Today we will look at how to create some inexpensive fire starters from everyday things in the home.
Caution ! This involves heat and very hot wax, parental supervision required!
What you need:
Paraffin wax(I used just normal Gulf Wax)
Dryer lint
Cupcake papers
Heat source(Coleman Camp Stove)
Double boiler setup(here camp pot, and a large pouring pot for candle making)Step 1
Start the wax melting. Fill the camp pot 3/4 full with water and place on stove to warm. Then place the wax in the inner pot and place that into the hot water. Leave it in the water until fully melted.
The reason for doing this is the paraffin wax can burn if directly exposed to heat.
Step 2
Place lint into your cupcake papers. You want to pretty much fill the paper, but not overflow. Place these on a surface you do not care about(shallow box, old cookie sheet, you will get wax on it no matter how careful)
Step 3
Once the wax is completely melted pour the wax into cups. It is better to have more lint than wax. In the end your lint is going to act like a wick and keep it burning.
End Result after cooling.
This one actually has a little more wax than it should but will still burn fine. In this batch, we used 3 lbs of paraffin wax and ended up with 37 complete fire starters.
Substitutions:
For the wax just use any old candles you have lying around, break them up and remove the wick
Instead of cupcake papers you can use cardboard egg crates, which I think are easier to use but I had none on hand. When you are done cut them apart.Keep a few in your BOB, and a few by your emergency supplies and your fire starting will go immensely faster since you will not have to look for a bunch of tinder. Its very easy to make these with just things you have lying around your house already. Just save a few weeks of dryer lint and you are ready to go.