text: I never seem to have enough kindling for my stove. I generally use about 15 sticks to start my morning fire. But I also a lot for In- Stove-Oven cooking. It isn’t enough just to chop large pieces of firewood for those long cold winter nights. When I get those big logs to cut I also try to use as much of the branches as possible. A lot of people leave the branches behind as waste.
  It is easy and quick to chop the branches into firewood. I generally use my WIld Life or Hunter axe for the smaller branches. It is light and sharp. It makes quick work of cutting those long branches into the perfect length for kindling. For the thicker branches up 3 cm I use my Scandinavian axe. The head is a bit heaver and the longer handle cuts through the branches like butter.
  I store my kindling in the yellow plastic boxes that stack on top of each other. The slits it the boxes allow air to flow through so the kindling dries out in just a few months. The boxes stack one on top of the other so they are easy to store. Each box will last about a week or 2 depending on the amount of hot coals left over for the morning fire or how much oven cooking I am doing. Since I use my 2 stoves from October to April I figure I need at least 20 boxes full of twigs.
  My kindling chopping block is just high enough so I don’t have to bend over. This is important because on a cold day stopping over for an hour chopping kindling strains my back. I place several of the yellow boxes around the chopping block positioned just about where the chopped twigs will fly off. Sometime a twig will fly several meters from the block or shoot up in the air 6 meters! Generally the twigs will fly right into the box so I don’t have to pick up very many which makes the job of cleaning up easier.
  I chop the branches at a 60 degree angle as this seems to cut better than at a 90 degree angle. The branch should rest fully on the chopping block. If the green branch is not in contact with the block it is like a spring and the axe will just bounce of without cutting through. Sometime I use the edge of the block because it is easier to make contact with the block.
  Chopping kindling is a good way for beginners to get used to swinging an axe. It is easier than chopping large pieces of wood as you use only one hand and is something everyone can pitch in. My children learned how to cut kindling once they were 6 years old under my watchful eye. Axes are sharp so safety is important. Always where leather gloves and eye protection as those branches will really fly.