Fire Starters by Frantz

[annette]

Below is a quote from Frantz from a few months ago and I followed these instructions and made the fire starters. Tomorrow will be the first time to try them as I have been collecting the supplies all this while. I will let you all know how it goes.

Annette


Here is a little tip from us Boyscouts here in UT,for your smoker. I have found this to work extremely well. Take an old egg carton (Cardboard one) and fill the spaces with lint from your dryer. Add a little sprinkle of sawdust on top (helps it to light quickly) and then melt  wax on top to hold it all together. This makes an excellent fire starter. Take one little egg space off, just break it off, light it, and drop it into the bottom of your smoker. Now take tightly rolled up and cardboard and put it in your smoker. Close the lid and you are on your way. I can post some pics if you need me to. But this seems to work great and lasts quite a while.
I had my scouts make these a while back and it has worked well. I got the rolled cardboard idea off of someones post here. Good luck, let me know if it is successful for you.

[Bee-Bop]

These have been made and used for years by campers.
Used to go to a laundrymat and get a years supply of lint on one visit.
Works great to start a campfire.

Bee-Bop

[Two Bees]

Sounds like a good idea..........but I would be concerned about any synthetic materials that may release some undesirable chemicals in the smoke used to calm your bees.

[Keith13]

I found a way from a very experienced beek how to light a smoker everytime. buy a handheld propane torch works like a charm every time, though sort of pricey. i pick up rotten wood from the treeline (we have a lot after the hurricanes) and stuff it into my smoker then blast it with the torch and off I go

[DayValleyDahlias]

OhI think I will buy myself a small propane torch whilst I am visiting Oregon ( no sales tax ) ... :lol:

[Dane Bramage]

Come say hello when you're up here DVD (if you're all the way up near Portland).  :)

I too would be concerned of the dryer lint (unless it's all natural fiber), saw dust too - could be from pressure-treated lumber, etc.,.

Propane torches?  Are people really having difficulties starting their smokers?  I never require more than a little bit of paper or burlap then just add whatever is dry and available from around the yard: leaves, pine cones & needles, fern fronds, bark dust, etc.,.  I keep the coir from coconuts for fuel as well.  It's a bit oily but smokes nicely in combo with all the other stuff.

Smoker, not bon-fire  ;)  heh  If I had a torch handy I'd probably use it too.  8-)

Cheers,
Dane

[Barbara]

I can't seem to keep mine lit between hives. It works fine for the first one, and by the time I'm ready for the next it's gone out. :'(

[Kathyp]

hey DVD, are you going to s. oregon again?  seems i recall that you have family or a place down there?  one of these days you'll have to venture up this way and meet us northerners.  i promise not to eat anything disgusting while you are visiting   :-D

[Two Bees]

I had the same problem with the smoker going out intially and determined that I was using too much "quick burning" natural stuff (i.e. pine needles, pine cones, small twigs, etc.).

Then, I decided to use some BIG stuff once a good burn was going (i.e. oak bark, oak wood, pine limbs, etc.) and packed it down good.  Sounds like a slow-cook barbeque but it worked great and lasted a long time!  And the barbeque was GREAT too!

 

[jimmy]

We have had trouble keeping the smoker lit also. We found that making a hole through the middle of the straw and using a hand held propane lighter ( the cheap one for a dollar) that the straw burns much better from the bottom upwards with afew puffs now and then.

[Keith13]

like i said i use rotted wood. i used to use either the stuff from dadant or pine straw or something else easy to light. I would get busy doing something in the hive next thing you know my smoker was out it would burn out of fuel or go out. with the wood it smolders for awhile then i have a wine cork that i stick in it to put it out when i'm done.

[Frantz]

Annette,
Let me know how it works, best of luck. It has worked great for me so far this year.
F

[bberry]

The hand held torches do work really well and they are pretty inexpensive-less than $20 at the hardware store. The replacement cylinders are pretty cheap too and it's worth the cost, i use my torch all the time (my husband just thinks i'm a pyro and will use any excuse to fire up the torch :evil:)
I use dryer lint as a starter as well as pine needles, dry grass etc. but unless you wear natural fibers prob better not on the lint.

N. Oregon Beeks!I am going to be in your neck of the woods come summer (taking my daughter to Girls Rock Camp in Portland :mrgreen:) and i would love to meet up with anyone in the area

[DayValleyDahlias]

LOL Kathy...Oh Thanks Dane,

I will be hunkered down in Grants Pass...but when I venture up to your necks of the woods, I will give a holler~*~I'll bring some "Good Eats, sans the Meats"  :-D

[annette]

OK

Here is my feelings on the fire starters. It worked so great starting up the smoker and then I packed in burlap, which I usually use. It was great smoke and never went out.

But, the smoke burned my eyes very badly everytime the wind changed, which I never experienced before, and there was an acrid smell probably from the bees wax burning (remember you had to melt wax over the whole thing to keep it all together). I was sort of worried about using it on the bees. I did use it, but after my eyes started to burn and I smelled the burning wax, I stopped using it.

Frantz,  do you ever have this sort of experience? 

I know the saw dust was from plain untreated lumber, but not sure about the dryer lint. the woman from work who gave me most of it, just washed her family's clothing, not anything else. Most lint comes off of natural fibers I believe.

Anyone have any other feelings about all this???

Annette

[annette]

Annette,
Let me know how it works, best of luck. It has worked great for me so far this year.
F

Frantz,

How much wax do you melt over the little eggs??  do you use bees wax??  Perhaps I melted way to  much wax over the whole thing.

[Frantz]

Annette,
I will take some photos and we can compare. I have never had the eye buring problem, but my area were I keep my bees is usually pretty breezy. I just use old candles to melt the wax from. TJ Max has old candles for like a buck or so. I just use them. Again, I will take a few photos and we can compare the wax amounts.
F