Homemade firestarters

Husband loved a bag of firelighters he recently bought.  They didn't stink and when we looked at the ingredients it was coconut oil, wax and wood threads.
So we found some candles in the garage (not keen on candles anymore).
Melted the candle, filled an egg carton with wood shavings and poured over the melted wax.  And he loves our homemade fire starters.

My current favourite firestarters are dry cornstalks and one of the giant pine-cones that grow locally.



I like that the pinecones light easily but also burn for long enough to get the kindling going. Plus they are fun to collect...

Just did up a group of firestarters.
I'd collected a bunch of milkweed fluff in the fall and have been keeping the tp roll cores.
Then added in some bark from the logs and some beeswax bits from unrolled candles we got in a box lot.
Lastly, a bit of wax paper to hold it together.

I'm hoping that having a bunch ready to go will make getting the wood stove going faster.

It bothers me a bit that I often see RMH's being started with a propane torch.

Has anyone tried these sorts of fire starters instead? (I don't have an RMH yet, but still hoping... might have to be a Walker cook stove instead.)

I use my homemade fire starters for camping, but I use candle buds - that last bit of candle unused b/c it was in the holder, dryer lint & leftover thread from sewing projects, I also use TP rolls after we use up the TP either whole or cut into strips.  I also use natural materials when camping if needed.  I melt the wax, pour it over the lint, thread, TP rolls, let it cool just enough to handle it & roll it into little logs (about the size of my finger) and then store it in my drawstring bag. I also use cardboard pieces or non-plastic egg cartons waxed over.  I have used, less often, waxed leftover material from projects like yarn, material strips, etc.
--Tess

Waste paper (I only use unbleached for this purpose) can be inundated with grease, corded together, and used as such.

Anyone who lives in a climate where birches grow is blessed with a nearly infallible firestarter that is peeling off of the bark of trees!

What I typically do, is the old fashioned get a flame, add lots of little dry twigs or wood shavings, then some bigger twigs, etc.

Pine is a very good tree for small kindling, as well as dried-down herbaceous stalks. If you find standing stalks those are best because they haven’t been in contact with the ground. Taller grasses work too—if you have switchgrass, timothy, indiangrass, bluestems, miscanthus, reed-canary, etc. they often are sturdy enough to remain aloof from the ground.

Garlic mustard stems actually make good kindling as well—you could get a lot of them and bundle them together. They are very dry and aired out by winter-time.

I use heart pine.  Any pine tree stump will give plenty of fire starter slivers, in the center where all the resin is stored.  I like pine cones as the base of a fire also.

Jay Angler wrote:It bothers me a bit that I often see RMH's being started with a propane torch.

Has anyone tried these sorts of fire starters instead? (I don't have an RMH yet, but still hoping... might have to be a Walker cook stove instead.)

Burra's post looks like she's using the corn husks and pine cone in their RMH.

Jane Mulberry wrote:

Jay Angler wrote:It bothers me a bit that I often see RMH's being started with a propane torch.
Has anyone tried these sorts of fire starters instead? (I don't have an RMH yet, but still hoping... might have to be a Walker cook stove instead.)

Burra's post looks like she's using the corn husks and pine cone in their RMH.

Corn husks  and pine cones blasted with a propane torch.

Sometimes the dragons help...



I never claimed to be perfect.

I just try to be good...

I save orange peels year round, air dry them in summer, in a small cast iron pan set on top of the stove in winter. When they<re dry enough to snap inro smaller chunks I store them in an old sauerkraut crock. They make the house smell good as they dry, and retain enough orange oil to help the kindling burn quick and hot.

Best I have found also helps with the waist stream.   Vegetables are delivered to stores in corrugated paper boxes soaked in paraffin to waterproof it.   These burn just like a candle without smoke. I made a video of me cutting them into strips and starting a fire with them and posted it on permies but the comment was that it was to dark and the worst video on YouTube so I wont post it again.

Dryer lint is my goto....    combine that with thin sticks works a treat.

I use "Artificial Bark" if I don't have enough of the real thing
as firestarters or to relight a fire.

Not exactly homemade but willfully repurposed.

The cardboard rolls can be huge - from construction sites or textile
shops. I cut them into rings with a jigsaw. I then step on then to
encourage them to delaminate.

Sometimes I melt some candle wax (spilt wax from my Catholic Church)
and soak strands of discarded mop in it.

At a pinch I might use shredded newspaper but the ones in this
family photo are preferred as they maintain their shape, do not
substantially block airflow, present a large surface area and are
completely dry while sometimes containing a bit of oil.  

They flame readily once in contact with a glowing coal.

Also, wood shavings from a plane or drawknife fit the bill.