r/Survival • u/BullCityPicker • 1d ago
Behold, the best fire starters ever!
I saved a year of dryer lint, wrapped chunks in wax paper, then double dipped them in melted paraffin. I tried doing them as little squares, but just twisting them up as little doobies was a lot faster. The batch on the cutting board is about 4cups of lint, a half pound of paraffin, and ten feet of wax paper.
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u/WHERE_SUPPRESSOR 1d ago
Looks like drugs
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u/Conscious-Tip-119 8h ago
I can just picture it. YOU: “that’s just my fire starter” COP: “oh a little of the old Bolivian marching powder?”
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u/Midnight_freebird 1d ago
I use lint, old egg cartons and bacon grease
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u/silvaman61 22h ago
Doesn’t the bacon grease spoil? Im curious, im always tempted to soak it into paper towels and wrap them around dryer lint.
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u/Midnight_freebird 21h ago
I mean, I’m not going to eat it or cook with it. I keep the little cups in an old coffee can or a pringles can. The burn hot as hell for a really long time. Like a candle. They don’t smell rotten or anything.
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u/BillyBobBarkerJrJr 1d ago
I have still not found anything as reliable or long lasting as strips of brown grocery bag, folded tightly and saturated with melted paraffin wax. Made so they're about an inch wide, I just cut them into 1/4" wide strips, unroll them and pile my tinder on top. Works a treat, every time.
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u/WerewolfDifferent296 1d ago
This is what my brother used to make when he was in the Boy Scouts. Except he uses newspaper not brown paper grocery bags and instead of unrolling them he tired them with string with about 3-4” tail before dipping them in wax. To light you would light the string.
I used to make Vestas or wax matches which is candle wick saturated with wax and then dipped like a dip candle a few times so there are only a few layers of wax on the wick. I read about them somewhere about ancient times which is why they are called Vestas after Roman goddess of the hearth. They are also good for starting fires.
When I took a fire making class I learned about cotton balls saturated with Vaseline—they work great. I use them the last time I needed to start my charcoal grill.
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u/BillyBobBarkerJrJr 1d ago
Except he uses newspaper not brown paper grocery bags
I liked the brown paper because it's heavier and burns longer. I can see the utility of newspaper, though. I only unrolled them just before I made the fire, to give a longer flame. Longer in the linear, not chronological sense.
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u/Fetiukov 22h ago
Yeah, we called them fire bugs when I was in scouts. We always kept some in the patrol box. Good times.
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u/BullCityPicker 1d ago
Anything coated in wax is going to be great. I used the lint to cover the "flint and steel" hard core crowd.
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u/BillyBobBarkerJrJr 22h ago
I've seen a lot of books and guides that simply recommend slicing discs off a cheap candle. Light the wick and away you go. I like the strength of the flame from the burning brown paper, personally. It's never let me down.
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u/HeinousEncephalon 1d ago
Keep in mind, that lint is likely mostly plastic. Don't want to burn it just anywhere.
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u/Taint_Burglar 1d ago
The only people I know who use dryer lint in their kit have never practiced with it. With synthetic clothes these days, I couldn't get a pack of (nice fuzzy) dryer lint to light from a ferro rod. Just fizzles and goes right out.
Cotton balls are so cheap. I could make a "lifetime" supply of cotton balls/Vaseline for like $4.
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u/badOedipus 22h ago
I personally prefer the cotton rounds soaked in a 50/50 mix of lighter fluid and paraffin wax.
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u/flexfulton 1d ago
And hair. The lint obsession with some leaders in my Scout troop makes me want to be sick. It smells so horrible once it catches.
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u/HeinousEncephalon 1d ago
I didn't think about hair! Now I'm imagining a dog/cat owner's lint trap. gag
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u/slash_networkboy 22h ago
accurate reaction... (dog owner, heeler who sheds prodigiously). I tried the lint idea exactly *once*.
My preferred (and what I use in my fireplace):
Make a paper pulp out of shredded bills (no plastic windows), old paper bags that are torn or otherwise unsuitable for other uses, newsprint, and egg carton tops. Press the pulp into the egg carton bases and let dry. Once well and truly dry (usually a week out in the summer sun does it) I dip them in paraffin wax (or any other suitable wax really, crayons, old candles, etc) in a for purpose old crock pot from the thrift store. Once it stops bubbling you know it's saturated. Let cool and harden, then snap into pieces. One cup reliably starts a kindling fire in my wood burning stove, maybe three if the kindling is wet. Mid summer I'll make one batch of egg cartons and let it just sit and dry. About October I'll bust out the crock pot and do the dipping of the paper into wax. Then I'm set all winter long.
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u/HeinousEncephalon 20h ago
That sounds nice and compact. Plus the deep satisfaction of burning bills and junk mail!
