Be a Fire Starter!

Belinda Kersten

BRRRRRRRRRRRRR! With the recent freezing cold spell we had in Gauteng, any way to stay warm was welcomed. And so the annual ritual of shlepping the heaters from the garage to our lounge began in earnest. Now I know with most families, Winter = sky-high electricity bills, so I figured I'd do our household a favour by lighting a fire in our (vintage) fireplace.

So the hunt was on... 3 stops later, managed to locate some firewood, everyone seemed to be sold out.Could be because this last weekend felt like we'd been thrust into sub-zero, wet and icy misery! Firewood? (check) Firelighters? (think I have some leftover from last braai...check) Newspaper (check) Matches (check). My mission was now to get home and light a nice toasty crackling fire for my family, without having to switch the heaters on.

Sitting on front of my fireplace I realized I didn't have smaller sticks or 'kindling' and wasn't planning on foraging in the garden in the dark, or taking an axe to some chunks of wood. I figured enough newspapers and firelighters would do the job. Problem #1: firelighters not lighting, could be past their sell by date. Problem #2: newspaper not staying lit long enough to ignite the wood.
By now my house has started filling with smoke, and I managed to spot my son across the haze, scrambling for the window. OK, it wasn't really THAT bad, but had to now switch on a fan. open doors and vacate for a bit. returned half an hour later distressed, and still no fire :-(

Now, sitting on the floor again, I was staring blankly at the pine cones that were 'decoratively' living in our fireplace before. And I had an epiphany (well sort of)... I remembered reading an article somewhere about dousing pinecones in a bit of cooking oil, wrapping that in newspaper and using it as a firelighter. So I gave it a shot, and it worked like a bomb! Figuritively speaking, I didn't blow anything up luckily. I was so happy with myself that once my fire started blazing I got out the marshmallows and toasted them in front of the fire for 2 hours!

Upon researching a bit, I have come across similar methods, some of which use wax instead of cooking oil on their pine cones. Here are a couple more ideas for getting a fire started (if, like me, you're a girl without a clue, or would just prefer not to use manufactured firelighters that reek of chemicals)

• My method: take one pine cone, pour about 3 tablespoons of cooking oil over it and wrap in a sheet of newspaper. Position in the middle of the fireplace along with a few more pieces of balled up newspaper and place your wood like a teepee over pine cone. Try to use only black-and-white newspaper to start a fire. Colored ink releases chemicals when burned.
• Pack charcoal in paper egg cartons and tie shut, when ready to use just light the carton.
• Take 100% cotton balls and thoroughly rub Vaseline into them, keep in a ziplock bag. To start a fire, put two or three cotton balls under your dry kindling and light.
• Soak a piece of charcoal in lighter fluid and coat with wax (when melting wax, only use a double-boiler set up, as melted wax can easily ignite).

Here is a nice idea to create some wax and pine cone firelighters

Hope you manage to 'light your fire' and get toasty this evening with some hot chocolate and a good book, and enjoy your fireplace this winter, it's so worth it.