How to Make Fire Starters With Dryer Lint and Paraffin

Start campfires quickly and easily!

Dryer lint and paraffin fire starters provide a use for a classic cast-off--lint-screen scrapings. These fire starters will burn hot and reliably even in wet weather, and are safe to carry in a car or backpack. They are very handy for any type of camping or just starting a fire in your home fire pit or fireplace.

Things You'll Need

• Paper grocery bag full of dryer lint
• 4 blocks of paraffin wax (the type used for canning)
• Cotton string
• Heavy-bottomed saucepan, 2 qt. or larger
• Wax paper

Instructions

Melt Paraffin

1. Melt the paraffin in the saucepan over medium heat until liquefied. Remove from the heat.

2. Gather enough dryer lint to make a roughly cylindrical shape about one-half-inch thick and three inches long when well compressed. Cut a piece of string about a foot long. Using the string, wrap the lint three or four times around, fairly tight, enough for the rough cylinder to hold its shape. The shape does not have to be perfect. Knot the string to secure it, leaving a tail of string about three inches long. Make several lint bundles before going on to Step 3.

3. Holding the string, dip the bundle of lint in the paraffin. Hold the bundle over the pan with the paraffin, allowing the excess to drip off. Let it dry a few seconds. Dip the bundle in the paraffin again, and let it drip as it dries. Repeat this process until the coating of paraffin is about one-eighth-inch thick, a total of three or four times. Place the bundle on the wax paper to fully dry and harden.

4. Keep making bundles and dipping until out of lint or paraffin. This amount of paraffin should suffice for at least a dozen of these fire starters.

5. Store the fire starters in air-tight storage bags (Ziploc or similar) until needed. One fire starter will be enough for a small campfire. Two or more may be used if starting a larger fire. When ready to use, simply hold a match or lighter flame to the lint and paraffin bundle. The bundle will quickly and easily catch fire and burn long and hot enough to get your fire really going.

Tips & Warnings

• If the paraffin starts to thicken while dipping the lint bundle, briefly place it on the stove to re-liquefy.