My Take on the Classic Egg Carton Fire Starter

by fivefive in Outside > Survival

7147 Views, 17 Favorites, 0 Comments

My Take on the Classic Egg Carton Fire Starter

P1010150.JPG

This is my take on the classic egg carton fire starter. I would love to give credit to the person I first found using just dryer lint but i don't know who it was. So I'm sorry in advance if it was you ... But thank you i have been using your method for years and i love it . this is my take as far as i know i'm the only one that uses peanut shells....

WARNING!!!!!!!!

If you are allegic to peanuts do not use this instructable it may KILL you ..

Tools

P1010140.JPG
cooking pot
egg carton
soda can ( or some other can of any type)
dryer lint ( if you dont have dryer lint use ripped up cotton balls)
peanut shells
old candles ( i used about 45  tea lights)
wooden clothes pin
bamboo skewer (or other stiring device)
can opener (or knife)
tin can
big sharpie (or other crushing device)
pot holder
pliers

Prep

P1010141.JPG
P1010142.JPG
P1010143.JPG
Eat some peanuts and save the shells. Crush the peanut shells with your tin can and crushing device i used my trusty do all big sharpie marker.

fill cooking pot a little over half way of water and bring to a boil.

I used tea lights for this project but ypu can use any type of  candle wax for this project . if you used tea lights you need to pull off the foil cups and pull the wicks out. ( save both of these for future projects)

Take the soda can and cut the top off with a can opener or knife, then squeeze a pour stout into the can

Press a small layer of dryer lint into the egg carton , dump crushed peanut shells over the top then and a little bit more dryer lint over the top. (sorry didnt take pics of this step to well)



Melting

P1010145.JPG
Put candles  ( or tea lights i broke my up a bit to melt faster) into your soda can ( or any other can) . Put your can into the boil water use your wooden clothes pin to attach your melting can to the pot. Wait a few minutes to melt wax use your bamboo stick ( or other stiring device) to stir the melted wax to break up the bigger chunks ( i found that these chunks kinda of stay for awhile)

Pouring Wax

P1010146.JPG

Use pliers or a hot pad to remove soda can from the boiling water. Pour hot wax over the dryer lint / peanut mixture... repeat this step till you have filled the egg carton with wax. Put egg carton int freezer for 30 -60 minutes to speed up the cool down process.

After cool down you can cut up the egg carton into peices or keep whole.  I put mine whole in a gallon zip lock bag with a few book of matches.

 

How to Use

P1010147.JPG
P1010148.JPG
P1010149.JPG
P1010150.JPG
P1010151.JPG

Cut off a peice of egg carton... light the edges on fire ( matches lighter.. etc)  ... add tender as needed to make the fire bigger.
This will burn hot and will burn by itself for about 10 min enough time to make a big fire.

Thank you for looking and pllease vote for me in the survial contest.