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

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

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 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.

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.

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

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

This is why i love KZfaq 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

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!

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

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.

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!

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.

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

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

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

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 🙂

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Thank you! Great video for beginners.

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

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.

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

Perfectly informative. Thank you.

Great video. Very thorough and helpful. 👍🏼 🔥

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

Wish I was fireproof like you.

Great teacher! Thanks! I appreciate your video!

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!!

Excellent detail and explanation, thank you

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. :-)

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.

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

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

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

Great video, thank you for this!

Thanks buddy. Great video

Great video

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

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

Great video! Thanks

blowing through the fingers is the best tip ever!

Thank you! Really helpful

Thanks for the great video!!

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.

Great job 👍

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

Awesome video

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_

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

That diamond tip was so awesome

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

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).

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 ....

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 😂

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.

Best video yet

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 🔥 😅

Great info!

Thank you so much for this! I'd buy a little pamphet if you sold em, I saved the PDF guide! We got a house with one they had converted to Gas, and to do so they drilled a couple holes in the side about the width of your pinky to run gas lines into. Is it possible to cap those holes and go back to burning wood? I was thinking carriage bolts, maybe with high temp JB weld in any gap left and capping on the outside with a washer and nut.

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

Just finding you on KZfaq. Can you do a video on how to clean out the ashes in this type of wood stove if they build up too high and you aren't ready to let it go out? Our current stove has a bottom grate and ashes fall down to pan. But this type doesn't and we are thinking to buy one with the efficient after burn and front glass door. Thanks.

Thanks !!!! V ery helpful!

Thank you

Thank you! 😁

Thank you.

Hi! I would like to now what is the funciona of the cable that comes behind the burn stove. It is the first time we use it and we don't know. Thanks

I just bought a stove from menards. I need to install it. What did you use around the walls? It looks nice. The foundation looks like cement slabs, is that correct?

Thank you so much! :).

Danke. Also, wir füllen den Feuerraum einfach mit richtig trockendem Scheitholz, dann noch ein paar dünne Äste oder Tannenzapfen vorne dran und mit etwas Zeitungspapier angebrannt. Haptsache, das Holz ist richtig trocken. Deshalb trocknen wir es noch einmal 3 oder 4 Tage in einem Regal an der Seite vom Ofen nach. Brennt alles wie Zunder, ohne so eine lange Zeremonie beim Anheizen. Viele Grüße aus Deutschland.

17:00 woah. cool. Can wood stoves be put on floor joist floors or does it have to be concrete?

What if you dont have a damper on the chimney ? And also, if you have the fire good and going, will you smother it if you knob is too low?

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

Thank you great. Video

How do you manage the smoke that goes up into the pimp and into the house?

Thank you for making and sharing this video. I just had a brand new woodstove (same model as yours) installed, but it does not have a damper. Does this change any of the instruction you have provided? I did not grow up with either a woodstove or fireplace, so this is all very new to me.

Cool video

Thank you sir

Nice video

Awesome video. You need more vids broski!

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; -)

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

Thank you , how do i use the tiny damper aboce door?

At 4:28 ... How do I get or find some of those types of sticks? Thanks in advance :-) thanks for the video!

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

Good stuff

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.

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

What is the name of that silver thing around the handle on the door of the stove?