The backyard bonfire season has arrived at our house! Last night we had our first “s’mores by the fire” night of the summertime and it was WONDERFUL as usual. :-) We had originally planned on doing in the night before…but it turned out to be too windy. Tonight was absolutely perfect conditions and we had a lovely time.
Even building the fire was a breeze thanks to these handy dandy little fire starters I made the day before. I’d seen them on BOTH of my sisters’ blogs before (Camp Wander and Riches To Rags By Dori) and thought they looked interesting, but saw no need to make them myself since we don’t have a “real” fireplace in our house. But then summertime rolled around and I got to wondering how these might work for backyard bonfires.
So I decided to give it a try.
The “ingredients” and the process couldn’t be simpler. In fact, everything you need to make these is “junk” you most likely have laying around your house right now.
*Dryer Lint
*Empty Egg Cartons
*Old Candles
It didn’t take long to save up MORE than enough dryer lint for this project. In fact, I had WAY more than I needed so I am saving it for another batch down the road.
The egg cartons we ALWAYS have on hand…and I had a couple of old candles stashed away in a cupboard just waiting for SOME D.I.Y. project calling for wax. :-)
I took my ingredients, along with an old tin can for melting the wax in, outside to the backyard. I used my weberQ to melt the wax.
Safety Alert Update: Since posting this I have been “educated” about the dangers of melting wax over an open flame. Janice (and others) have pointed out that any open flame, can ignite wax vapors. A double boiler (or water bath) method is recommended.
While waiting for the wax to melt…I stuffed the egg carton with my lint collection. For some reason all my lint had long, blonde hair in it. Wonder where THAT came from! Hopefully it’s very flammable. :-)
When the wax was melted I carefully poured wax into each individual egg carton cup, just enough to saturate the lint. Then all you do is let them cool.
Once COMPLETELY COOLED they break apart easily and you can toss them in a bucket or some other appropriate container for your next fire!
For some reason I really had my doubts about whether these things were going to be all that they were cracked up to be, but fortunately I was proved wrong. They worked FANTASTIC!
The hubster added 3 of these little nuggets to the firewood pile in our humble sandbox-turned-firepit and lit them with our grill lighter and literally within MINUTES we had a beautiful, roaring fire going! No need for any sort of “accelerant” at all. (We have been known to resort to dousing the wood with lighter fluid to get our fires going!)
So now with the fire going full force, we were ready for s’mores time! I had forgotten how much I really LIKE s’mores! YUMMM!
I even spent some time in the afternoon making my first batch ever of homemade gluten-free graham crackers! (The gluten-free ones are the ones on the right.) They were a hit with No. 2 gluten-free son and everybody else! I promise to share the recipe SOON!
So you’re just going to have to check back. See how I am?? :-)
Happy Monday Everyone!
You’re a believer now eh? Very nice! Wish we could have been there…family around the fire pit is like one big group hug :)
Great idea, so much cheaper then purchasing fire starters. I like to do something similar. When I find a place that has beautiful, big pine cones I gather several bags full. I melt old candles of any color and then with a pair of tongs I dip the pine cones in the melted wax. They make wonderful fire starters and look very pretty sitting in a basket by our wood stove.
I’m with Melissa on this one. I made HUGE quantities of coloured waxy pine cones and sold them at a Christmas market, all gussied up in baskets, cellophane and big bows. My greatest triumph was selling some back to the folk I had gathered the pine cones from!!
I hear Fritos make good firestarters in a pinch too. Just don’t think about how much oil must be in them if you decided to eat the chips.
I love this idea!
I think that you may have a fire hazard w/ the method of melting the wax on the grill though. Even on a stove, it’s recommended that you melt wax using a double boiler.
I also save wax tarts to melt down for the same purpose. You could probably use leftover Scentsy wax as well!
We used to make these when my boys were young, mostly for scouting activities, although we used sawdust in place of the dryer lint. This post was a nice reminder.
What a great idea. I love your blog. You always have the most interesting items.
We have used these my whole life. They work amazing!
Does it make a difference which type of egg carton you use? I have mostly the styrofoam type of containers.
I would steer clear of the styrofoam ones for two reasons:
1. the hot wax would likely melt them
2. styrofoam gives off toxic fumes when burned
Toilet paper rolls stuffed with dryer lint work great too. I’ve done both but never dipped them in wax. Not sure what the advantage is except maybe extending the life of the fire started?
