Finding the perfect fire starter for the wood stove or outdoor grilling has been a challenge. Paper burns too quickly and usually with insufficient heat to do the job, plus it can quickly clog everything and then simply smolder.
Small twigs occupy a lot of storage space, at least during winter. You want to keep them dry, by all means.
Corrugated cardboard leaves a lot of papery ash – nothing you want flying up into the food on the rack.
And so on.
Maybe it was by accident I discovered that using cardboard tubes – those found in toilet paper and paper towels – works much better. Plus, you can crush a few and insert them inside another for extra oomph. They’re firm enough to allow air to circulate while the fire’s starting. And they’re easy to store.
You never do know quite what’s going to turn up in the Barn, do you?
Jnana's Red Barn 
Brilliant! I discovered this earlier this year and totally agree!! Save those rolls!!
As they say, great minds …
Oh, now I miss my old wood stove. haha The heat from wood warms me in a way other fuels just can’t. I know that doesn’t sound scientific but so it goes. I always chopped my own wood so I had plenty of debris to start fires but the toilet roll trick definitely works!
You’re so on when it comes to wood heat. Yard projects or shoveling snow go so much better when I can come in and let that heat penetrate for a few minutes before I head back out.
For our fireplace, I find that rolled newsprint works well (we have a bunch from moving). Once the fire is laid, I light the “far end” of several rolled sheets (diameter 1.5-2″) and shove them under the cradle; they suck in air from the outside and burn hot, igniting the kindling. Toilet paper (and paper towel) rolls work well, but we don’t have nearly enough of them!
My spouse and I spent almost all of New Year’s day reading in front of the fire…very relaxing!
Have you tried pine cones?
Yes, when we have them. (My wife loves to use them as interior decor, though … so I’m second in line.)
Birch bark’s even better.
I wish I could get my woodstove put back into the new house. We took it with us when we moved from our last house, but this one is not set up for one. We have to get it installed. I had never thought of using the cardboard tubes.