They will burn quicker than Hotmax or other cobs but will ignite a well-laid wood based fire easily and effectively. Traditional Kindling sticks are made in Scotland from local, sustainably sourced kiln-dried softwoods.

Instead, use smaller sticks when the fire is smaller, and as it gets bigger, you can put bigger sticks in it. Arrange the kindling in a criss-cross formation so that the pieces of wood are spread out but still touching. Our kindling is naturally dried and cut to ensure it has reached the ideal level of dryness to spark and grow a flame into a roaring fire. Larger sized logs can be a lot harder to catch alight during the earlier stages of a fire and so it’s always recommended to build fires using the small logs (with the lowest surface are) possible and add progressively larger sized logs as the fire gets hotter.Britt Edelen was an active member of his local Boy Scouts troop near Athens, Georgia from ages 8 to 16. However, there is a fine line between what can be used as tinder and what can be used as kindling––sometimes certain material can be used for both purposes.

You can use a moisture meter to check the moisture level of your kindling, and any other type of firewood, to confirm that it will be dry enough to burn efficiently.

Kindling, much like logs, should be low in moisture content to catch fire quickly and burn fast and hot. Moisture meters are an essential tool that can really make the difference between a successful fire and one that struggles to get going.

In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status. While the chip kindling is burning, place light, dry wood on top to catch alight over the burning chips.Even if the kindling is dry and burns well, if the logs are too high in moisture content then this can prevent the flames from spreading to the logs. Kindling is an important and cost-effective way to build a fire that burns strong with maximum output and a minimum of smoke.