If you’ve been using old newspapers and dangerous amounts of lighter fluid to get your fires going, believe me, there is a better way. Even better, much of this can be done with leftover materials most already have sitting around the house. Well, what sort of materials are we talking? 

Wood chips are easy enough to find, especially if you live in a heavily wooded area. These shavings can come from cutting down trees, trimming trees, or just general woodworking – assuming you have some of those tools around the house. One of the best materials to use is easily sawdust, as all of your woodworking projects will leave you with an abundance of the stuff. All your drilling and sawing will create more than you’d first imagine. Also, sawdust is much safer and wildly more effective than what most people generally use when attempting to start a fire. Discover on housetipster.com how sawdust has several uses ranging from fixing awful oil and gas spills to killing weeds. It’s surprising how beneficial this material can be for solving particular issues around the home.

First-rate fire starters

• Pack sawdust into paper muffin cups, above, or a cardboard egg carton.
• Melt paraffin wax in a double boiler, pour over the sawdust and allow to cool.
• Slow-burning when lit, these hotcakes make great starters for a fireplace or campfire

A great way to use up scrap wood chips, shavings and sawdust to make these easy and effective fire starters. Be sure to use paraffin wax not candle wax, as it is food grade and burns completely.

Now that you have these hotcakes, they are easily brought along on camping trips or a simple walk to the backyard fire pit. Folks will be wondering just what in the world you’re using to start your fires so effectively. They’ll be shocked when you tell them you packed wood chips, shavings and sawdust into muffin trays and made the most efficient fire starter around. They’ll be begging for your secret, which, is simply, castoff materials that most take for granted.

source: Wood Magazine