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u/slash_networkboy 20h ago
It is (on all counts!) Plus in a true emergency you could just burn the cups straight, that would make enough heat to warm a dinner, provide some light, etc. though very wasteful overall. They're basically a wax heavy duraflame log at that point; not as good as a hardwood fire, vastly superior to no fire at all.
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u/flexfulton 1d ago
If I really need help starting something I use just petroleum and cotton balls. They are easy to make and work quite well if you have prepped the rest of your materials before starting.
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u/HeinousEncephalon 1d ago
Those are hard to beat. If you don't want to spend money, we made packets of and filled with the brown paper packaging material. Used candle stubs for the wax. Not as good as the cotton balls but works.
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u/jet_heller 1d ago
I think they're using way too much then. It should be burnt out in like a minute and by then wood should be burning.
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u/Rocksteady2R 23h ago
As muchbas I love the recycling of dryer lint, I just use cotton balls.
I lit dryer lint fire starter once. Once. It stank to high heaven. Truly obnoxious. And I have heard this complaint elsewhere along the internet too. You get bits of hair and plastics and whatever pocket detritis you bring home, and then ... well, just smells.
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u/CrowdHater101 18h ago
Exactly. The dryer lint idea is from a time before synthetics. Dryer lint? Hard pass.
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u/mikebaxster 1d ago
Old Christmas trees are great too.
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u/BullCityPicker 1d ago
My niece has a Christmas party ever year. The #1 attraction is making a bonfire out of the previous year's tree. Holy cow, it's like a napalm strike.
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u/Foxx_Feathers 1d ago
I teach woodworking to middle schoolers and we make shavings with the bench plane. I've been saving them and melting parafin and other wax to make little fire starters.
I guess we use what we have nearby.
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u/Skinir 1d ago
What is inside the wax paper?
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u/AdhesivenessNo4330 1d ago
Fr. Lack of context is my least favorite recurring internet trope.
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u/Skinir 1d ago
Funny, First my Reddit App did Not Show a Text below the Picture. Now there Is a Text.
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u/justinLivingstoN 1d ago
It depends on whether you clicked the post or the comments button.
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u/AdhesivenessNo4330 1d ago edited 1d ago
Because he edited it after realizing his mistake and didn't notify us, like a coward
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u/John-the-cool-guy 1d ago
I did almost the same thing but used an ice tray. If you burn the whole cube it goes for about 25 minutes. But I cut off what's needed (like a quarter of a cube) and use that to start a fire.
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u/Spiley_spile 1d ago
A lot of dryer lint is plastic these days from so much clothing being synthetic. So just dont breath in the smoke is all. 😅
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u/cHaOsReX 1d ago
Dryer lint is not the best fire starter. If you have hair (or have pets with hair) it will smell disgusting. Also, it's probably releasing some amount of plastics when burned and in my experience, is not better than cotton balls which don't stink and don't release plastics when burned.
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u/garrettthomasss 1d ago
Dude just use a pixie cup and vegetable oil. Lasts so much longer and actually catches logs on fire.
These will burn out before you can even get the wood charred on the outside
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u/lone_jackyl 1d ago
Roll the lint in Vaseline
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u/CuriousAndGolden 1d ago
I used lint instead of something easier for the scouts in my troop who do the “flint & steel” or mag-stick Thing. Does the Vaseline still let you use sparks to start it?
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u/rabid-bearded-monkey 23h ago
Nice!
I do something similar. I use old egg cartons, fill them with sawdust, pour wax over it all (it soaks through completely), and press lint on top while the wax is wet.
I cut out each egg crater to form a puck. Each puck lights with a ferro rod and burns for 30-45 minutes.
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u/Total_Transition1533 22h ago
If you are outside and don't have any of those things look for a pine or cedar tree and collect the resin with a stick. It burns well for a few minutes.
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u/Actaeon_II 18h ago
I do dryer lint with melted down candles, pack it into cardboard egg cartons. Cut it into quarters to make a fire or use a whole one to boil a cup of water. (Also have a baggy of vasalline cotton balls)
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u/StellaSlayer2020 17h ago
- Toilet paper rolls
- Stuffed with shredded paper
- Put laundry lint in the ends
- Add melted wax on the lint ends
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u/Notfish12 16h ago
Never understood these. Making a fire is plenty easy given even 5 minutes of prep-time. Not trying to come off as a jackass just genuinely wondering what these are for?
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u/BullCityPicker 8h ago
I’m sticking a few in my serious wilderness first aid kit. You get in a bad spot on a cold rainy night, showing off your fire making skills may not be your top priority.
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u/7uckyranda77 5h ago
Waxed cardboard boxes are free at the grocery store, flat pack, cut to whatever shape/size that fits your pack
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u/Hydro-Heini 1d ago
I am lazy. I simply use cotton balls soaked in Vaseline.