DIY Fire Starter’s

[iptman]

Others have mentioned these but figured I'd provide a pic for the visual. I use plain old paraffin wax and whatever paper egg cartons I can collect. I've been making them since I was a kid. These 2 1/2 dozen cartons are the best for stacking. I rip 2 pieces off per fire along with a handful of dried pine straw. This combo never fails.

 

[Hermio]

wow seriously dud ??

Yes. Punctuation changes meaning. As an example, "No thanks" means you are not being thanked, whereas "No, thanks" means "no, but I thank you anyway."

 

[HAR]

When at deer camp, the kids go out and collect all the pine or spruce cones that they can, and stuff them into boxes/bags and we store those next to the wood pile. Come fire lighting time, grab a couple cones, lay the fire and it takes off in a heart beat. Birch bark works as well, but pulling birch bark from trees frowned upon here, unless it is found laying on the ground.

When at the maple sugar house, we use BCP's method .... a propane torch....it will get some of the most stubborn wood scraps to burn.

 

[Bison]

Some pieces of small wood and dry bark( left over from the splitting process) and a squirt of diesel lights my fires every single time and has done so for the 40 years i have my wood stove

 

[Kerfguy]

My go-to starters are free and very effective. I stop at the produce department of my local grocery store and pick up a wax saturated cardboard box. I cut the box into squares/rectangles. The cardboard cuts super easy because of the wax. When I’m ready to use, I pick a corner and separate a layer so it’s easy to light. Btw so far as I know the boxes are not recyclable.

 

[jjeff]

More than a few times I've witnessed suburbia type camping couples and families try multiple times and fail at starting camp fires at campgrounds. All I've told them are start with very small sticks and slowly work your way up with increasingly larger pieces it's always worked for me when I don't have my homemade fire starter pop boxes.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Yes. Punctuation changes meaning. As an example, "No thanks" means you are not being thanked, whereas "No, thanks" means "no, but I thank you anyway."

Nah you are over thinking it, it means what it is written ... No thanks. Short for, No but thanks or no thankyou

I understand asking clarification if you didn't understand something because of the way it is written. It is something else to correct the grammar when you understood what the person meant, that will get old pretty quick, so you can stop. If you do so regularly you will simply end up being ignored left and right. I always had difficulties with French grammar growing up (it is my fist language) and guess what, I still do. I am not going to turn that around at my age and spend the effort understanding the complexity of the French language I am a lost cause. I learned English later in life (self-thought) and I am still learning, I know my grammar and punctuation could be a lot better, but it is easier in English, there is odd rules that I never learn and I have hard time getting my head around but the last thing I want is getting corrected every time a write a comment I am not here to get grammars and punctuations lesson. My goal is understanding and being understood and help folks along the way like the majority of folks here. You can correct peoples all you want but trust me it not going to help you or anyone by doing so.

 

[mike0000]

Here’s a few things I use to start my fires.
I save all scrap wood from woodworking projects throughout the year. Junk mail, Amazon boxes, dryer lint, toilet paper rolls Egg cartons, etc. I keep a bin handy that we collect most our daily trash that is suitable for fire starting.
One of my best fireside tools is a very old set of bellows. I recommend getting a set for anyone that heats with firewood. They are great for getting coals fired back up. I use them almost every morning to get the ”new” fire going.
Mike

 

[MTGreen]

Been using a woodstove for ~40 years, 2 - 5 cords depending on how ambitious I am with putting up wood the previous year and how consistent I am starting morning fires ... While I used newspaper crumpled into tight balls along with some kindling in the early years, the last 10 - 15 years I've been using firestarter sticks (e.g. Duraflame), most of which are "Made with wax and a blend of recycled and renewable biomass fibers." However, to get the most bang for my buck, I use a cleaver to lop off a piece and then I cut that in half. For kindling, normally I use the hardwood pieces that fall to the ground during the process of splitting logs and that I store in a trash can. The kindling you see in the photo is the result of recently cleaning up my workshop and finally letting go of scrap pine boards that I was certain I'd someday use for small projects but never did.

And if your luck is like mine you're going to have a use for those boards tomorrow

 

[MacRanch]

We were wondering, what are some of the ways that you guys are making your own fire starter’s. I tried small dried fir cones dipped in wax not good. Now using shredded paper stuffed into an ice tray with melted wax works good! Any other ideas? Thanks in advance for any ideas.

I lose power nearly every time it snows so after years of research, trial and error, I found that cotton balls covered in Vaseline works great.
Soften the Vaseline and dip the cotton balls in it.
It solidifies again soon after. It only takes one to get the fire going.
I keep a jar of them in my emergency (SHTF)closet along with wooden matches with the tips dipped in melted wax (waterproofed).
I hope this helps.

 

[joea99]

I just buy "fat wood" sticks wherever I can find them. Local hardware, tractor supply, etc. Just very resinous type of wood sticks.

Pretty cheap. 2 or 3 sticks, no muss, no fuss, light right up and never fail. So far.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/fat%20wood?

 

[semibogus]

We were wondering, what are some of the ways that you guys are making your own fire starter’s. I tried small dried fir cones dipped in wax not good. Now using shredded paper stuffed into an ice tray with melted wax works good! Any other ideas? Thanks in advance for any ideas.

