Kindling Collector
Kindling Collector
Kindling Collector
Kindling Collector
Kindling Collector
Never pick up kindling Again!!
Never pick up kindling Again!!
Never pick up kindling Again!!
Never pick up kindling Again!!
This campaign is closed
Kindling Collector
Never pick up kindling Again!!
Never pick up kindling Again!!
Never pick up kindling Again!!
Never pick up kindling Again!!
Never pick up kindling Again!!
Splitting kindling has been the bane of my existence, from splinters to back aches, miss-hits to wet wood and everything in between. When splitting the wood for kindling, you spend 5 minutes restacking the wood and then another 2 minutes actually picking up the kindling needed to light your fire.
I wasted 15-20 minutes cutting wood and freezing my a%*# off every week. It was at this point I decided to find a solution... This was when the kindling collector was born.
This is how it works if you haven't watched the video:
1. Grab your piece of wood
2. Wrap Kindling Collector around your piece of wood
3. Cut your wood
4. Walk inside and create your roaring banshee of a fire
Now that you know what it does and how it works - here is how it all started.
With some life experience, money, aliexpress and a healthy dose of motivation, I worked on a solution to the problem. I used the agile methodology learnt in IT, to build test and refine a product. I tried bungee cords and a metal handle bolted together which actually held the wood together on the block and the elasticity meant the wood would split nicely. The bungee cords failed on me after splitting through a few blocks of wood so it was onto the next iteration.
Eventually the Kindling Collector really came into its own when I tried a variety of springs attached with carabiners to a standard metal handle. I also hacked up a butchers cut resistant sleeve to protect the springs from the axe and also keep bark and wood slivers out of it.
When my first half decent prototype was tested, I couldn't believe how well it worked.... Not only did it not fall off the block, I could strike the wood once and split out multiple bits of kindling in the one swing. There was no more balancing of wood until the last second before striking it and risking a miss, slicing fingers or limb. This was more efficient, safer, with no picking wood up off the ground. On top of all this, at the end you didn't have to carry in an awkward bundle in your arms. Instead the bundle is wrapped up nicely and able to be carried by the handle.
I knew the world needed this tool and that I would never go back to splitting kindling in the old slow, risky, frustrating manner. Sometimes the simplest designs are the most useful.
I reached out to a patent attorney who searched prior art and worked with me to submit a patent here in NZ. This gave me protection from the submission date and provided me with 1 year to refine the product before finalizing which country I would additionally patent the product in.
I found a fantastic local industrial design team to partner with, who had proven experience and access to large scale factories. We worked through many more iterations to improve the design, materials, look and feel and have now put the Kindling Collector through a rigorous testing phase.
I purchased the majority of the factory tooling so we are now ready to mass produce the Kindling Collector and you can rest assured that we will fulfill our Kickstarter orders.
Shipping and logistics still need to be arranged and managed after we have run our campaign, however I do have guidance and support for this part of the process.
The money raised from Indiegogo will go first and foremost into inventory for the fulfillment of backers orders and additional inventory to carry us through to our next run. (We never want to stock-out).
Secondly, funds will be used to extend the patent wider than just New Zealand, into international markets, depending on demand in different countries. The cost per patent is approximately $5-8K NZD per country.
Thirdly, the remaining money will be used for marketing, promotion, and an improved professional ecommerce platform.
I will also look at implementing suggested enhancements that backers recommend, and establishing shipping and logistical partnerships.
With over 20 million households using wood heating in NZ, Australia, US and Canada alone, I see a Kindling Collector in millions of homes around the globe. When you include European countries and other locations as well as homes who use braziers, pizza ovens, wood fired BBQ's we can do a small amount of help to a massive number of people and have a massive cumulative impact on lives. The Kindling Collector will become a commonly recognised tool to aid people grabbing kindling before they freeze in the cold picking up their wood pieces off the wet ground.
Don't miss your chance to be one of the first in the world to use this ingenious solution.
Thecoolector | Mensgear | Adventure magazine NZ | NZ Entrepreneur
Covid19 impacting international supply chains. Will keep regular communication with backers regarding any delays. We have built some contingency into our timelines so expect deliveries to be earlier than promised. We also have CAD and tooling sorted so factory runs are set and ready to go. Distribution is yet to be arranged and really the only outstanding piece.
Please share this with others. This can help millions of people, just a little and have potentially massive flow on effects. (Imagine if Beethoven had chopped his fingers off cutting firewood)