How To Make Sawdust Fire Starters - Rebooted Mom

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Sawdust fire starters are easy to make and incredibly useful when camping, for bonfires, backpacking or even during the winter.

Sawdust Fire Starters

If you’ve been using old newspapers drenched in a copious amount of lighter fluid to get your fire going, you’ll enjoy hearing that there is a much better way.

Sometimes a camping trip can be a rather rough experience. Especially when you’re trying to get a fire going and it has been raining for days. Having a good fire starter can be a comforting feeling, whether you make your own or you buy them.

Making your own fire starters is as easy as putting together sawdust and paraffin wax (old candles work well too). You can also use old dryer lint, toilet paper tubes, wood chips or even egg cartons. There are so many different natural options to put in your knapsack.

Sawdust

Sawdust is one of the easiest materials to use for fire starters, as all of your woodworking projects leave you with an abundance of the stuff. Drilling and sawing will leave your floor with a mess of it. Bag it up and put it to good use.

Not only is sawdust great for throwing over oil spills, it works great for killing weeds. I have a wonderful neighbor who is a woodworker.. he always bags up his sawdust for me, in return I trade him handmade soap. It’s a barter system that works rather well.

These fire starters are easy to DIY at home and make great gifts to share with friends and family throughout the year.

Sawdust Fire Starters

What you’ll need:

sawdust
paper muffin cups with tray or old cardboard egg cartons
paraffin wax

Sawdust Fire Starters

Pack sawdust into paper muffin cups. Then melt paraffin wax in a double broiler — pour over your sawdust and allow to harden.

Find paraffin wax in the canning aisle at your local supermarket. If you don’t want to buy paraffin wax, old candles melted down work well too. The trick to using paraffin wax is melting it without burning down the house.

Avoid using your good cooking pot. Instead use a tin can as a double broiler (an old coffee can works well).
Slow down the melting rate by putting the tin can with wax in it over a pot with water on the lowest heat.
Never leave the stove unattended while melted paraffin wax (or wax of any kind). If you have small children make sure the handles on the pots are turned inwards on the stovetop.
If using old candles, go to a bargain store.

These sawdust fire starters, slow burning when lit, make great starts for a camp fire or fireplace. For an inexpensive packaging idea or if gifting, use coffee filters with a kraft label.

Make sure you note that these fire starters are for outdoor use only.

Have you ever considered using sawdust to make fire starters?

Comments

Hello I am making these fire starters now my question is why can’t we use this for indoor fireplace?
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- Patricia, go ahead and use them in the indoor fireplace – just use caution. I meant that more for anyone who was using inside without a fireplace. I’m certain you’ll be fine!
  Reply
I use an old oblong crock pot set on low to get the wax melting then turn to keep warm. You can use the melted wax for dipping your hands into (use baby oil on your hands first so the wax comes of easy) dip them several times. Let it dry until cooled. Peel it off and your hands are soft and pain free. However, you can use a spoon or old cup to dip out the wax and poor over your sawdust.
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I think I’m going to put some pine needles in mine for a nice smell. This is a great Father’s Day gift idea!
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- Great idea!
  Reply
- Great idea! Or maybe add some sage or rosemary to ward off mosquitos
  Reply
I use pine shavings in mine! I buy a small package of them from my local pet store. (I don’t have access to saw dust because my husband prefers working with metal. Haha)
Reply
- That’s a great idea, Nancy!
  Reply
Does sawdust arm one type of wood better than another? Are there any wood whose sawdust should not be used?
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- Walnut … can be toxic. When used as fire starters it’s ok, but if it’s used as a compost/mulch for plants, I’d avoid as it’s toxic. I used to use walnut sawdust as a weed killer (lay over my desert landscape of rocks and it’ll keep the weeds out). It’s a no no for gardening. As for fire starters, you’re safe to use most any sawdust.
  Reply
Any guidance on the ratio of wax to sawdust? Just barely enough wax to hold the shavings together? 50/50 by volume? Your photo looks like there’s a LOT of wax in each cup.
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- I can’t honestly tell you if I even used a ratio. I had a half of a paper shopping sack of sawdust – I filled each muffin cup completely to the top with sawdust, then poured the wax atop until it just covers the sawdust. You don’t want too much wax, just enough to hold the sawdust together. I make tons at a time, and they are always well received… camp fires, backyard fire pit, my kids even took a bunch to camp a few weeks ago and they used them there.
  Reply
Great idea – do you freeze them at all to set them or just let them set on their own? I’m assuming just lighting the muffin paper is the “wick” ? Great idea – I have tons of sawdust and you just gave me the best idea for starting our wood burning stove without buying starters! Thanks!
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- I just let them set on their own, they set fairly quick. Plus, my freezer is full of beef and bread so I can’t really fit much in there right now! The muffin paper is the “wick”. I love these because they are really easy for me to toss in the truck when we go camp and they always light well. We just got back from a trip up in the 4 corners area and we brought these for the campfire and they were a hit with others who were staying in the same area.
  Reply
I think it is better to add sawdust to the melted wax than to drizzle it over sawdust. You use too much wax that way. And you can add up to 20% used motor oil to the wax and it sill still solidify. By volume you will need about 5 times as much sawdust as wax-just add it while stirring until you cannot coat any more sawdust. I use sawdust from a mill, but it is wet. It foams to drive the moisture off. I do not use a double boiler. I use a big pot over a flame burner outdoors; it can be messy. Do not overheat the wax; if it smokes a lot, it is too hot. But it needs to be hotter than a double boiler will get it if you use wet sawdust.
Reply
Love this idea! What did you use to wrap them up so pretty? Looks like a certain kind of paper?

Thank you!
Reply
- Jenna – I used coffee filters! You can buy white (bleached) or brown (unbleached) – I always buy the brown ones. I make homemade soap (round bars) and I use the filters for those too. Then I slap on an Avery label (I think 22830 is the template? They are 2 1/2 inch print to edge, I pick them up often at Goodwill for $1-$2, you can find them on Amazon for cheap, too).
  Reply
  - Wonderful! I would have never thought to use coffee filters. And thank you for the details on the labels. My son is selling these this weekend to raise money for his school. ❤️
    Reply
    - Yay! Good luck and I hope it goes well for him!
      Reply
Can you store them outside (under shade) in a container in the south where temps get very hot and humid?? I’ve never worked with paraffin wax.
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- I store them inside, but I’m in Arizona and it’s relatively dry there. I would not recommend storing outside.
  Reply

Trackbacks

[…] One of the simplest materials to use for creating a campfire is sawdust. When lit, these produce a slow burning process and can also be an ideal gift! Light and enjoy this sawdust, paper muffin cups, and wax fire starters! […]
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Hi there, I'm Sheryl!

Rebooted Mom was created out of my own journey to live and think differently about the food I eat. I share everything from gardening to DIY, recipes, and sustainable living.

How To Make Sawdust Fire Starters - Rebooted Mom

Pickled Hatch Chiles

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Sawdust Fire Starters

Have you ever considered using sawdust to make fire starters?

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Hi there, I'm Sheryl!

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