Comparing Three DIY Fire Starter Variations
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- How do three of the most popular versions of DIY fire staters made with cotton pads and wax compare for weigh, burn time, intensity, ease of lighting, and melting in storage?
#firestarters
Nice comparison. Thank you. Been doing these with straight paraffin for years and just now learning about new variations.
Glad it was helpful.
Very nicely done experiment. Helped me out greatly on a project I am going to working on this January. Going to be making a variation of similar firestarter that can be done DIY. Def wont be as popular as others to make because it will be more labor intensive, but I think it will top the ease to light, the high temps, burn time and based on packaging...better storage. When I do this project I would love to get your permission to credit this video and your channel as a resource. Thanks for the info and time.
Thanks for watching and offering to mention my video in yours. I look forward to seeing your fire starter.
Recipe i experimented with 1 pound gulf wax, 13 0z of petroleum jelly, and one cup of lamp oil. They light real easy with ferro rod, maleable but not super greasy on the fingers,easy to tear, last 5.5 minutes, waterproof, and you can't blow them out, all in all i like them. Great video!
Thanks for letting us know. 👍
How is the smell? Does the smell leak into other items in your pack?
@@wolfeadventures i really can't smell them, maybe more like a vasoline smell if anything, i keep some in my camper, in a zip lock bag, and they do fine, but for my pack I found these little plastic containers at Walmart in food storage area, they have a screw on lid, it's the same diameter as the cleaning pads, and holds 10 fire starters, works great. And keeps out any smell, if you planned on hunting and didn't want it on your stuff. But other than that, the smell isn't an issue.
Nice, comprehensive video. I’m going to make some more this week and like experimenting with different concoctions. I add a small piece of a crayon to the wax to color it. I’ve tried the lighter fluid and wax combo and they work pretty well but they feel sort of oily but you might be able to adjust that if you decreased the ratio of lighter fluid to wax. And I wonder if at some point the lighter fluid will evaporate off before use. I’ve used vegetable oil and wax and the double dipped Vaseline and wax combo. I’m going to try lard and wax next. You revealed a VERY important feature with your ferro rod. If you do not have a lighter or matches and you ONLY have a ferro rod how easy (or difficult) is it to ignite the fire starter. The Vaseline and wax combo had the longest burn time but was difficult to ignite and you may be SOL if you really need to build a fire and you cannot easily ignite the fire starter.
One can go on with is all day. I use Pet Balls, Vaseline and cotton balls. Works every time for me and a ferro rod striker. If all else fails and I'm in an emergency situation. I break out the road flair. Good to go.
Great idea and Topic! Fantastic.
Thats a great Test.❤❤❤🔥🔥🔥💯💯💯👏👏👏👏
Have you thought about beeswax?
For straight out fire starter, i Think Dans work Well. The only draw back is the greasiness.
Thats where the lamp oil mix wins out. Less greasy. And good old vasoline is a sure fire guarantee. All 3 are winners. Cheap and effective fire starters.
Again realy well thought out and executed test.😊👍👏👏👏👏👏
I like to stuff jumbo straws with cotton, pour in a half/half mixture of lighter fluid and melted paraffin wax, dump the excess and pack it down tight and melt both ends shut. Waterproof, no mess, and store well a long time. Just cut open when needed, tease the end fibers loose, and they light first strike from ferro rod every time and burn several minutes.
The thing about straws is burning plastic can smell awful and releases nastier toxins than wax and simpler petroleum fuels.
@@lakeeffected I understand but the straw can still be cut completely open and the cotton removed and ignited separately if you don't wish to burn plastic. Works just as well. The straw just keeps the volatiles from evaporating.
Video of this? New to this and would love to see this. How easy to start with a ferro rod?
Thanks for the suggestion.
@@jasrobsnyyou can get environment friendly straws cardboard. Would be an interesting alternative.🤔
I can see the value of the cotton wafer starters in terms of their light weight for backpackers. We car camp, and I have been very happy with my wax and sawdust blocks. I melt 2 or 3 inches of wax in an old paint can and mix as much sawdust into it as possible until it seems the wax has disappeared. I then pour it onto my shop table, roll it out with a piece of closet dowel, and cut it into 1 1/4" squares.
A couple of things to watch out for are scented candles; they will attract raccoons and maybe larger predators! Please don't use PT sawdust; it has poisonous toxins in it.
These can be rather hard to light. I cut a cotton ball in half or thirds, dip the edge into melted wax, and stick it on the side of the block. They will start up easily and burn a long time. I also use them to start charcoal briskets in my BBQ. They will get wet twigs started in the woods.
Thanks for the detailed information about the alternative for car campers.
How did you make that?, nice video 👍
There are several videos by people showing how to make these.
Coal Cracker Bushcraft: ua-cam.com/video/9KvTL7gaPjc/v-deo.htmlsi=lFrmWO_VQTfTOMA6
Or Parafin covered petroleum jelly cotton round: ua-cam.com/video/aDFNEKKZrnw/v-deo.htmlsi=GaKG3jgdLMkpmyfn
Thanks for the nice comment.
well the Vaseline one if you know your going to have to use stuff that's slightly damp cause of the burn time could get it going
It might be interesting to test that. Thanks.
Agreed. Horses for courses. My thinking exactly.
Thank you for this review. I have made and used many with the Vaseline recipe. They are very difficult to light with a feral rod but easy with a match so that’s what I’ve used. I’m gonna spend this afternoon making some using the lamp oil recipe. It the two minutes it gives up and burn time it more than makes up for an ease of lighting. Depending on how motivated I am in a few hours I might give them a second light coating of straight paraffin. The idea being maybe a little more burn time, and maybe a little less likely to stick together in warm weather.
Thanks for watching. I hope the lamp oil works for you as well as it did hear. Let us know how they turn out if you make them.
I pack saw dust and chips into egg crates and cover with hot wax. I'd like to see those comparisons... Corse dust, from a planer or such.
Ill keep that in mind. Thanks for the suggestion.
Too big
Regardless of content, the length of time these three units burned related pretty directly to the starting weight. Also, regardless of content, even the very oily ones, all the units can be sealed and have the same exterior with a quick dip in pure paraffin as the last step in creating them.
Consider site reviews of Lila, Lows, Round, etc.
Have you tried using Black Beard Fire Starters? They work great! Very affordable and they are made in America!
I generally don't buy fire starters, but thanks for the tip.
Make your own. As good and cheaper
Making my own fire starters used to be a hassle - so messy and time-consuming. Now, I use Black Beard Fire Starters. Very affordable and they are made in America!
No point you coming here to watch this video then.😂😂😂
Melt your wax and petroleum jelly half and half mixture and just dip the pads, and immodestly place on waxed sheet to cool. Mine burn for a full 15 mins, 13 of that with a VENGEANCE ! Place wax paper/ bakers sheet paper/aluminium foil between each to prevent sticking no matter how warm they get :)
Thanks for sharing your experience!
I get it, but if it takes longer than a couple minutes to get a fire started, either the fuel is super damp, or you need help learning to build a fire base. My experience helping kids on the beach is definitely the latter. "We've tried a whole box of matches on this log, what gives sir?"
That's why folks call them emergency fire starters, and even bushcrafters such as Coalcracker recommend carrying them. And the genesis of the video was the third or fourth video I saw claiming someone had made "the best fire starter ever!" without doing any significant comparison to other fire starters.
70%30% mixure of wax seems the best and easiest to make
They are easy to light and easy to make.
MY FIRE STARTER, you can use mine as Ointment as well as fire starter. Check put my video. Thank for content .
Nice. I hadn't thought of Bag Balm