Dutch,
I built mine eight years ago, so I have some experience. I like to start my fires one to two hours before I put the food on. Open all dampers, the firebox door, and the lid for starting. I start 'em just like a fireplace or wood stove; paper, twigs, sticks, scrp lumber etc. This makes a nice bed of coals. I like to put two 20" long, 4" dia hickory logs on at this point. They usually burn slow and steady and maintain pretty even temperature. Look for a nice blue flame just licking the logs. I will crack the door to control airflow, and I try to check on it at least every half hour. It took me some practice to get a feel for it. I will open the lower damper on the left and the damper on the right stack while keeping the other two mostly closed while cooking. This makes heat and smoke travel left to right across the cooking chamber. I reccomend a disposable foil turkey roasting pan under your food, I had some grease fire early on. Apply some fireplace cement arond the flanges between the drums to keep grease from leaking out. It did on mine and it looks crappy. The cement didn't take on mine (too many uses before application). If your is new maybe you can prevent this. I never new anyone that had one besides me, let me know if you have any more questions. Good Smoking...