How to Make Fire Starters

After reading about how to make home made fire starters, I decided to give it a try.  I first gathered together everything I needed. Here is a list of the items:

An old egg carton Some old candles Saw dust and/or dryer lint An old tin can A pot Some aluminum foil or wax paper

Since I decided to make the fire starters outside, I had to get out my coleman stove. Part of the reason for making these outside was as follows:           1.       I didn't want to make a mess in the kitchen           2.       Since wax can start on fire, I decided it was safer to work outside. In the event the                      wax caught fire, I wouldn't do any damage to the house. I could easily put the fire                      out with a fire extinguisher.

Here are the steps I followed to make the fire starters:

1.     I broke the candles into smaller pieces and placed them into the tin can 2.     I then put the tin can into a put of hot water. Never place the wax directly         into a put as this could catch fire. 3.     I then put the pot on the stove and slowly melted the wax.

Place broken candle in tin can and put the tin can in a pot of water

Melting candles on stove

Melted wax

Saw dust place in bottom of egg carton

Use a pair of pliers or vise grips to hold tin can while pouring the wax. Pour the wax slowly into the egg cartons and be careful not to let it splash out as you could get a severe burn. Make sure your place wax paper or aluminum foil under the egg cartons as hot wax will leak out of the egg carton making a mess to cleanup when you are done.

When finished, let the wax cool until it is hard before moving.  Don't touch the wax directly to see if it is cool and hard. The wax will develop a thin skin on the top while cooling. If you touch this skin, you can easily break it and your finger will end up in hot wax.

When you want to use the fire starter, break off one or two squares, then place in the fire pit with wood and light the egg carton.