The truth about starting a campfire – none of us will ever admit that we’re struggling with this most of the time. Although in perfect conditions, some matchsticks alone will do the trick, many times you’ll find that it’s either too windy, the firewood you’ve just gathered is soaking wet, or it’s just one of those miserable days when nothing really works.
Campfire starters can help a lot here, and you shouldn’t be spending too much on buying some fancy kits; instead, you can try out some unique DIY fire starters that you can easily make in advance.
Page Content
Best campfire starters that you can easily make at home
1. Self-igniting Campfire Starter
Matchsticks alone fail to start a fire half of the time, but you can improve them significantly by adding just 2 ingredients. The result is going to be a clever and convenient solution that will boost the burning time of the matchstick just enough to allow the fire to start.
Requirements:
- Matchstiks (longer ones will work better).
- Toilet papper or any other soft and easy to wrap papper.
- Melted wax.
How to make it:
- Take one matchstick and wrapp the toilet papper around it, whitout covering the head of the stick. Make sure you do this as tightly and you can.
- Carefuly hold the uncovered head of the matchstick and dip it into the melted wax. Hold it for a while so the papper can suck in as much wax as it can.
- Set the stick aside and let the wax dry out until it gets solid again.
How to use it:
Light up the matchstick just like you would do with a normal one and place it underneath the dry wood sticks. Make sure that the flame coming from the match can easily reach the wood and you have enough airflow to keep the flame going. If the wood sticks are slightly wet, the wax should burn long enough to allow for them to combust.
Video instructions:
2. Long burning fire starter cupcake
Most of the time, we fail to start a fire because the starter that we’re using has a very short burning time. This is generally true especially when our firewood is just green/wet tree branches gathered from the forest floor.
With a 10 minute burning time, this unique homemade campfire starter should be able to help light up a fire even in the most difficult conditions.
Requirements:
- egg cartoon or any other cup-shapped papper.
- wax from an old candle.
- dry wood shavings (preferably pine, spruce or cedar).
How to make it:
- Melt the wax from the old candle and set aside.
- Grab a firewood log, and with a sharp knife shave off some pieces of wood. Try to get thin and tick shavings as well.
- Take the egg cartoon and pack up the holes with the wood shavings that you’ve just made. Make sure you don’t press down to hard so there can still be some air gaps to help the fire going.
- Pour the melted wax in every “cupcake” of the egg cartoon, but make sure you don’t oversaturate the wood. It should create a relatively thin layer coating when it dries out.
How to use it:
- Cut out each cupcake.
- Place one or more where you would like to build a fire.
- Put the firewood on top of it but don’t crush it down. Leave enough airflow to help with combustion.
- Light it up using a matchstick or lighter. Depending on how much wax you’ve poured over, it should burn for aprox. 10 minutes.
Video instructions:
3. Wine cork DIY fire starter
Wine lovers will like this, as they can easily collect enough corks to last them for an entire camping season.
The recipe for this DIY campfire starter is so easy, but it takes much longer to make them, so be sure that you prep this in advance.
Requirements:
- Used wine corks
- Rubbing alcohol
How to make them:
- Half-fill a glass jar with cheap rubbing alcohol.
- Take the wine corks and add them into the jar. Stirr well for a while to help start the soaking process.
- Place the lid on and let it sit for at least 1 week. At the beginning the corks will float but once they soak enough alcohol they will start to submerge.
How to use them:
- Add the corks underneath the firewood and leave enough space for airflow.
- Wash your hands and make sure there’s no alcohol left on you.
- Light up the corks.
Video instructions:
4. Sawdust campfire starter
There are many ways you can make this at home, but the one that works the best only has 2 ingredients: sawdust and diesel fuel. It can work with vegetable oil and wax as well, but diesel burns better than the other 2. Never use gasoline as the combustion is so powerful that you can get hurt.
Requirements:
- Sawdust from any type of wood
- Diesel fuel
How to make it:
- In a metallic or glass jar add the desired amount of sawdust.
- Add just enough diesel to lighlty soak the sawdust.
- Put the lid on and store it in a cool and dark place.
How to use it:
- Build up the fire with you’re prefered firewood.
- With a spoon, take some of the soaked sawdust and sprinkle it underneath and over the firewood.
- Light up the sawdust underneath the firewood.
Video instructions:
5. Fire starter using pinecones
Pinecones make a great campfire starter for 2 reasons: they’re relatively easy to find and collect and they burn a lot stronger than wood. Although the burning time is not that great, you can improve this by using to old wax dipping technique.
Requirements:
- Pinecones
- Melted wax
How to make it:
- Hold the tip of the pinecone and half-dip it into the melted wax.
- Set aside and let it dry.
How to use it:
- Place the pinecone underneat the firewood, with the unwaxed part facing towards you.
- Light up the unwaxed side using your preferred method.
Video instructions:
6. DIY Cotton rounds fire starter
You can use cotton rounds to make a fire starter but you’ll have to be careful when you coat them in wax. Too much wax and they will never light up. Too little and they’re useless if the wood is not that dry.
Requirements:
- cheap cotton rounds (if you can find perforated ones they work better).
- melted wax from an old candle.
How to make them:
- Lay each the cotton rounds on a plate.
- With a spoon, slowly pour some melted wax right in the center of the round.
- Observe how the wax is being soaked by the cotton round. As soon as half the circumference is covered by the wax, stop pouring. The edges should be wax free.
How to use them:
- Place the cotton rounds underneath the firewood.
- Light up the unwaxed edge.
Video instructions:
Help the fire starter work better
In order for the fire starter to be efficient, you need to make sure that you’re building the fire properly.
Here’s what you can do to help the fire starter:
- If using wood gathered from the forest floor, make sure you use only dry wood to start the fire. You can later on add the one that’s slightly wet, when the fire is strong enough.
- Don’t try to light up the logs straight away, shave some thin wood pieces first and build on top of that.
- Many times the fire will start and die down because the firewood is tightly packed togheter and there’s simply no airflow. Build up the fire in a way to provide it with the oxygen it needs to combust.
- Although wind is fueling the fire with oxygen, you shouldn’t start a fire in a windy place, especially if using wax based DIY fire starters. Any wind gust can quickly extinguish the fragile starter flame.