So I’ve got two daughters. One day about 20 years ago, I see what looks like a dozen eggs in a cardboard container. A Girl Guide leader threw it at me, she had heard I was a bit of a firewood guy. She said “They are completely recycled, they work great and they are cheap.”
“What are they” I asked as I opened the egg carton. “Fire starters, of course” she replied.
I have been using these ever since. If you can light a match or flick your Bic, you can light these and they won’t go out until they finish burning.
Dryer lint, any old wax and a cardboard egg carton, that’s all you need.
It’s this easy…
1. Save your dryer lint.
2. Find old candles, old crayons or wax of any description at garage sales, thrift stores or such.
3. Save your cardboard egg cartons (ask your friends to save them too!)
4. Just like in the photos, lay out your empty cartons in a row
5. Push a small wad of lint into each of the 12 spots.
6. Remove plastic, paper and labels from candles or crayons and melt in a pot.
7. Pour just enough melted wax into each spot to soak the lint.
As you can see, I found an old cast iron kettle, it works like a dream for melting the wax.
I place it on my butane burner, but you can use any heat source you have. I fill it full of candles or crayons or whatever else I may have collected that’s made of wax.
I put on a pair of leather gloves, wait until it’s melted down and start pouring.
I pour the wax with the kettle over the ones I’m about to fill next, just in case any wax trickles out, it will land on the egg cartons, not my floor.
Every couple of batches, I scrape out the wicks or other garbage that’s settles to the bottom of my kettle. This can also be added to the spots in the egg cartons, in place of the lint.
Once they are all full, I wait about an hour or so and then close the lids and stack them.
In less than a hour I have enough fire starters for the entire winter and these may have cost me $20 total.  To use: simply tear one of the 12 wax spots off and place it wherever you’re wanting to start a fire.
Small dry pine cones work as well, but they are much more work. You have to dip each one into your wax, pull it out, let it dry, then repeat at least two more times. The second and third dips are pretty quick, because you don’t want the first layer of wax to melt off. Be sure to really let them dry in between each dip. They look good enough to give away as a gifts. A nice piece of twine wrapped around the box and your buddies will think you’ve been watching Martha Stewart!