As a Girl Scout, we always made fire starters before going to camp. Two basic ingredients: Wax paper and old candle wax. Basically we had parents donate old candles (scented, whatever- but I don’t recommend scented candle wax as it gives off some smelly fumes that can affect your food) and we shaved them- no need to melt. We used vegetable peelers and cheese graters to get little slivers of wax. We then put the wax on 4 inch by 4 inch wax paper, rolled the ends like a candy kiss, and then used that as a firestarter. We could make a bunch of them and store them in our camp kits for fires.
I’m kinda wary about using laundry lint however. Most of my laundry lint is cat hair and my hair. Burning hair? Gross smelling! But I guess if you use dryer sheets then it might smell like flowers when you light the fire.
given the number of toxic chemicals in softener sheets, I’d be cautious about burning them near my family.
Awesome although I am becoming an expert at starting our two wood burners without ant kindling or paper it’s not easy! Besides something important is gonna get it on my daily hunt for what to burn next!
Looking forward to trying these out.
Xxx
You can also use dryer lint/cotton balls/newspaper/paper towel-tp rolls and Vaseline to make fire starters. I store them in tin foil or simply store the dryer lint in a baggie until needed and add the Vaseline on the spot. It’s a little messier however, there’s no danger of fire from melting wax.
First of all …. LOVE your Blog!! Next to Pinterest, this is the place I spend most of my online time :-)
I tried these after seeing them on Pinterest, and we used them camping a few weeks ago. It was windy and some of the wood was wet — did not matter in the least! This got the fires going for us with no trouble at all!!
Good to know. Thanks for sharing Denise. :-) So glad you like the website!
This spring I saw a youtube video that showed firestarters made from cotton balls and Vaseline. You just spread open the cotton ball, put about 1/2 tsp of Vaseline inside, roll up the cotton around the Vaseline, and put in a plastic container like a used margarine or cake frosting tub. The Vaseline simply slows the burning time of the cotton way down. It gives you a flame for about 3-5 minutes. I started doing this, and I must say, it’s a quick and inexpensive method and works great. I get my supplies at the $1.00 store. Try it – you’ll like it!
I’ve made my own in paper lined muffin tins. Love the idea using the egg cartons.
Love your website. Am going to try out these fire starters. Please don’t forget to post your recipe for the gluten free s’mores. They look so good.
Jan
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This past week in Girl Scouts we used just the dryer lint and kindling and it started right up. What is the advantage of using wax or Vaseline?
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We use a wood stove for heat in the winter and I have been making these for a few years now. I love them but I wanted to tell you how I melt my wax. I have an old Candle Warmer Plate, you know the kind that plugs in and warms those big Yankee Candles. I also have an old Yankee Candle Jar, the smaller one, not the big tall one. I throw my wax scraps in it and walk away for a while and when it is melted, I just pour it into my egg carton. It takes a while for it to melt but it is pretty safe and I can do it inside while I get other stuff done. I just lay some newspapers under my carton, just in case! These little fire starters are awesome! I buy eggs by the 5 Dozen and it comes with a nice box to store them in. I can fit 90 of these little things in each box and I have three boxes full in my pantry. It’s probably time to start giving them away. I just keep making them because I can’t bring myself to throw the lint away if it has another use. If you know of another use for the lint I would appreciate the inspiration! ;) I love your blog and I always look forward to seeing new ideas from you!
I’ve been making these firestarters for years. Started out making them with my Girl Scout troop. What I discovered the very first time was that I needed to put a jelly roll pan under the egg cartons before we poured the wax into them. The wax that goes through comes right off the non-stick surface of the pan when it’s cool and no mess on the table (or concrete steps as the case may be). :-)
how do you have candles without having matches? you have to create a “fire” without everything! create chemicals out of things in front of you! how do you create it in the middle of the desert, jungle, vast ocean, in your bedroom? thats what i want to know…
I make these with cardboard toilet paper rolls as well. Works like a charm!
Jillee, to make you smores less messy, I use the pre-made chocolate covered graham crackers. I’ve even used the mint flavored ones. Easy, cheaper, and less messy…
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My husband and I make them all the time. We have a camper that says at the campground year around. One of our fellow campers showed me how to make them. I now make them and donate them to people all over by us. I’m a huge fan of safe do it your self home items.
I’ve made these before and can tell you they work better than anything you buy in the store!
I made these, I just hope the hair in the lint doesn’t stink when it burns (haven’t used them yet).
Also, I just put the can of paraffin in a pan of hot water on low heat (sorta like using a double boiler)and melted it on the stove. Works great, just watch the water so it doesn’t boil dry if you do a few batches.
I made these last week and used an electric candle warmer. I could let it go and come back with no worries about burnng the house down. They worked great with egg cartons and toilet paper rolls. Filled each one with lint..asked neighbors for help on this part. Ha
Thanks for your great daily posts