BAAAAHHHH!!! Help with fire please!!

I can never get the darn fire to go!!!!!! so i we always freeze when DH isnt here!!

Im not sure what im doing wrong!!?? I use fire lighters and kindling and dont smother it but still it goes out!!

oh please help!!

I make a little nest of kindling and place the firelighters strategically, wait for them to catch a bit on the kindling and then put a bit of wood against it and then when that catches, add another.

Making fire seems to be a good boy thing though, I do have to say. DH's fires are always better than mine!

You need to make sure there is plenty of air getting in. You need to make sure your paper is balled up tight so it dosen't burnout before kindling catches. You need to have small bits of wood to put on at first, do 't add them till the kindling has caught. Keep the air going in well till it is all well ablaze... if you have a woodburner, keep the handle in (I think? its in on mine, anyhow) if not, you may need to blow!!!! You need to make sure there is a small bed of ashes, when it is completelty empty, it can be harde to start! I am an expert firemaker!!! I will probably get a job stoking the firse in hell one day, lol. (hope not..)

its the opposite here. DH THINKS he is a good fire starter but it always goes out and when I come to see whats happened I find every available bit of space crammed with HUGE bits of wood. He does not seem to like kindling.

I scrunchup newspaper and then make a little teepee structure out of my kindling (sometimes I might put a bigger piece at the bottom at the back to lean things on) and then light. as the kindling catches and is really burning I slowly add a bigger piece making sure that the flames will engulf it and that there is still air around it...so not directly on the burning bit but balanced above it. then keep going like that as each bit gets going till you have a good fire,.

tishy wrote: Use a hairdryer on a low setting to help the airflow

or...you could put something over the hairdryer and put it on high! Instant fire

cheap firelighters from countdown are great. we get them free from DH's work though!

It also depends on your wood. You need a faster burning wood at the start of the fire (like pine) and then move to a macrocarpa or beech as it burns slower so saves you $$. Sometimes it also pays to open the door a fraction to let more air in. And for a good fire there should always be some ash in the bottom of the fire when you start it - but not too much! And also check that no water has run down the chimney and soaked it all, as the fire will spend most of it energy drying that out instead of warming you up.

Our fire place has 2 handles on it and DH has explained what they are for but do you think i listened!?

We have 2 different types of wood and i can only seem to keep the pine burning! DH manages to keep it all burning im a shameful ex-pippin, browny, girlguide!...i spent too much time being mischeif! to actually listen about fires!

BUT Alas the fire IS going now all-be-it with the pine that DH told me to ONLY use to start it

theres 1 handle on the left that goes side to side and 1 long one on the right that goes in and out???

Is your wood really really dry? We had terrible fires a few years ago cos our wood was still a bit damp.

Bark is also great, better than pinecones IMO.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the sideways lever is the flue (top thing!) and then in-out one is the air coming in from the plate at the bottom? Or maybe the other way around? I know that we've only got a sideways one and that's for our flue as our grate is set.