Homemade fire starters...on the cheap.

Not sure I've heard of whatever this concept is, or if I have, I dont remember..... Can you explain please?

 

I made a bunch of Vegan Cupcakes last year. Turned out excellent. The large ones burn for around 9 minutes and the smalls around 4 minutes.

 

I'm not vegan because I love animals, I'm a vegan because I hate plants.

 

Making the fire starters?

 

I got nothing on the SS liner.

 

I was referring to the "ss liner" part. I took the comment to mean that the citronella (or something in the mix) had an effect on ss liners.....

 

I was wondering if something in citronella might react badly with a stainless liner. Most modern ish stoves are pretty clear about burning nothing but wood and newsprint....i.e. no shiny papers, copy paper, cardboard etc.

 

I did some searching and couldn't find anything on how it could or does affect stainless.

 

I'm sure the tiny little bit of citronella in a candle would do nothing to a SS liner, even grade 304...it would literally do nothing to 316, because they are rated for coal, which would be WAAAY worse than a gnats fart worth of citronella.

 

Heck, those citronella candles hardly work on mosquitos for Pete's sake!

 

U.S. Stove can't import it any more.

 

I brought a few EWP cones home a few days ago. Man do those things light the stove right quick!
so I went back today and loaded up buckets and boxes and part of the truck bed.

Each box holds 400 cones. I picked up about 1900 cones today. 400 went to my friend where I store my cordwood, another 100 or so to a widow friend.
so a little over 1200 cones are scenting our living space.
If I use 2 per fire, and 2 fire starts per day, for 90 days in the fall and perhaps the same in spring, they'll go quickly.
But at zero cost but my time outdoors, that's a lotta those wax ones FS's NOT used, and not to have to make.

The lode...


storage box (filled.3 here with a short bucket full left)

 

That's a lot of cones... This year seems to have been a mast year for the white pines (many oaks and black cherries too) Virtually every white pine I saw in CT that was of producing age was absolutely loaded with cones.

 

Nice haul, Sir Chops!

 

I made 200 starters a couple weeks ago. I used (bought) the little paper Solo bathroom size (2.5-3 oz) cups. I make a tear from the rim down to the wax level (about half way down the cup) then light the corner of the torn edge.
This is my favorite batch so far with these paper cups. They light instantly. And i haven't had one go out yet. Occasionally the super thin cupcake papers would go out before the wax caught fire.

 

Gee TurboDiesel we have same stove; I think we used a match 3 times this season as weather got too warm.. 200 starters would last me 25 years anyway

 

Once i get the crock pot warmed up (takes about 2 hours) it's easier to just make a big batch. And there were 200 cups in the pack...
It takes longer to get a pot full of wax warm than it takes to make 200 starters. We use them all year (campfires) and usually give some away at Christmas.

Side note: I've found that adding a split of oak to the left side in the WS insures there is always some good coals left to rekindle a fire 14-16 hours later. So we don't use fire starters on days that we load twice.
October-november we use more starters.

 

I needa try these White Pine cones.
The neighbor has a bunch of big pines that produce cones.

 

Wonder what'd happen if i ground those cones up and added them to my fire starters.

 

Just dip 7/8 of the cone into the pot..