The fire starters I made two seasons ago won't last through next year so I just did another batch today. This time I used 1.5 ounce paper candy wrappers, they were ~ $8 for 400 wrappers. Picked up this bin full of old candles at Good Will for $15. Got the saw dust from a friend who's been turning kiln dried hardwood on his lathe, nice and dry and relatively long chunks. This will make 400 starters for a cost of $23 and an afternoon putting them together, and these were cheaper than when I used Dixie cups last time. I did end up using a double boiler on the kitchen stove as the Good Will slow cooker was taking forever to melt the candles.
Lit one up tonight just to double check. Very easy to light, much easier than the Dixie cup saw dust firestarters we made last time. This one burned a little more than 13 minutes. The Dixie cup ones averaged 14 to 17 minutes. Start, ten minutes, 13 minutes:
