I'm Your Firestarter

I put together a survival backpack in the event we find ourselves on an extended adventure out in the wild.  I decided to throw in some DIY fire starters, so I made up a batch.  I couldn't make them without listening to The Prodigy, Firestarter.  It is my "go to" song for getting my run on, it continues to have the same effect on me as it did back when I had my first (and brief) love affair with running, 12 years ago. Coincidentally once you are all prepped and ready to go, making these firestarters takes about as long as the song Firestarter, which runs 4:41.  

These firestarters are easy to make and you probably have all the ingredients sitting around the house already, you might even have the song to go with the project on your iPod.  They cost practically nothing to make.  The only cost is I incurred was the vaseline, and that is optional and is used minimally.  It’s the perfect “Re-Re-Re” (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) project and takes a few minutes to put together, once you’ve accumulated the necessary ingredients.

What you'll need: 

    Tin Can

    Egg Cartons

                                  Dryer Lint 

    Petroleum Jelly

Old candles (I cleaned out old candle holders and liberated the stuck wax), you could use paraffin wax, if you have a brick laying around the house.

Scissors 

Aluminum Foil

Directions: 

1. Melt the old candles in the tin can, over the wood stove.  

2. Trim the high spots in the egg carton down with a pair of scissors.  

3. Place a thin layer of petroleum jelly in each egg carton space.  

4. Stuff a generous amount of dryer lint in each slot.

5. Pour the hot melted wax over the lint and egg carton.

6. Let it chill out. Put it outside, a piece of aluminum foil underneath, if you choose, in case any of the wax spills over or seeps through the egg carton during the cooling process.

7. Cut up the carton, separating the starters. Store as you choose.

Happy Firestarting, and remember:  

Thanks to my furloughed friend for sharing this one =)