@Bear gave me this little hibachi. A perfect size for s'mores. So the monkeys invited some friends over and I bought a bunch of s'mores fixings. And the monkeys had me double up that amount, so we have way too much. Looking at the hibachi, with the one tiny air vent, I thought it was going to be difficult to fire up coals with it, but I had to experiment. So some tinder went under the charcoal grate and got lit up and I put a couple of pieces of homemade kiawe charcoal on the grate to catch first. It took a lot of time and effort to start up the coals with minimal air flow. Here the one vent And sorry that all the pictures came out blurry. I even picked it up and blew into it to try and help. After much work, we have hot coals. So the moral of the story is to start the coals up outside of the hibachi and put them in red hot. This hibachi will work best that way. But the whole time I was getting it going (took the time it would take to get enough coals lit to fire up my grill and cook a meal), the kids were playing. So it was all good. One of the moms was upstairs talking to the wifee. And a neighbor, whose kids were over, came over with cold beer. After the kids had dessert first, I made a pizza run and we had pizza for dinner. The original plan was to watch a movie too, but the monkeys were done. So all in all, a successful Saturday. Mahalo @Bear.
Had a Hibachi many years ago when I lived in an apartment. Was handy and worked well.. Some days would like to have another.. Maybe for some venison tenderloin??
Take a metal 1 lb coffee can. Take the bottom out. Put it on the grate. Fill with charcoal, stuff newspaper underneath the grate and light. The paper will light the bottom of the charcoal and get things started. The metal can keeps the stack compact and the heat focused. In no time you have a the Hibachi lit.
Looks a lot like the 24/7 Hibachi in a rooming house I rented in Tokyo Japan. The hibachi was always hot and required very little attention in the communal kitchen. Quick to heat water or a small meal. Only the Mama San had the key to the charcoal but somehow it was always burning day or night.
