DIY Fire Starter’s

[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!