Newb to firestarting, help me light this rocket stove!

I just bought a BBQ-Toro Rocket Stove, as pictured below:



Tried to light it for the first time last night and ... no dice. Flames would catch, but nothing persisted in burning for more than a few minutes.

I used sticks, a few leaves, pine cones, matches, and a piece of fatwood. The fatwood may have been my problem, since it took up most of the burn area and it absolutely refused to catch fire. I even tried putting a little cooking oil on some of the sticks: still no dice. I live in a VERY dry area, so I don't think that damp wood was the problem.

YouTube isn't of much help here. And yes, I have the Art of Fire book, but I don't find it very helpful with regard to lighting fires in small spaces. I don't do well on manual tasks without precise instructions, sadly.

I would be much obliged if you could provide VIDEO as well as a list of essentials on how you might get a similar stove going... and keep it going.

Thanks!

I know nothing about that stove and very little about rockets. It sounds like the air intake isn’t fully open or some packing material is blocking it.

fatwood is going to be most helpful when shaved down into chips or slivers. a big chunk of it wouldn’t do you any favors. you want lots of little edges.

I know nothing about starting a fire in a rocket stove.

I do know how to start a fire.  Maybe try starting a fire that is not in the rocket stove until you get the hang of it.

Like Greg said, lots of little edges, so I would suggest something similar to kindling.  Very small twigs, leaves, wood shavings, etc.

When I cook bacon, I put the bacon on a paper towel and rescue that paper towel until it is saturated in the oil off the bacon.  These paper towels make great fire starters.

Make a cone of the next-sized wood above the kindling.  When the fire is going add the rest of the wood slowly.

There are lots of videos on youtube, I picked this one because it shows what I mean by a cone:

I have a similar rocket stove. I have found that I need to put crumpled newsprint or shredded birch bark, or dryer lint in the bottom under the feed rack. Light the starter and then put  three or four finely split pieces of
dry wood, about the width of a pencil on the wood feed rack pushed to the back, so they are in the flame coming from below. After they catch fire, put progressively larger pieces in, but don't pack it full. These rocket stoves need to be constantly fed.  As a last resort, use cotton balls soaked in fire starter or Vaseline in place of the crumpled paper/birch bark/ dryer lint. The cotton balks will burn for quite a while and with intense enough heat to light your fire.

If your stove has two doors on the front, make sure the lower door is also open to allow draft to the starter.

Doesn't  the BBQ-Toro Rocket Stove come with lighting instructions?