Homemade Fire Starters

[Double R]

What you’ll need.
Old cardboard egg cartons or cardboard egg flats.
Drier lint
Wax (I use old candles and wax I find at thrift stores)
Aluminum foil or other counter protection

I use whatever method is best at the time for melting the wax I’ve saved.
Double boiler for loose wax or I’ll stick a glass container in the oven on low.
Put out the aluminum foil on the counter. I use aluminum foil because the spills and leaks peal up easy for reuse.
Egg carton with top removed if it has one.
Stick chunks of drier lint into each egg spot. I find the more I use and the harder I pack it in the longer it stays lit before burning up.
Pour used liquid wax over the lint till it’s good and wet.
Let harden.
I use an old serrated bread knife to separate each piece once the wax is hard. Just cut threw each row and then cut each section off. Be careful! Cuts right threw the wax covered cardboard like butter.
I throw them in a container and stick them by the stove and burn barrel.
Stick a few under the wood and light the cardboard tips.
Stay lit around 10 minutes or so. Long enough to start even wet wood.
Next time I do it I’ll try and remember to grab pictures.
I’ve also used toilet paper rolls (empty) and stuffed lint into them and poured down inside. A bit tricky but work well for hiking bags in case of an Emergency fire needed.
Let’s hear about your homemade fire starters!

 

[OBG 57]

You can save wood chips from your chainsaw and mix with wax also,just mix it up and pour it in egg cartons

Fat wood is another good one if you have pine stumps around

 

[GrannyG]

I filled empty toilet tubes with dryer lint....worked great

 

[phideaux]

Old steel wool..

with a little used oil on it


Jim

 

[kd4ulw]

Cotton balls and petroleum jelly. Pull some inner ‘dry’ fibers out to catch a spark.

 

[UncleJoe]

I filled empty toilet tubes with dryer lint....worked great

That's what I use too. That and paper towel rolls.

 

[Weedygarden]

I made up a bunch of fire starters by using shredded paper from my shredder, smaller paper cups and poured wax over them. If I did that every time I emptied my shredder, we would all have plenty.

 

[ssonb]

This is not a "homemade" fire starter but I had a feller show me and I have used the fine little feather bark that is on the side of the Cedar trees that grow wild in the woods down here. It stays almost completely dry even in the rain.

 

[Sentry18]

They are not homemade but I just use Doritos chips. Okay, I actually make little packets of dryer lint mixed with chainsaw "dust" then vacuum seal it in small pouches. That way it stays dry until I am ready to use it.

 

[zoomzoom]

Another one that's not homemade but works well.

Hand sanitizer. Straight alcohol works well too but doesn't have the gel to have it stick better to wood or whatever. I've taken a tuna can and filled about 1/2 full and it'll burn for about 20 minutes. You can get either really cheap at dollar stores.

Disclaimer: Be advised that alcohol (and hand sanitizer) burn cleaner than most flammables. Be careful when lighting it since it may be hard to even see the flame when it's light outside since it'll be a blue flame instead of yellow.

 

[BBQJoe]

I use matches, or a bic lighter.

 

[UncleJoe]

I use matches, or a bic lighter.

I'm all for the simplicity of the Bic.

 

[camo2460]

I make and use a lot of different Fire Starters, and all work really well, but the easiest one I ever used was the Waxed Cardboard Boxes used to ship Fruits and Vegetables in. I just use a Stanley Knife to cut the Boxes into Playing Card sized Squares. They do require a Match or Lighter to light them though, a Ferro Rod won't work.

 

[The Innkeeper]

I filled empty toilet tubes with dryer lint....worked great

I have never been able to get dryer lint to burn

 

[The Innkeeper]

Not homemade but a magnesium blockand a ferry rod works in almost all conditions. As some one else suggested fat wood is great. Bics are great if it isn’t too cold for them. The egg carton ones that started the thread work well

 

[UncleJoe]

Bics are great if it isn’t too cold for them.

Just keep it in your pocket for a few minutes. It'll work.

 

[buildit]

Whatever happened to just using an old road flare? LOL

 

[The Innkeeper]

Whatever happened to just using an old road flare? LOL

works if you have one, so does a garbage can full of gasoline and a match

 

[buildit]

Well, a road flare burns for a long time which is what any good fire starter should do. Hell on long motorcycle trips I'd soak the tip of a sock in the gas tank and insert a stick into it. Light the gasoline portion and then the sock burns down igniting even the wettest wood.
Much safer than firing a signal flare gun into the fire pit. LOL

 

[ssonb]

This is a good thread we all need to practize our non match and lighter fire-starting methods, you will be surprised on what is the proper way to use a Ferro rod and knife( plus this wears out too)... Even the so called expurts on TV do not do this right.

 

[SheepDog]

Chemistry is your friend for starting fires! I grew up back-packing the the rain forests of Western Washington and learned how to start fires using what was available.
Once I learned the easy way I never had to try to find dry wood again.
Fine powdered sawdust, wax and saltpeter in the proper mixture will burn aluminum. Road flares are just saltpeter and coarse sawdust in a waxed cardboard tube with a big match to initiate the burn. You can make a great fire-starter using a double boiler, a cup of sugar and 2 cups of saltpeter. Mix it cold and then heat it just until it becomes plastic. Stir it constantly and when it is combined spread it on waxed paper. Before it cools completely sparsely sprinkle flowers of sulfur on the top. (that makes it ignite easier) Roll it out to 1/4 inch thick and cut it into about 1 inch squares.
If you are more cook than chemist just use a double boiler to melt waste wax and soak particle board pieces (1x2 inch square) in the wax for about a half hour. These take a flame to light but they light easily and burn longer than needed.
For the really hard-core chemists who need a fire NOW you can mix plater of Paris and aluminum powder into a small 1x2x2 inch brick and make a depression in it for a mixture of potassium perchlorate, powdered iron and powdered coal as the ignition point. (CAUTION! this will burn through a fire-brick and heavy steel) Water will NOT put it out and can cause an explosive reaction.
If you have logs but no kindling it is easy to lop off a round about six inches thick and just bore a hole about an inch deep into the round and fill it with saltpeter and the wood from boring the hole. Light it and the log will burn long enough to get the split logs burning well.

 

[Terri9630]

I have never been able to get dryer lint to burn

I use it all the time. If your clothes are treated with a fire retardant the lint won't burn until it washes away. All my clothes are old. I hate shopping!

 

[Weedygarden]

I use it all the time. If your clothes are treated with a fire retardant the long won't burn until it washes away. All my clothes are old. I hate shopping!

Same with me, and I prefer to wear cotton. Some fabric softeners inhibit burning.

 

[captain belly]

Here's a video I did long ago on DIY fire starters. I use these all winter every year, and they work great! In fact.... I lit one about 2 hours ago, as I sit here in my barn next to my woodstove. Here's the video: