Homemade fire starters

[flyflotrtim]

Originally Posted by Reverse_snowbird

Dryer lint works too.

them
A Piece of rag works fine also, put a loop in it if you want to suspend them in your firewood bundle. Especially useful if snow or sloppy conditions on the bottom of the fire pit.

[dallasrules]

I just buy trioxane at the gun shows or surplus stores. It only takes a little piece.

[dieselguy]

I just cut to the chase and pour a bit of charcoal lighter onto the dry wood and let it soak in for a few minutes ... then light it off with a butane clicker lighter. Works every time unless you're foolish enough to try and light off green wood.

[Sunseeker16]

Originally Posted by DLorenzen

OK, make it easy with stuff you have. Grab a handful of those grease covered potato chips.

X2. Don't throw those stale chips away. They work good for starting a fire.

[JRHill02]

I use the tube cores from toilet paper and paper towels stuffed with dry pine needles/forest duff. Just grab a hand full and slightly align the needles, squeeze and stuff into the tube. I fill feed bags from under a tree and set them aside before the rains come. If and when we run out of tubes just a handful of the needles works but is messier. But its always a messy around the wood stove anyway.

[sallygjack]

I use dryer lint and old candles

[DouglasReid]

Originally Posted by Webefine

Attachment 280029
This is my fire starter, works every time!

AH the Industrial version.........................

[mixerman]

Originally Posted by fipntdot

I guess I am a gluten for punishment or a nostalgic purist. I still love the challenge of starting the fire like we did in boy scouts by simply preparing the kindling and seeing how few matches I can use.

We are pretty close in the way we start a fire except we just use one of the lighters with the long thing on it. We put some paper, mostly newspapers, in the bottom then kindling on top of that then light it. It's all free except the lighter and is fun to get the fire going.

[EK460]

Originally Posted by Webefine

Attachment 280029
This is my fire starter, works every time!

Mine too!

[Cb25 Joe]

Wax coated milk or orange juice cartons. Open the top and cut off the plastic spout. Put some kindling inside and light. Works great. Obviously you should drink the contents first.

[Randalpho]

I make my own because I can and it's fun to MacGyver.

Place liners in muffin tin, crush shredded paper in hand and stuff in liner, pour melted candles over paper. Helps to allow the wax to cool somewhat to thicken and slowly pour over paper.

1. Cup cake liners
2. Old muffin tin for support
3. Candle melting pot
4. Paper shredder that I use anyways
5. Old candles including scented
6. Pringles can

[badger5301]

Living here in Iowa we have access to as many corn cobs as we want during the harvest.
I dip them in candle wax then let them dry. Only have to use half to get a fire started and they work very well.

[jim1]

We use wood chips from a bag of pet bedding in a 5gallon container with a quart of diesel fuel poured over it. All you need is a handful and a lighter, no big flash or flame just starts burning nicely. We call it fire relish because thats what it looks like. If you want to make a batch to use inside we use scented kerosene so theres no diesel smell. Enjoy!

[yetavon]

Originally Posted by richp

there are times when I revert to my old boy Scout days and use naturally available materials just for fun, and to show I still have the right stuff.

Still carry and use my flint and steel started from scouts.. The magnesium block is about gone. Mostly always have a block of Fat Lighter and can almost start a fire with a bucket of wet sand.
Randalpho has a neat idea we may try.

[ChrisPBacon]

Working in Washington-state backcountry rescue, our wood was usually wet and starting a fire — even with chemical tablets — was problematic, so I found several different ways to get the fire going quickly.
1. Plasma lighter: a number of companies sell these little battery-powered plasma torches that are about the size of gate-openers (1’’x1”x 1/2”), some butane powered, others, electric;
2. Japanese carpenter’s knife: this little gem usually has a 3”-4” foldable blade which is very strong, sharp and excellent for shaving the bark off a tree;
3. Dryer lint, stuff tightly into toilet paper or paper towel cardboard tubes (I’ve added wood shavings as an experiment to see if it made a difference… which it did);
4. As an alternate source of ignition, a trick I learned in a military survival course was to have a few ounces of very fine steel wool and a 9-volt battery: touch the 9-volt leads to the steel wool and you have a hot fire that’s burning in less than a second (keep the battery in its original packaging inside a ziplock bag, separated from the steel wool). The metal burns at a very high temp and ignites wood quickly.

I also have impregnated cotton balls with Vaseline to use as fire-starting fuel stored in plastic film cans.

I’ve found that butane-powered fire starters tend to leak their fuel, though Brunton made a few that were excellent… haven’t leaked a bit in over 30 years.

[ChrisPBacon]

Originally Posted by dallasrules

I just buy trioxane at the gun shows or surplus stores. It only takes a little piece.

Trioxane?

[SuzanneA]

My go to lately has been packing an amazon box with stuff I need then tearing off a decent sized piece and rolling it into soemthing that resembles a stick. Surprisingly it never fails for me and I always have a box laying around ans can always use one to carry stuff on my way to the camper.

[MrPukaShell]

I wad up about ten sheets of paper towel. Then I dump some diesel on it and give it a good soak, usually about a quarter cup. Load up the logs and toss in a match. Never has it failed to get a fire going. Diesel is much cheaper than lighter fluid for starting fires

[NoBoGoat]

Being a charcoal person, I keep the empty charcoal bags and tear them up as needed for firestarters. Tear off a notepad-size piece, a couple squirts of used cooking oil or beef tallow from a previous brisket cook, roll into a ball or tube.