Friday, May 22, 2009

Fire Starters for Camping

Summer vacation is here!!! Time to start thinking about when we are going camping. As a kid I loved camping. There is something fun and adventurous in camping. Among my favorite things about camping are:
#1 a campfire
#2 roasting marshmallows (if you have all the makings for smores, so much the better)
#3 hiking/nature walks
#4 making memories for my children that will last a life time

#5 everything else

As a parent my favorite thing is watching my kids have so much fun on their adventures. Just watching them explore around the campsite even. I like areas where you have a nice big campsite so the kids can explore with out going through every one Else's campsites. Also it is more peaceful at night, if you know what I mean. ;)

As a kid I was in the Girls Scouts and my troop was big on camping. We went all the time, rain or shine. We learned all sorts of related skills. Building a campfire was one of them. I have memories of rolling up news paper and tying them off with twine and then dunking them in a can of melted wax. Recently I have come across another method that involves a cardboard egg carton, dryer lint and wax. For this method you can also use saw dust instead of dryer lint (most of us have dryer lint readily available).

What I love about the dryer lint or sawdust fire starters is how convenient they are. Think about it, you are making them in their very own container. Another bonus is that container does not take up a lot of room.

Here is how it is done:


Fill all the wells in the carton with dryer lint.



Place old broken crayons, candles, any type of wax in a tin can.

Place that tin can in an old saucepan with boiling water and melt the wax. (you need a double boiler for melting wax, if you heat it up directly on the stove it will catch fire)


*******I have placed one carton nested on top of another. That way as the wax soaks through the container I am filling, it does not get all over the counter.***********
Pour the hot wax on top of the dryer lint. Get it good and saturated. The wax will keep the lint from burning too quickly.

Close the lid of the egg carton and store till you are ready to use them.

To start a fire simply tear off one or two of the wells and place them in the fire pit. Now build up your campfire with smaller branches in a log cabin style. Your fire starter should be in the center. You don't have to do the log cabin style but, you need to cris cross your sticks so that air can get to the fire (otherwise it will smoke and smother itself) Light the cardboard of your fire starter. Enjoy!

17 comments:

Sondra said...

That is such a cool idea!! I love it!

Sherry Gann said...

Very neat! :)

RootsAndWingsCo said...

Katrina,
Thanks for this post! I also LOVE camping! This seems like a great way to use what we already have (who doesn't love recycling?) and solves a camping problem, and seems like a convenient product to store and use! Love it!

Rebecca

Tracy said...

Thanks for your kind comments on my blog. There was a recent link from One Pretty thing to it!
Ok, firestarters? Never heard of them and it is brilliant. So "green" too.

Deb said...

Love this idea! I can see a set of these, some roasting sticks, and all the makings for s'mores as a birthday gift for a scout or camper!

RootsAndWingsCo said...

I have to tell you, that I use these in my fire table in our back yard. They work wonderfully!

Have you ever made roasting sticks out of wire hangers?

Katrina

GailM. said...

Thanks for commenting on my jeans tutorial. I think my technique struck home with alot of people.

I love this idea for firestarters. We're just starting our campfire season. I think I'll make a dozen starters to see if it helps us start the fires any better. Sometimes we need all the help we can to keep the fire going. This might be the trick and I have all the supplies on hand.

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

Wow, this is awesome! I'll be linking.

Amy said...

This is so great! We love camping and we never have the best of luck getting our fire going right away. I can't wait to do this to make our next fire a lot easier! Thanks so much for sharing.

SewAmy said...

this is fabulous. we camp all the time. I will have to try this.

Quiltingranny said...

Camping? We only have wood heat in our home, what a great way for us to save money!

Kimmarie said...

A great way to melt beeswax is to use an old crockpot, I keep one just for that. Thanks for the firestarter idea.

michelle@somedaycrafts said...

This is a such a great idea to do before school starts! I am featuring this at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com

kevin said...

i will definitely do this, a very good tip so that you wont have to bring matches or lighters to camp, but i still think you need them though, anyway.. do you ahve any tips about setting up your camping tents?

CitricSugar said...

I've always hated throwing out dryer lint but could not for the life of me think of a use. Since, I've seen paper-making and now fire-starters!

Thanks!

Kimmy M said...

I love this!! You can cut the lid to the egg carton off and place it underneath the egg wells to absorb any oil instead of using a separate carton. I’d love to know what to do with the kids afterwards.

MMI Air Duct & Dryer Vent Cleaning Alpharetta, Georgia said...

Great post. Thanks for sharing useful information for dryers and the reasons due to which can get fire like lint and wax. Keep sharing your knowledge with us so it'll help me in Dryer Vent Cleaning Alpharetta.