Is this for sale or personal use? For personal use, I just chainsaw them. It works fine. A hole in the middle would probably work a little better, and would provide more certainty for people who aren't good at building fires. Just thinking right now, you could make a hole ~1cm-2cm deep, and stuff it with noodles you've soaked in candle wax. That should make it easy for n00bs to get a fire going.