smoker fuel and lighting

[dannygolf1959]

whats the best smoker fuel and the best way to get it started,,I've just been using rolled up cardboard this whole season but I feel it doesn't last long enough and feels slightly hot. I know its supposed to be cool smoke. would love to hear all thoughts

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

ditch the cardboard, use old, dried rotten wood - I use a spill of newspaper to get a handful of wood shaving alight then put the rotten wood on top.

 

[bpmurray]

I use dried grass (something good comes from that lawn mower!) and a I know folk who swear by pine needles. both burn cool and don't spark. I have used pine shavings when I was stuck and really didn't like it - it tarred up the smoker, the smoke was hot and there were always little sparks flying out of the spout of the smoker.

 

[madasafish]

The best lighter is a blowtorch. And the easiest lit fire is one in one of these:

http://tinyurl.com/j6xd3zg.

Remove from smoker, with attached wire (a personal add on : attached to hole drilled in rim) . Fill to brim: apply blowtorch to bottom. After ten seconds insert in smoker.
Job done.

And the best fuel is free: dried wood/wood chips/wood turnings/old cardboard boxes and a bit of green grass for extra smoke.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

apply blowtorch to bottom.

I would word that a little better - you're not addressing a boxful of the sharpest knives here you know

 

[philipm]

I've been using old egg trays topped of with hay smoker keeps going for ages.

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

I use pine cones and wood burner pellets that a company gave me to trial, they work well and burn for hours but no good after being damp they turn into sawdust I found out after leaving my bucket out in the rain by mistake.

 

[Webby]

Old rotten wood and pine cones I find best for me. Bit of rolled up cardboard to get it going.

 

[The Drone Ranger]

The compressed cotton from our biggest beekeeping store takes a bit of lighting but burns slowly
If you have a horse owning friend Maxibed comes in 25kg bales and is good on top of the cotton
Made from shredded hemp stems it burns slow and cool with a nice smell

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[Gilberdyke John]

whats the best smoker fuel and the best way to get it started,,I've just been using rolled up cardboard this whole season but I feel it doesn't last long enough and feels slightly hot. I know its supposed to be cool smoke. would love to hear all thoughts

Use a bit of torn up fibre egg tray as a starter then put wood shavings (horse bedding) on top. Puff the bellows a few times then pack more shavings in.
I give it a few pumps now and again to maintain it lit. People complaining about sparks need to exercise restraint in pumping the bellows. A full charge is usually sufficient to inspect 9 or 10 hives as I rarely need much smoke and don't dawdle about, mostly it's to clear bees out of crush points when putting back together.
As we have both chickens and horses the materials are always on hand.

 

[Poly Hive]

As the majority do not have live stock apart from their bees dry rotten wood is very hard to beat and is free of course.

The clearer the explanation the better on here as English has so many words with shades of meaning. Better to spell it out than risk confusion.

The problem with the sharpest edge is it is the one that does the most damage when it cuts you.

PH

 

[dannygolf1959]

thanks people,,i found that very helpful

 

[madasafish]

The problem with the sharpest edge is it is the one that does the most damage when it cuts you.

PH

 

[colinc]

The compressed cotton from our biggest beekeeping store takes a bit of lighting but burns slowly
If you have a horse owning friend Maxibed comes in 25kg bales and is good on top of the cotton
Made from shredded hemp stems it burns slow and cool with a nice smell

Sent from my LIFETAB_S1034X using Tapatalk

I have also used raw cotton as new to keeping this year and over the season have found that it really does produce a lot of tar. Once I have used up my supply, I won't be buying it again.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

As the majority do not have live stock apart from their bees dry rotten wood is very hard to beat and is free of course.

The clearer the explanation the better on here as English has so many words with shades of meaning. Better to spell it out than risk confusion.

The problem with the sharpest edge is it is the one that does the most damage when it cuts you.

PH

A large compressed bale of shavings can be bought for circa £5 and will last year's, fibre egg boxes come free with eggs from many shops

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Nowadays with hen rescue being the 'in' thing it seems non poultry keeping households are the ones in the minority.

 

[Noddy]

I use wooden cat litter pellets (untreated) - they are easy to light, give a cool white smoke and burn for ages, they are also cheap - £1.45 for a big bag in ASDA, for example.

I stuff a bit of grass on top of the pellets to act as a filter as they are a bit tarry.

Every once in a while I burn the tar off with my blow torch and give the residue a quick rub over with a wire brush.

 

[The Drone Ranger]

The Maxibed is £7.50 for 25kg try equestrian or feed shops
The cat litter sounds good, never heard of that before
The rotten wood works great if it's at the crumbling in the hand stage
But usually the wood is sodden when I find it so I have to wait till it dries (months)
I have used the compressed straw pellets but didn't have much faith in them
The cardboard as you say is fast burning and hot
Thor nes lighting sticks give loads of cool smoke but are £8.50 for a small bag
They are handy for instant smoke if it's a quick inspection of one hive
If I knew what was in those lighting sticks I would try to make a diy version


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[Robbo8916]

I use wooden cat litter pellets (untreated) - they are easy to light, give a cool white smoke and burn for ages, they are also cheap - £1.45 for a big bag in ASDA, for example.

I stuff a bit of grass on top of the pellets to act as a filter as they are a bit tarry.

Every once in a while I burn the tar off with my blow torch and give the residue a quick rub over with a wire brush.

I do that too. Having 4 cats it is in ready supply as they rarely use their litter trays anyway.

 

[FleurBleue]

I've found 100% cotton quilt batting, (I'm a quilter) cut into strips, work a treat.

They're chemical free and smoulder rather than burn...I put a few dried pine needles on top as well.