Fire Starter

These are easy to make waterproof'ish fire starters. They can get wet, but won't light under water.

MATERIALS:

Mini muffin pan
Mini muffin papers
Chainsaw saw dust
A candle
An old pot
An empty soup can
Wax paper

Step 1: Bend Up the Soup Can

Strip and clean an empty soup can. Then pinch one side to make a spout. I also got fancy and clamped the side so I could hold the can with a pair of vice grips and pour. The can gets really hot, so this makes it much nicer.

Step 2: Fill the Mini Muffin Pan

Put the muffin pan on a piece of wax paper. This can be messy. Fill each muffin spot with a muffin paper. Then fill each muffin paper with chainsaw saw dust. I like chainsaw saw dust better than regular saw dust, but saw dust should work fine too.

Pack the saw dusty into the muffin papers. Try to get it kind of tight.

Step 3: Melt the Wax

I use an old sauce pan. I bent the sides with a pair of vice grips to form slight spouts. This helps to keep it from spilling as you pour it into the custom soup can you made in the last step.

Melt some wax, but remove it from the heat if it starts to smoke. It should NOT smoke. If it is smoking it is close to flashing which means it can catch fire. This would e BAD. Especially if you are in your kitchen.

Hold it over your loaded muffin pan and gently pour the wax into your soup can.

Step 4: Pour the Wax on the Saw Dust

This is the tricky part. Gently pour a small amount of wax over the saw dust. When the wax is hot it will foam up at it hits the dry saw dust. This can cause it to spill out and pour over the too of the muffin pan. Just go slow and everything will be fine.

Step 5: Let It Cool

This is the easy part. Just let it cool to room temp. After they cool, put them in the freezer for about 20 minutes. This makes it much easier to get them out of the muffin pan.

Step 6: Clean Up

I keep all the tool and part together on a cooks sheet. That way when I need to make I just grab my kit and head into the kitchen.

Make sure you pour all the hot wax out of the soup can so it doesn't cool in the can. You can pour any extra wax back into the sauce pan. If it cools in the soup can there is no good way to hear it up to get the wax out.

Step 7: Light

Just light the paper edge and you're all set. They will burn from 9 to 11 minutes. This is usually plenty if time to start a fire. We use one or two of then in our fire place and never have to put in any paper.

Enjoy!

Comments

[DanielP216]

I am doing exactly the same firestarters.. I do not own a chainsaw so I use hamster bedding that cost almost nothing at Walmart :)

[cutternorth]

Rosewood513, thanks for the suggestion. This last time I made some, I tried it out. On my particular stove, the can bottom is too small to be stable on the burner grate. If I had a wider can it might feel more secure.

[Fred.Royal]

You do not put the can on the burner grate. Place the sauce pan, about 1/3 full water. Place the can, with the wax, into the sauce pan. The boiling water is more than hot enough to melt the wax and no worry about getting wax hot enough to flash. That way when you finish, all you have to do is empty water from sauce pan and allow wax, left in the can to set up.

[Fred.Royal]

You do not put the can on the burner grate. Place the sauce pan, about 1/3 full water. Place the can, with the wax, into the sauce pan. The boiling water is more than hot enough to melt the wax and no worry about getting wax hot enough to flash. That way when you finish, all you have to do is empty water from sauce pan and allow wax, left in the can to set up.

[cutternorth]

Those are great ideas!

[rosewood513]

May I make a suggestion? instead of putting the wax in the saucepan put it in the coffee can and then put the coffee can in the saucepan with water and heat it until the wax melts, this way the sauce pan does not get dirty and the wax just stays in the coffee can until next time. It is safer that way....

[Derek Scott Customs]

These are really cool. I always find myself trying to find paper.

[cheesebubble]

Good instructable! My parents used to make these. At Christmas, they'd melt old crayons - making red or green fire starters. They added a bit of glitter on top and I think they put a bit of cinnamon in too.