques, if I find a good book I'll let you know! I have tried to capture most of what I have learned from living with wood fires in my book. Anyway, good luck with your fires and cooking. Best wishes, Vince

I've not done that, but I would expect them to smoulder and smoke for a while.

Yes you are right - a beginner's error on my part not to have a pine cone with nothing on - I am going to persevere with candle wax too as it can't be as bad as the experiment suggests!?

Hi, the 4th cone in the experiment was just a Corsican pine cone with birch bark wrapped around it. But now I combine the 3rd and 4th cones to make the firelighters I use now. I push a little spruce, pine or fir resin into the cone and then wrap it in a few strips of birch bark. This gives very easy lighting, then a long hot burn - ideal for top down fires. If you make some, I hope they work well for you too. Vince

Awesome! I’ll give it a try, thanks!

Interestingly I am going to do that this autumn, as I don't have much birch bark this year. So I have gathered a load of pine cones and are thinking to try giving them a quick candle wax coating. I have seen some people hang each cone on a bit of cotton thread to dip the cones into hot wax - but I would prefer something quicker than that - I will have to watch some more KZfaq videos!

@@WoodFiresWithVince What country are you in? Are you all planning to sell your pinecone fire starter?

@@firestarters5253 Hello, I am in England. I was not planning to sell any I was just making a load for my home this winter. best wishes, Vince

I do not believe that the way I start my fires damages my flue or chimney. All fires are started with something volatile, and a few grams of bark and/or spruce resin might be kinder than the commercial firelighters commonly used. Plenty of air and a top down fire technique will help hugely too. Of course the logs themselves are full of exactly the same materials as I am using - there are no new 'additives'. Best wishes, Vince

@@WoodFiresWithVince Thanks for a great video! and an excellent reply.