DIY Firestarters

gudspelr · March 29, 2010, 12:33:00 AM

Seeing that thread about everyone's hunting camps made me think about a project my dad put me onto. So, my 4 year old and I went to it this evening.

You will need: cardboard egg carton, candle making wax (parrafin type), and saw dust or wood chips or shavings of some sort.

So, what you need to do is get a pan ***Not one of your wife's good ones*** and melt the wax you got at the grocery store in it.

While you got that going, go ahead and put your wood stuff into the egg carton. I used some of my hickory chips for my smoker-took out the big chunks and put enough in to cover the bottom plus just a bit more.

Then, once the wax was all melted, I used a plastic measuring cup to pour the wax into the egg carton.

Now one thing I sadly didn't think about beforehand was the likelyhood of the cardboard getting saturated and wax leaking out.

Thankfully we have one of those glass top stoves, so I just scraped off the wax and tossed it back in the pan to melt again.

More in a minute....

gudspelr · March 29, 2010, 12:45:00 AM

Since I'd made a pretty decent mess with the 18 egg carton, I decided I should quickly get the wax paper out and put both cartons on some of that. Once they were all poured up, I took them out to the garage and put them on the cool concrete to harden.

You can see in the above picture that the wood and cardboard soak up some of the wax; the six on the right needed to be refilled. I took the cartons off the wax paper after they'd hardened up enough and found out where more of the wax had gone...

But, I just took off the extra wax and after melting it again, filled the low ones back up. Now comes the fun part. Once sufficiently hardened, I cut off one of the little buggers.

I trimmed most of the excess cardboard off the top, leaving a short lip, then took it to the back yard.

Darned near shocked me how well it burned. After about a minute, the green grass appeared as if it may cause the fire department to be called, so I hosed it off. Here's how it looked after.

So, there you have it. Whole thing took me 15 or 20 minutes-would've been shorter if I hadn't messed up a few times... I'm thinking next time I do it, I might put a small amount in each spot to harden first, maybe lessening the leakage? I'm also assuming that if you use saw dust, it'd probably soak up that wax really well. Either way, they look like they'll be good and handy to throw in the pack.

Soilarch · March 29, 2010, 12:51:00 AM

I'll eventually have to try this.

I think I'll try to use some of those ridiculously handy, and now hard to find, 35mm film canisters!

(Do you think the carton on the outside of the wax is needed? If so, that'll ruin my 35mm plans.)

gudspelr · March 29, 2010, 12:58:00 AM

Soilarch-

I'm not sure, to be honest. I know the cardboard was what lit on fire first-one of the reasons I used this kind instead of the styrofoam egg cartons. Didn't think that plasticky smoke would be all that great. Also, I did notice when pouring the wax (I tried to do it right when it melted) that by the end, it started bubbling and sizzling a bit when it hit the wood/carton-I think because it was getting kinda hot in the pan? Not sure how a plastic type container would do with the wax at that temp... All that said, this was my first run at it-you might have great luck with a different container.

Grey Taylor · March 29, 2010, 02:05:00 AM

The egg carton material acts like a kind of wick, I'd use that instead of film canisters. Unless... you were able to find some really green minded company making cardboard film canisters :D
If I may make a suggestion, use a double boiler to melt the wax. That sort of wax is pretty flammible and using a double boiler will forestall any potential flames on the stovetop. That would be even more difficult to explain than the spilled wax on the counter top.
Also, if you don't have sawdust, dryer lint will work, too.

Guy

Jake Turner · March 29, 2010, 03:39:00 AM

We used to use the pine shavings for hampster bedding and small paper cups.

kuch · March 29, 2010, 05:50:00 AM

gudspeir, that is a great pictorial.... i have made those and they work fine .....but i tried a another DIY firestarter that is way ,way less labor intensive and easier to start: rub a cotton ball in vaseline then store that in a little square piece of al. floil. starts with one strike of the magnesium and burns long time .the wax ones work fine but these fast and easy. good thread.

ron w · March 29, 2010, 10:49:00 AM

The shave'ns from a pencil sharpener or your arrow taper tool will work also. I also use cotton balls and vasaline.

NorthernCaliforniaHunter · March 29, 2010, 12:05:00 PM

I've been making those for years! They work great! I use dryer lint for the matrix in the egg cartons instead of wood chips...

Thanks for sharing!

maxwell · March 29, 2010, 12:31:00 PM

Very nice- good ideas here.

Smallwood · March 29, 2010, 12:38:00 PM

EzArcher · March 29, 2010, 01:50:00 PM

Old crayons work great to if you dont have wax

you can also shave the wax or crayons and put them in the carton then put it in the microwave for a few seconds

EzArcher · March 29, 2010, 01:51:00 PM

an old cheese grater works great

non-typical · March 29, 2010, 02:09:00 PM

dryer lint

Traditional-Archer · March 29, 2010, 02:53:00 PM

Good show, Thats how my Boy-Scout do it.

joevan125 · March 29, 2010, 03:03:00 PM

I have found that a Bic lighter works really well also.

richbat · March 29, 2010, 03:14:00 PM

9 volt battery and steel wool.

March 29, 2010, 03:20:00 PM

kuch has it: vaseline on a cotton ball--I put 3-4 of them in an old pill bottle. One strike from a magnesium firestarter and you have a flame for several minutes, long enough to get some sticks and twigs going and work up to bigger stuff!

lpcjon2 · March 29, 2010, 03:41:00 PM

FRITOS are my favorite fire starter,And I have talked dirty to my tinder and got it hot.I got a lot of charm...LOL

Benoli · March 29, 2010, 05:18:00 PM

If you want a mold other than the egg carton try using the plastic easter egg halfs. We all should have access to some in acouple of days. I do prefer the cotton ball or dryer lint with vasiline because it's more compact.