Homemade Fire Starters

When I saw the idea of homemade fire starters using egg cartons, dryer lint, and paraffin wax, I immediately thought of my dad and brother.  We ended up making these fire starters for them and for my father-in-law for Christmas.  They are AWESOME!  They are lightweight (nice for backpacking) and burn for about 15 minutes.  Here's how we did it:

• Cut apart an egg carton and fill with dryer lint.  The dryer lint doesn't have to be packed super tight.

• Take a large, clean can (we used a 26 ounce tomato soup can) and squeeze to make a spout.

• Fill can with paraffin wax.  We bought this one pound box at Hobby Lobby.  Using a 40% off coupon, it was less than $3.00.

• Melt the paraffin wax by placing the can into a pot of water on the stove (this was our homemade double boiler so we didn't ruin one of my nice pans).  We melted the wax over medium heat.  We also added a crayon to add color to the wax, and stirred with a skewer to mix the color.

• Once the wax was melted, it was time to pour the melted wax into the egg cups.  I placed the egg cups on a foil-lined baking sheet - the wax will soak through the egg cartons, and if you're like us, then some wax will spill, so this will protect your pan.  You'll want to pour plenty of wax on each egg cup, getting not only the dryer lint, but also the cardboard of the egg container.

• Let dry and there you have it, some awesome fire starters!