Firestarters make getting a fire lite easy. You can buy ones like the Rutland Safe Lite Fire Starter Squares, 144-Square from Amazon. The problem is you are burning money. So your best option is to make your own DIY fire starter. When you make thesboughte simple homemade fire starters you can save money and get a fire going fast and easy.
Homemade Fire Starter
The simplest DIY fire starter uses only 3 simple things. A paper container, wax, and dryer lint or sawdust. Since my family buys eggs in the cardboard containers I used them. If you want you can use small paper cups or cupcake liners. Whatever you choose make sure it will hold the lint and wax. It’s also best if it’s cheap or free.
Dryer Lint
The next thing you need is dryer lint, which shouldn’t be a problem for anyone that does their own laundry. You can also use sawdust if you have that available, or even pulled apart yarn. It’s really just something for the wax to use as a wick.
Wax
The wax I used was a combination of used Scentsy wax and crayons. The only reason I did this was because it’s what I had. Our family doesn’t burn scented candles any more after an incident with one that could have turned out really bad. I also looked at the prices of buying wax and decided I wasn’t going to save any money if I bought wax. You can use any wax you want, old candles, canning wax it doesn’t really matter. I added crayon wax because my kids had buckets of old broken crayons laying around and it was better than throwing them out.
Making The Best DIY Fire Starter
Now that you have all the materials the fun part begins. Place the drying lint in the egg cartons. You just want enough to fill the hole up, not packed too tight but really you can’t mess it up so don’t worry. Then you melt the wax, so you can pour it over the lint in the cartons.
The proper way to do this is with a double boiler on your stove and warm the wax with the hot water. I don’t have a double boiler and holding a torch up to melt wax and let it drip on to the lint was boring and took to long. So I did a crazy thing and heated the wax in a microwave. Put it in for a short time look at it and then keep slowly heating for a little longer until it is fully melted. If you aren’t comfortable using a microwave you can always use a metal soup can on your grill, just make sure you keep the heat down so you don’t catch the wax on fire.
Once your wax is good a melted all you have to do is pour it over the dryer lint. Try and pour enough to cover the lint. I found out the hard way you have to be careful not to pour too much, too quickly or the wax will bleed through and run out the bottom. This really isn’t a problem but it can make a mess, especially if you are doing it on a glass top stove. Cleaning up wax isn’t as fun as it sounds.
Once the wax has cooled off and hardened up, you can cut the egg cartons apart. Now you have 12-18 great fire starters that all you have to do is light the carton a little bit and get your fire started. If you plan ahead it won’t cost you anything but time.
Other Homemade Fire Starters
The egg carton fire starter is the best DIY fire starter I’ve found for the money. However, many people like the toilet roll fire starter. This is where you fill an empty toilet paper cardboard roll with dryer lint. They seem to work but without the wax, they really don’t burn as long.
Rolled Up Newspaper
I’ve also seen people roll up a newspaper tie it with twine every couple of inches then dip the roll in wax. Once cooled off they cut the roll in between the twine and use each one for a firestarter. These work great, but if you don’t have enough wax to dip the roll in it’s pretty hard to make them. Plus having that much spare wax will either take a long time to get or you’ll have to buy it. Thus costing you almost as much money as if you just bought firestarters from the store.
Cotton Balls
Some people use cotton balls covered in vaseline. This actually works really well. The only problem with them is that can be very messy. If you want to go this route, you need a small tin can like an Altoids can to keep them in.
Doritos
I know this sounds crazy but if you have nothing else around because you forgot your fire starters. A couple of Doritos chips make great fire starters. They actually burn for a little bit and give off a lot of heat. The best part is that you buy a whole bag. Eat most of the bag and save a few chips to help start your fire.
Conclusion
Using homemade fire starters to get a campfire going is easy. It’s even better when you make them free with wax, dryer lint, and egg cartons. However, no matter what you use for a DIY firestarter, make sure you don’t forget the matches or lighter. The best DIY firestarters don’t work without a source of heat.
View Comments (2)
Jeff, I have been considering the fire starter issue every time I make bacon. I either use the microwave or the oven, but either way, since there is a plethora of grease left over, I always sop it up with paper towels and throw them away prior to washing the pan or plate. I have thought: what is a bacon-grease-soaked paper towel? Nothing but a flat candle with a huge wick. (The pioneers used fat as the base for candles...some artisan candle makers still use tallow.) So, I'm thinking, keep those paper towels in a zip-lock bag and freeze them or refrigerate until camping time, then take them along. (Not that they need to be refrigerated or frozen, but eventually that oil will go rancid. Plus, who doesn't like the smell of bacon in the morning, evening, noontime?
That's a great idea. I've used grease soaked paper towels to start fires plenty of times.