I've made these fire starters for years, even before I was into camping. Today I had some donated scented candles, so I melted them down on my hot plate in a used pot. Lightly filled 5 ounce cups with shredded paper and dribbled the melted wax on each. Made my garage smell nice!
I've used these to start damp wood with good success.
We have a huge magnolia tulip tree in the front yard that has to be 100 foot tall. Every storm dead branches will fall and we collect them in boxes for starter wood. Last storm we filled two boxes. Our stash is up to six boxes now. We can start fires for a long time.
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I think the closet I ever got to making fire starters was pulling the lint off the screen in my dryer.
Quote from: dno on Jul 15, 2022, 11:22 PMI think the closet I ever got to making fire starters was pulling the lint off the screen in my dryer.
A lot of people say they use dryer lint. It might take me several months to save up enough lint to make 20 of these.
My fire starter is all the cardboard that food products come in, I don't throw them out, just stack them up in a corner of my trailer, and use them to start the campfire. I have quite a stack of it actually...
I have made fire starters using cardboard egg cartons and pine pet bedding (I don't like using dryer lint because so many of our clothes now are synthetic fibers). I recently read about just dipping cotton balls in wax. Much easier to make, and they will be smaller to store as well! Gotta head over to Dollar Tree for some cotton balls and see if they have some cheap candles.
Quote from: CampingQueen on Jul 28, 2022, 12:18 PMI have made fire starters using cardboard egg cartons and pine pet bedding (I don't like using dryer lint because so many of our clothes now are synthetic fibers). I recently read about just dipping cotton balls in wax. Much easier to make, and they will be smaller to store as well! Gotta head over to Dollar Tree for some cotton balls and see if they have some cheap candles.
That's a good idea! Wonder if the cotton ball mushes after being dipped? Drying them poses a challenge.
Wax isn't cheap anywhere, I spent $12 for one pound which only made 12 starters. Luckily wife found 4 large candles for free at her teacher store. Work OK except they are scented, made my garage smell for days!
Agreed, good idea.
Alternatively, but slightly more expensive, would be to use those cotton rounds used for makeup removal. I think those would hold up better than a cotton ball.
Back in the age of dinosaurs, when I was a Boy Scout, we used to make firestarters / camp stoves with a tuna fish can, folded strips of newspaper, & paraffin. They were great on canoe trips, even if you upended & got all your gear wet, you could just shake off the water & light them up (if you managed to keep your matches dry...lol). When my dad sold his farm, in digging thru & sorting everything, we found a few I'd made back in the very early 70's.....still lit up just fine.