Excess wax to make fire starters

[Venetti]

I've decided to use my excess wax for firestarters. I've never done this before, so I'm hoping someone that has can give me a bit of advice. 

 

I have a few questions :

1. Does it matter what type of wax is used?

(I have about 30lbs of bum tester wax I've recycled - paraffin and soy mixed all throughout.)

 

2. If I put cotton balls or pinecones in, do they need to be dipped in wax first or just put in the mold and poured over?

 

thank you kindly ☺️

 

**I am making these as part of a basket for Christmas gifts.

[Sponiebr]

I don't know about wax per se, but the emergency fire starters I've made were just a cotton ball dipped in some hot petroleum jelly. I know to prime some of the wood wicks I made I literally boiled them in wax until I lost the water content from the wood (e.g.: they stopped or nearly stopped bubbling). 

HTH,
Sponiebr  

[Sarah S]

Take a look in the Wickless section, there's a multi page thread on firestarters, it's maybe three threads from the top. Lots of great info!

[Gary in Canada]

I've made a lot of firestarters..  I save all the old wax from the bottom of containers...or failed testers.  I get a small paper cup, or a paper cupcake cup?...fill it with shedded paper, or wood shavings, then top it up with melted wax..just make sure you have some paper or wood sticking out that act as the "wick".  They work great..but maybe not as pretty as you want for gifts, but I'm sure you could make them a little more attractive, or do a nice festive wrapping to dicky doo them up a little.  I save all wax...different soys, a little parrafin, different colours, different scents then melt it all together...and it still works great.