Firestarter question

[Vio]

I just realized, because we have a wood burning stove, that I could make my own firestarters. I've seen them spoken about here, and decorator types, but I don't want to do anything that fancy. Just want block types that would be able to be cut or something, into like long rectangles.

We cut our own wood from the land here, and husband always has saw dust that comes off when he cuts, and we always buy our own wax firestarters and they're not that cheap.

I know to save my paper towels when I start my candles, but am not going to keep that bag in the house in case it can self combust or something. Like oily rags can do.

Now, if I wanted to do this, what do I need to do to create the shape? Like do a soap type mold, lines with wax paper or something? Spray something so the mixture doesn't stick to the mold thing?

Just want to make a tray up, that I can like create almost like soap bars from, but have no idea since it's not soap, what to do to aid the release?

It would be nice to just tear up waxed paper towels and add some saw dust and wood chips we have plenty of, to cut back on the expense of those firestarters we buy from the store. LOL

Oh and could I use C3? LOL

[LabRN]

Dryer lint makes an excellent firestarter --- ask all the firemen who've put out laundry room fires!

Seriously, people do use dryer lint, and if you've got sawdust you've got a great beginning. You can get a cheap supply of paper cups, and pour into those, then you don't have to worry about a mold, burn the cup and all.

Just fill your cup with the sawdust/lint/whatever, stick a piece of wick in --- I'm sure you could find something else, but you know it will work --- and pour over with whatever wax --- most people again go cheap here, too. Let harden and you've got firestarters. Velveeta boxes, shoeboxes, pringles cans --- all would would give you a loaf shape. Punch holes in the side of the pringles can to thread wicks in, then just cut up the can when set.

If you google handmade firestarters, I'm sure a ton of 'recipes' will come up!

HTH!

[cherry1968]

I have seen them made with pinecones!!

[Connie]

I use the cupcake liners. They don't cost alot and you can get in the dollar stores. Wax left over from old testers and miscellanouse candles. great way to get rid of left overs.

[kandlekrazy]

There is a good thread on these somewhere???? I used that advice and made them in paper baking liners (the cupcake ones.) They are so easy to make with those. I put liners into the cupcake pan put in my wood shavings (saw dust is fine) stick a leftover wick piece on 2 sides and pour leftover wax over the top, leave in pan until they set up. WARNING...they look like someone puked oatmeal in a cupcake liner!! Mine are not pretty, but practical. Next time I plan on using either potpourri or a pine cone on top to make them look better.

[Vio]

I found a few links in a search here, but most people here make them fancy. I didn't want them fancy, just want to make blocks of them, so wondering how to do it to make long rectangles. I guess it would be good though to use the cupcake method though. I don't need them to be fancy, but it would be easy and enough to start a fire, now that I think about it. Was just thinking about the non fancy way to go.

I have a ton of dryer lint! LOL I always toss it in the wood stove too which is funny. It does burn well. Also dryer sheets burn too. The used ones. Don't know how healthy it is to burn them, but I've tossed one in and they light right up.

Thanks for the tips and advice. Just thinking how I could save money on store bought ones, by using what we have in wood shavings and sawdust. I really never thought of them as being a wax product before. I always knew they felt waxy, but had no idea they were actually wax! LOL

[GrayMaire]

I've made them using cardboard egg cartons too - they work great. Just put your "filler" in the egg spaces and pour melted wax over them, or mix everything in a pot and then fill the carton. When I want to use them, I tear off 1 or 2 or however many I want. I don't bother with wicks for this type as the cardboard burns just fine all on its own.

[kandlekrazy]

I've made them using cardboard egg cartons too - they work great. Just put your "filler" in the egg spaces and pour melted wax over them, or mix everything in a pot and then fill the carton. When I want to use them, I tear off 1 or 2 or however many I want. I don't bother with wicks for this type as the cardboard burns just fine all on its own.

Thanks for another great idea!! We go over to the beach and have bonfires all the time and the eggcrates would work great for those fires.

[GrayMaire]

You're very welcome! Bonfires are exactly what I use these for the most!

[Vio]

OMG excellent idea on the egg cartons!! Thank you!!!

[Sag_77]

I just use bathroom style dixie cups. In an old pot I mix up my wood shavings and melted wax and just spoon it into the cups. I never have used wicks this way either, just light the top of the shavings and it is like a great big torch.

[Vio]

Another great idea thank you!

My husband was laughing at me. I told him we need to save wood shavings and saw dust, the dryer lint, and told him to never throw out the egg cartons anymore. OMG he's got to think I've lost it!!!

[ladydragon]

I use cup cake liners and glue dot a votive wick in...

If you really want a loaf style that's very rustic you could use an inexpensive silicone bakeware loaf or roasting mould...

2/3 fill with sawdust and other flammable stuff like the dryer lint and bed wicks down throughout the length* into the bulk and then pour your wax over slowly to saturate the contents well and truly... If done slowly the wood shavings will start to swell and the whole lot will end up filling the mould...

Decorate the surface with pot pourri, rosehips etc if you want - or leave bare and 'woody'...

Leave to set and peel off the silicone... One Fire Starter Loaf... Use Knife, Saw, Soap cutter etc to slice...

*If you have trouble bedding the wicks in just fill without and when demoulded make a small hole through the middle of a 'slice' and push the wick through that... The wick's just to be able to light and move safely away before it all combusts... Or use wound up newspaper donuts as usual to lay the fire and bed the firestarter blocks between the paper donuts and the wood the same way as store bought blocks...

[Vio]

So many great ideas! Thank you all very, very much!

[Oh-MYo]

Funny how the fire starter thing keeps coming up.

