Post by Admin on Jan 30, 2014 9:31:03 GMT -5
Yes, there’s plenty of natural material to help ignite your fire—birch bark, dried grass, cattail fluff, and resin from a balsam tree are some of the best—but having homemade back-ups stored in your pack and always available can be an extra bonus. Even if you don’t make them at home, you always have plenty of flammable materials in your pack as well.
Dryer lint and egg cartons
The classic homemade fire starter is a wad of dryer lint placed in each empty storage department of a cardboard egg carton with melted wax, or better yet, melted paraffin wax poured over top. It’s an easy project and brings back days of making crafts in public school. The main trick, however, is to melt the wax without burning the house down or ruining your good cooking pot. Wax or paraffin wax is highly flammable so don’t just throw a cube of it in a pot and heat up up over the stove burner. To slow down the melting rate, and reduce the chance of combustion, make a double burner by having the pot with the wax in it float in another pot of water. The simmering water will melt the wax at a much slower and safer rate. And you might want to use an old coffee can rather than a cooking pot to melt the wax in. Melted wax makes a real mess to clean up. If you don’t want to spend the money on paraffin then simply gather all the half-burned candles in the house (or go to a bargain store). Sawdust, shredded paper or even cut up pieces of the egg carton top work well as filler. Also, try dipping in rolled up newspaper tied with string (don’t use nylon string) or pine cones into the wax to make fire starters.
Cotton balls and vaseline
Cotton balls are my favorite. Their light weight and when Vaseline or “petroleum jelly” is worked into the ball, it becomes highly flammable. I’ve even dipped them in paraffin wax or even melted Vaseline and stored them in my pack in a Ziploc bag. If you’re on trip and you don’t have cotton balls or Vaseline but you do have Q-tips and lip balm, try those together.
Hand sanitzer
Squeeze a good supply of hand santizer on the wood and it will burn long enough to dry things out. Make sure the product you are using, however, contains alcohol. Some companies are now making alcohol free sanitizer and that won’t work.
Charcoal in an egg carton
Place a chunk of charcoal in each section of cardboard egg carton. Light the carton—you might want to squeeze hand sanitizer or bug repellent on it first to help get it going.
Waxed paper and dyer lint
Waxed paper burns fantastic on its own but you can also wrap up dryer lint or sawdust, twisting both ends of the paper to hold the contents. Remember Safety at all times and make sure an adult is helping you
Dryer lint and egg cartons
The classic homemade fire starter is a wad of dryer lint placed in each empty storage department of a cardboard egg carton with melted wax, or better yet, melted paraffin wax poured over top. It’s an easy project and brings back days of making crafts in public school. The main trick, however, is to melt the wax without burning the house down or ruining your good cooking pot. Wax or paraffin wax is highly flammable so don’t just throw a cube of it in a pot and heat up up over the stove burner. To slow down the melting rate, and reduce the chance of combustion, make a double burner by having the pot with the wax in it float in another pot of water. The simmering water will melt the wax at a much slower and safer rate. And you might want to use an old coffee can rather than a cooking pot to melt the wax in. Melted wax makes a real mess to clean up. If you don’t want to spend the money on paraffin then simply gather all the half-burned candles in the house (or go to a bargain store). Sawdust, shredded paper or even cut up pieces of the egg carton top work well as filler. Also, try dipping in rolled up newspaper tied with string (don’t use nylon string) or pine cones into the wax to make fire starters.
Cotton balls and vaseline
Cotton balls are my favorite. Their light weight and when Vaseline or “petroleum jelly” is worked into the ball, it becomes highly flammable. I’ve even dipped them in paraffin wax or even melted Vaseline and stored them in my pack in a Ziploc bag. If you’re on trip and you don’t have cotton balls or Vaseline but you do have Q-tips and lip balm, try those together.
Hand sanitzer
Squeeze a good supply of hand santizer on the wood and it will burn long enough to dry things out. Make sure the product you are using, however, contains alcohol. Some companies are now making alcohol free sanitizer and that won’t work.
Charcoal in an egg carton
Place a chunk of charcoal in each section of cardboard egg carton. Light the carton—you might want to squeeze hand sanitizer or bug repellent on it first to help get it going.
Waxed paper and dyer lint
Waxed paper burns fantastic on its own but you can also wrap up dryer lint or sawdust, twisting both ends of the paper to hold the contents. Remember Safety at all times and make sure an adult is helping you