I use pine cones and wax, I got an old Crock pot and boiled the pine cones in the paraffin. Enough for a year and as gifts.
They look good in a basket. 1 Cone is enough to start a fire in the stove. But now we use Geo thermal to heat. The cost is less than a load of uncut firewood per year and I get air conditioning on the side. The upfront cost is high but over a few years it pays off and is a bonus to the environment in bunch of ways. We have a basket of Parifinated Pine cones as decoration.

 

[C79]

For the woodstove I keep a coffee can full of corn cobs soaked in kerosene or deisel fuel. Out in the back country a roll of duct tape can be a great piece of firestarter, cordage, or even a bandage. When I was a kid the fur buyer that used to buy my trapline labor showed me how he kept raccoon carcasses in the freezers and he could light the fat and a carcass from a big one could give three hours of heat in the shop.

 

[Everhard]

Do you eat bacon? Well I do, and collected big coffee tins of the bacon fat. Never had a use for the stuff till one day it dawned on me...

The perfect for starter! Take an egg carton (I'm picky now and only get egg cartons that the bit that the egg sits in I like the ones that are like a nice cup) take just one of the cup and fill it with a bit of bacon fat. Don't have to heap it, doesn't take that much to get the job done. Then rip off the part of the egg carton lid directly above that cup, rip that into a few chunks and stick them into the fat. Done.
That will light any fire, and no need for kindling either.
I have been doing it for many years now for my wood stoves in the house (no there's no issues with using the fat in the stove!) I use it for my maple syrup evaporator, for burn piles (which works so well it doesn't matter what I'm burning in the pile, it'll get going, I've even lit piles just before the rain starts - on purpose - the fire gets going anyway.) and I'll do it when camping - after the first breakfast I save the bacon fat into the egg carton for the evening fire. Might as well make life easy I say!

E.

 

[Paskidog]

We were wondering, what are some of the ways that you guys are making your own fire starter’s. I tried small dried fir cones dipped in wax not good. Now using shredded paper stuffed into an ice tray with melted wax works good! Any other ideas? Thanks in advance for any ideas.

We NEVER get rid of old/used candles, I then go to my woodshop cyclone trashcan and pack paper dixie cups with wood shavings. I then melt down the old candles on a hot plate and fill the cup with melted wax. Waterproof and pretty windproof too !

 

[jjeff]

Do you eat bacon? Well I do, and collected big coffee tins of the bacon fat. Never had a use for the stuff till one day it dawned on me...

The perfect for starter! Take an egg carton (I'm picky now and only get egg cartons that the bit that the egg sits in I like the ones that are like a nice cup) take just one of the cup and fill it with a bit of bacon fat. Don't have to heap it, doesn't take that much to get the job done. Then rip off the part of the egg carton lid directly above that cup, rip that into a few chunks and stick them into the fat. Done.
That will light any fire, and no need for kindling either.
I have been doing it for many years now for my wood stoves in the house (no there's no issues with using the fat in the stove!) I use it for my maple syrup evaporator, for burn piles (which works so well it doesn't matter what I'm burning in the pile, it'll get going, I've even lit piles just before the rain starts - on purpose - the fire gets going anyway.) and I'll do it when camping - after the first breakfast I save the bacon fat into the egg carton for the evening fire. Might as well make life easy I say!

E.

Good idea, But I use saved bacon grease for frying up pancakes, french toast and eggs, yep my family DR. Loves me lol.

 

[digr]

Can't beat sawdust soaked in fuel oil kept in a jar

 

[charlessenf]

We were wondering, what are some of the ways that you guys are making your own fire starter’s. I tried small dried fir cones dipped in wax not good. Now using shredded paper stuffed into an ice tray with melted wax works good! Any other ideas? Thanks in advance for any ideas.

We heat with wood in a steel firebox inserted in out fireplace - so light lots of fires.

I use plumbers propane self-igniting torches on the disposable, refillable tanks you get off the shelf at Lowes or HD etc. I have an adapter that let's me refill them from the barbecue grill size tanks available at Lowes, HD, "everywhere" as trade-ins.

When splitting wood, save the little bits for 'kindling' and use the torch to get things going. In a cold fireplace, balled up newspaper can help to get a draft started.

Search YouTube for "how to start a fire' and ignore the ones about burning the factory down (from Al Kiada, et al)

 

[charlessenf]

(it's crazy what they do once they're not required to supply it...)

When you consider that the Big Box markup is 100% on average the only 'requirement' that they "supply it" is you and those walking about the aisles buying stuff. The odds are greatly in favor of HD netting an above average profit on the sanitizer they stocked because the management of HD (and others) has been to many other rodeos and is way profitable -

$331.21 a share at the moment - I do recall I paid $40

Your hoarding behavior was not at all unique - indeed rather predictable. What did not sell to hoarders at 'bargain' prices, was donated to charitable outlets (ReStore Salvation Army etc) earning them a discount on taxes otherwise due.
They 'got this.'

 

[charlessenf]

I would suggest some back issues of Field and Stream magazine.

Those somewhat 'glossy' magazine pages are so because they are coated with (used to be clay) something that diminishes their ability to burn intensely and generate the immediate heat of newsprint. Not readily ignited nor burned - great for ideas, not fuel!