One thing I discovered in my experiments was that the firestarters themselves do need something that will burn hot enough to get the wax burning. Of course once that has started you have no problems with ignition.

I found pouring in dixie cups to be the least messy. Years ago in my paper weaving phase I had bought a paper shredder. So shredded paper was basically the fuel of choice in my firestarters. With enough in the wax as well as lots of ends sticking out to enhance the intitial burn.

My firestarters look like little pink porcupines jammed into dixie cups.

Have fun.

[Vio]

LOL oh how cute! LOL Cute firestarters! Thanks for the ideas!

Well, we have this wood stove, and use it to suppliment our oil heat, so I figured since I'm gonna have some wax soon, can't hurt to see how to make these things. I think we pay like 13-15 dollars for the big box of them. If I put that money towards wax, I could probably make double or more of these things, and not have to buy them anymore. That would be great for me! I'd rather create them, then buy them, if I have the stuff just laying around.

Our stove is just a wood burning box stove. No fancy glass or anything. It's in the basement, and we use it all the time in the winter. Using it right now as a matter of fact. Cold today, as we got that snow over the night. Have about 8 inches outside and it's still coming down.

[Oh-MYo]

Lol...careful now Vio, if you dont watch it, you will have boxes and boxes of firestarters in all sorts of configurations and more than you can possibly use in a lifetime and still steepling fingers together, thinking...."hmmm..what shall I try next?"

I'm jealous though; wish I had a wood burning stove again.

[Vio]

LOL I know!!! OMG this place is dangerous I swear! I'm getting so many ideas here! I can picture it as well. Tons of fire starters, dixie cups and cupcake cups, some egg cartons, all stacked neatly in the basement, and my husband begging me to please not make anymore!

We love the wood burning stove, because we get the wood for free, right from our woods here. It helps cut expenses a lot in the winter, with the price of oil now. The only bad thing is the soot. Even with air cleaners running, there's still that dust that gets on things in the house because of it. That and it's a dry heat, so you need to humidify or you dry out badly.

[CareBear]

We never got any soot in the house from our wood burning stove. Is your chimney functioning properly? does the door close tightly? are the chimney segments fitted together tightly?

[Vio]

No it's not air tight. Husband has it seeled up, but when he opens the door to start it, we get some soot. It's not much, but when I dust, you can see it's there in the winter. He's got all the seals done great. It's been checked. It's the damned door on the thing. We got it from someone for free, and while it's the perfect size, it doesn't seal shut and it's got some air coming out of it. Husband says that's why the soot manages to find it's way around the house. We have a vent in our floor, down to the basement, and that room with that vent is the room that gets it mostly. It's not a lot, but it's there and I have to dust more in the winter due to it.

One day we'll get the money up to buy an air tight. They're not cheap.

The chimney is fine. It's an old house but it was built well. There's a hole in the kitchen where we actually used to have a real wood burning kitchen stove. When we moved in, we had to take it out. It was too big and took up half the kitchen. It was huge. It's capped off and sealed, and the exhaust was just checked on the furnace and the wood stove pipe.

My husband is an anal electrician as well, so he's got the whole house hard wired and battery back up with the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

I like the wood stove, but it makes me nervous. We never burn pine, and toss in a creasote burning log every month. Check the chimney with a mirror often too, to make sure we can see a lot of light and it's looking square in there. It's got to be like he says, it's the lack of air tightness that does it. Stinks because we burn more wood too with it not being air tight.

[Oh-MYo]

Yaknow, I had almost forgotten about that soot dust. But I do know what youre talking about. I wouldnt worry though, if your stove was exhausting improperly you would be noticing more smoke than soot in your house.

I found that even carrying the wood into your home, especially if it is properly dried will create extra dust. It's just the way of things. Even cleaning the chimney will create soot in your house--no way around it.

And depending on atmospheric conditions and wind direction some days that smoke from outside will wind around and work it's way into any little crack in your house.

Back in the day, it was important to not have an airtight house because the wood stove does need oxygen to burn and so do the people in the house.

Even the surrounding area outside of your house can effect your burn, such as very tall trees. Nothing so important as draft with a wood stove. And the airtight stoves can be very nice but they can have draft issues themselves.

If/when you do buy an airtight, do lots of research. They can be like candles, some people make them and sell them without doing the extensive testing that good chandlers do with their candles.

And with that dry heat, we had a kettle on the woodstove all winter long. We always thought, why buy a humdifier if the stove will run the "humidifier" for free. And think of the opportunities for throwing a little potpourri in it. Or a wax melt in a little bowl on the lid.

God I miss it! You can tell I am a hopeless pyro(where's the pyro smiley anyway?).....lol Enjoy. You are so lucky.

[Vio]

LOL I guess I'm a pyro too then huh? Wanting to make candles this way like it's an urge I can't control?

Yeah I have one of those old fashioned cast iron kettles on the stove. It helps, but it doesn't help in our bedroom on the 3rd floor of the house, so we run a humidifier in that room at night, or I wake up dried out like a raisin! LOL

I was putting cinnamon sticks in the water in the cast iron pot, and it smells good. Got expensive but I'm sure now that's I'm doing this stuff, I can find better prices on cinnamon sticks!

Thanks for the advice on the air tight thing. One day, when we have that money to spend, we'll research the heck out of it. I'm very frugal and only buy when I can find something of good quality, for a good price, so when it's time, I'm going to read for weeks and check things out before actually buying. For now, this one is doing very good.

When my husband cleans the flu thing, to get the soot out of the bottom of the chimney, I always have more dust. Not long ago, he took the shop vacuum and ran it on exhaust and ran the soot out the basement door and I want to kill him!! LOL Dust all over the place. He won't do that again too soon!