We know how to start a fire. Remember that little incident in the Italian restaurant in San Diego?
But now I am talking about starting a fire on purpose, and the type you can use to create S’mores, not a record for arson. Anyone who has gone camping and wanted to have a fire knows you don’t just hold a match up to your wood. You need kindling of some sort and a way to get the blaze hot enough for long enough to catch the logs. Sure, you could douse them in lighter fluid (and I’m not saying that wouldn’t be fun), but it smells horrid and park rangers generally frown upon that sort of thing. What you need is some really good fire starters.
Before we left I was browsing Pinterest for camping food and came across a few pins for homemade fire starter sticks. Most of them used the same stuff: toilet paper tubes, paper towels and dryer lint. A few listed melted crayon bits but I have tried that and can report they do not work well and they ruin your muffin tins. Having heard several news reports of homes going up in smoke due to dryer lint fires I figured this was good stuff, so that is where I began. In fact, I may or may not have made a Facebook request for my friends to save me some lint (thanks, Deb). I made about two dozen of these things and am pleased to report they work so well Kevin thinks I should market them. But I will just share the instructions with you for free. You’re welcome.
But now I am talking about starting a fire on purpose, and the type you can use to create S’mores, not a record for arson. Anyone who has gone camping and wanted to have a fire knows you don’t just hold a match up to your wood. You need kindling of some sort and a way to get the blaze hot enough for long enough to catch the logs. Sure, you could douse them in lighter fluid (and I’m not saying that wouldn’t be fun), but it smells horrid and park rangers generally frown upon that sort of thing. What you need is some really good fire starters.
Before we left I was browsing Pinterest for camping food and came across a few pins for homemade fire starter sticks. Most of them used the same stuff: toilet paper tubes, paper towels and dryer lint. A few listed melted crayon bits but I have tried that and can report they do not work well and they ruin your muffin tins. Having heard several news reports of homes going up in smoke due to dryer lint fires I figured this was good stuff, so that is where I began. In fact, I may or may not have made a Facebook request for my friends to save me some lint (thanks, Deb). I made about two dozen of these things and am pleased to report they work so well Kevin thinks I should market them. But I will just share the instructions with you for free. You’re welcome.
This is not rocket science. Gather your materials. For my first batch I used a lot of odd recycled materials, because we are green like that:
- dryer lint
- paper towel tubes
- toilet paper tubes
- paper egg cartons
- any random small cardboard food boxes I could find
- shredded paper, paper towels soaked in bacon grease
- old candles that were not worth saving or giving away
Melt your candles in an old saucepan. I bought this one in a thrift store in Moab for $1. I got the candle for 50 cents. Awesome.
While the candle melts, stuff the tubes and egg cartons with the paper towels, dryer lint, and/or shredded paper. You don’t have to have the bacon grease infused kind, but that stuff burns like crazy so it’s helpful.
Leave a little bit of paper (twisted into a wick) sticking up out of the tubes. This makes them easier to light when they are sitting under your logs.
These are the ones with paper towels soaked in bacon grease. Just another option...
Dip the ends into the melted wax and let it soak up a bit. This serves two purposes. First, it seals everything together so they don’t fall apart. Second, it allows it all to burn longer for maximum heat, giving your wood ample time to catch fire. You don’t need a lot of wax. I made a one with too much and it was actually still burning long after our wood had turned to embers.
You will have to spoon the wax into the egg carton-style starters. What is great about these is that you can cut them up into individual pieces.
Set them out on foil to harden and dry.
You can let any leftover wax harden in the pan and remelt it to make more starters later.
You can let any leftover wax harden in the pan and remelt it to make more starters later.
Like me after a few days of tent camping, they aren't the prettiest things, but they do the job and are a great way to recycle stuff.
-Jenni
-Jenni