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You can make your own fire starters quite easily for your fireplace and camping needs. A good fire starter ensures that you can get the fire going quickly in any type of weather condition. Fire starters come in handy if the wood is wet.
Some of the essential items in the contents to make fire starters include cotton balls, petroleum jelly, wax, paper cups, paraffin, sawdust, dry lint, candle wax, pine cones, and wicks. You may also have fabric scraps, wood pieces, scrap paper and cardboard.
It is always advisable to use only black-and-white newspaper to start a fire. Colored ink releases chemicals when burned.
Here are some of the ways you can make the fire starters at your home.
1. Roll a few cotton balls and cover it completely in the petroleum jelly. You can start a fire by putting two or three cotton balls under your dry kindling and ignite with a match stick.
2. Cut your worn out web belt or hiking compression strap into 8 cm strips. Soak them in wax and let them dry. You can ignite them when you need fire.
3. Fill paper condiment cups with saw dust and pour paraffin over them. Dry them and use them when needed.
4. A ball of dry lint covered with candle wax can make an excellent fire starter.
5. Go back to the Stone Age. You can use flint, a stone when struck vigorously with a piece of steel generates sparks which can ignite dry tinder.
Beeswax fire starters
Beeswax is the only naturally found wax on earth. It is a pure, perfect and a renewable resource. It emits negative ions that cleanse the air. It does not contain toxic petrochemicals and does not create soiling smoke or soot.
Beeswax burns without releasing drips if it is kept away from drafts. The beeswax is consumed by the fire of the flame unlike other waxes that melt into drippings and disintegrate into toxic components that pollute your environment.
Magnesium fire starters
A magnesium fire starter consists of a small block of solid magnesium with a full- length flint sparkling insert into the edge. The soft magnesium can be easily scrapped with a pocket knife into a pile which is ignited by scraping the edge of the sparking insert with the knife. Magnesium can ignite to a temperature of 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit, more than enough to light the most stubborn campfire.
A word of caution while using magnesium fire starter
If you manage to cut a long silver of the magnesium off, just turn your head slightly away when you light it. Magnesium burns very brightly and becomes very hot. Its light is dazzling bright, so do not stare at it or use it on an inflammable platform.
Pine cone fire starters
Pine cone fire starters can be made by dipping them in boiling wax. Place them on the wax paper until they become hard. You can use this pine cone as a fire starter by igniting it with a light.
Fatwood is a 100% natural fire starter made from the pine tree stumps. Fatwood is, in fact, the concentrated natural resin in the wood. Each piece is usually 8 inch long and 3/4" in diameter. It can be ignited with a single match.
Stove Bright Fire Starter Gel
Gelled fire starters can be used in woodstoves, pellet stoves, fireplaces, coal stoves and also in campfires. They are color less, smokeless, barbeques and environmentally safe. It does not leave its odor in the taste of foods.
Rutland fire starters
Rutland Company makes solid fire starters which are compressed wood chips and wax based squares. They contain recycled wood and paper fiber. They burn very quickly and last for 8 to 12 minutes even when wet. They are non-dangerous flare ups, non-toxic and non explosives and do not leave their taste in food.
