How to Make Some Easy Fire Starters that really work

These fire starters work well and can even help to start a damp fire

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paperboard egg carton(s) if you want to make more then one
• Drier Lint
• Wax (could be the stubs of old wax candles you would normally toss out)

1. Step #1 - Easy.
   Collect the paperboard cartons that your eggs come in, it is usually more time effective, to make more of these firestarters at one time.
   
   Collect lint from your household drier or from the laundromat drier screen, until you have a small bagful.
   
   Collect the old candle stubs you would otherwise throw out, wax crayons, etc. The more of these you collect, the less new wax you'll need.

2. Step #2 - A little more involved.
   Take the egg cartons and open them up and keep open. You may wish to set them up on cookie sheets, so that as we progress, any spillage will occur on the cookie sheet and not the counter top - Easier to clean.
   
   Now take that bag of drier lint you saved, and proceed to fill each empty egg holder in the carton with a ball of lint - Don't compact or roll the lint too tightly - It has to absorb the wax in the next step.

3. Step #3 - More involved, please be careful here.
   With the egg cartons, egg holders filled with lint ready, set them aside and lets get the wax ready.
   
   The first thing, is make sure your wax chunks are not too large as to make heating the wax a long process. Chop up the old candles, (*Don't worry about the wick bits, but remove any metal wick holders from the bottom. Any kind of wax candles (fragrance ones too) and crayons can all go. If you have to use fresh wax, parrow-wax for sealing jam jars is good too, easy to come by and relatively cheap. Chop up the blocks.
   
   You can heat wax in an old can directly on a source of heat (the stove for example), but the better method, and SAFER method, is to use a small pot to heat water to a boil, and melt your wax in an old can, in the boiling water.
   **You will need oven gloves or the equivalent to hold onto the wax can in order to pour the wax.

4. Step #4 - Almost done - easy.
   Now that the wax is melted, **IMPORTANT**, pour the melted wax SLOWLY into each (egg holder+lint) cup in each egg carton/fire starter you are making.
   It is NOT necessary to fill the egg holder with wax, just pour enough of the wax into each holder to thoroughly 'wet' the lint.
   
   When each carton or cookie tray of cartons is done, set it aside to dry and harden. Each carton will make enough 'firestarters' for about 6 fires at the rate of 2 starters per fire.

5. Step #5 - The fun step.
   You're on your camping trip, you have your firewood set to go - open the egg carton/firestarter lid, and rip off one or more of the egg holders with wax and lint included. There is no need to be careful here.
   Set the little egg holders inside your wood pile for your campfire so that you can easily light the paperboard. It is the paperboard egg holder that you light initially, that in turn, lights the wax and lint.
   This is your own firestarter!
   Wait for a bit as the wood catches on and ENJOY your campfire!

Tips & Warnings

• You won't need more then one or two usually to get the fire going quickly and completely.
• If your wood is damp, you might use more then the usual number of firestarters and let them dry out your wood. They may burn long enough, to be able to start the fire as well.
• Remember to be safe and careful while melting and pouring the liquid wax - carelessness here could result in a nasty burn.
• Remember to use oven gloves or the equivalent to hold, and then remove the melted wax from the heat and pour it on the lint.