How to DIY Wax Fire Starters for Camping
Making wax fire starters is an easy, fun craft that anyone can do, and they are helpful once you’re at your campsite.
Instead of buying more expensive fire starters from the store, you can make your own using materials you probably already have at your house.
While you don’t have to have these to get a fire going, they make the entire process much easier and quicker. For that reason, we always keep some of these in our camping equipment so we can start relaxing around a blazing fire as soon as possible.
In the guide below, you’ll walk through the entire process of creating fire starters from just wax and household ingredients, as well as variations to help you make the most of what you have on hand.
You’ll also get tips on how to use and store them.
Some of our homemade fire starters on a campfire grate
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What You’ll Need to Make Your Fire Starters
At its most simple, the fire starters are just a type of wax covering a flammable substance.
You’ll need either candle wax or beeswax, depending on your preferences. Candle wax is easier to come by where I live, so that’s what we tend to use. Beeswax also works well if you come across it in a crafts store or local farmers market.
Over the years, I’ve experimented with different versions of candle wax to see which is the best. We’ve used chopped up inexpensive taper candles, wax beads for candle making, and even scented wax melts.
The materials you’ll need for your DIY fire starters
For this project, I’m also not above using that last bit of wax from the bottom of my fancier candles that never seems to get burned up.
Ultimately, I don’t see much difference between the different kinds of wax, so use what is the least expensive and readily available.
Even the scented vs. unscented wax doesn’t make much of a difference, as you can’t smell much of the scent once the smoke from the fire is underway. The scented wax does make our camper smell good while we’re storing the fire starters, though!
The second thing you’ll need is something that is dry and will easily catch fire. You can use dryer lint, sawdust, or cotton balls, all of which I’ve found work well.
We often use dryer lint since we usually have plenty of it and it’s free. When I know we’re going to be making a new batch, I will keep the dryer lint in a small bag in our laundry room. Once I have a bunch of lint about the size of my fist, I’ll get the wax to DIY our fire starters.
You will also need some cupcake liners to hold and shape the wax and flammable material. We use these silicone cupcake liners, which release the cooled starters easily and without much mess.
While the recipe is not an exact science, about a handful of dryer lint or sawdust needs about 4 melted 10” taper candles or 2 cups of candle wax beads. That amount will make 4 fire starter pucks in the above mentioned cupcake liners.
Go camping at one of these fantastic campgrounds!
Making the Wax Fire Starters, Step by Step
First, get your cupcake liners and ensure that they are clean and dry.
I like to put these on a small baking sheet lined with parchment just to catch any drips as I assemble. Wax can get everywhere doing this project, especially if you’ve got kids helping you with, and it is so annoying to clean up.
Next, you’ll want to melt your candle or beeswax.
Melting broken candles in a crock pot
We’ve been through a lot of trial and error on how to make these without making a giant mess all over the kitchen.
While you can microwave the wax (check directions on the package always!), I’ve found the easiest and least messy way is to use a double boiler and a crock pot liner.
The double boiler allows you to control the heat on your wax, so you won’t scorch it, while the crock pot liner makes cleaning up really, really easy.
Add your wax tapers, beads, sheets, wax shavings, or whatever other version of wax you’ve decided to use, and place it in the double boiler once you can see steam coming from the bottom pot.
Allow the wax to melt. You don’t need to stir it while it’s melting, but if you’re impatient like I am, you’ll still stir just to give yourself something to do.
Once the wax is melted, carefully spoon it into your cupcake liners. You’ll want to make sure that there’s enough wax to cover the bottom of the liner completely.
The wax helps keep the material together for easy transport, and it also allows for a longer burning time to get that fire stared.
Lint layered on top of melted wax
Next, you’ll want to take a bit of your flammable material and put it into the cupcake liner on top of the hot wax. (Be careful as you position it!)
If you’re using lint or cotton balls, pull the material apart just a little so that it is a bit fluffy. In my complete non-scientific findings, this seems to help the starters catch more quickly than if the material is tightly packed.
Whether you’re using lint, cotton balls, or sawdust, add enough material to your cupcake liner until it is roughly 1/2 to 2/3rds full.
If necessary, add a bit more wax to the sides of the cupcake liner to ensure that the fluffy material is fully attached.
You don’t want to saturate the material, but you do want to bind it enough so it will stay together in your backpack or camper.
When you’ve put enough wax holding onto the lint, sawdust or cotton balls, set aside the cupcake liners to cool.
While they do so, you can clean up, which is pretty easy if you’ve used the crockpot liner.
Once the fire starters have cooled completely, pop them out of the molds and stack them in a bag for transport to your campsite.
Be sure to keep the bag relatively cool on your way to your campsite, or you’ll end up with a gooey, melted mess.
How to Use Your Fire Starters at the Campsite
When you’re ready to get a campfire going, pull one of the fire starters out and place it at the bottom of your fire ring. Ensure that the flammable materials are facing up and the wax is towards the dirt.
Then, place small, dry twigs twigs or dry paper around the fire starter. You can build whatever type of campfire lay you’d like, but make sure that the fire starter is at the center below the most flammable, smallest bits.
If you’re working with particularly dry twigs, you can break the fire starter in half, but using the entire thing in any situation isn’t going to hurt anything.
Using a lighter or match, light the flammable portion of the fire starter. Within moments, the sawdust, cotton ball fluff, or dryer lint should be in flames, and just a few moments after that, your smallest twigs will be lit.
Once the twigs have been lit, you can slowly add larger pieces of wood as the fire grows.
Then, sit back and enjoy the fantastic campfire that you’ve built!
