Fire is near the top of a short list of the mandatory survival list. Fire keeps you warm, provides signal for emergency rescue, helps you purify water, cooks food, and increases morale.

Food, water, and shelter are relatively easy to acquire compared to fire. The hard truth is that without fire, safely consumable water and food are virtually impossible and shelter has limited value. All of this leads us to one conclusion: fire is mandatory for survival.

My wife and I recently went on a Labor Day Weekend backpacking trip in a wilderness area in Northern New Mexico. The high altitude scenery was breathtakingly beautiful and the terrain was intimidating. 11,000 foot peaks surrounded a high alpine lake with several waterfalls and streams flowing in. Big horn sheep dotted the areas above the treeline while virgin evergreen forest blanketed the steep mountain sides. We had a grand opportunity to have no other campers around so we shared the lake with a half dozen chipmunks while the wild sheep looked down upon us.

My goal for this camping trip was twofold. First, it was time to get unplugged and back to nature for a few days. Second, I wanted to test some of my new outdoor survival skills and tools. This is where things got interesting:

I proceeded to gather kindling and wood to make a small fire. I took out my brand new magnesium bar and tried to imitate what I’ve seen a dozen times on survival TV episodes. I spent the next two hours busting knuckles, cursing, and freezing in a failed attempt to start fire. I failed! We spent the next two days cold camping in the gorgeous wilderness. Thank goodness I had a stove.

Lessons I learned from the failed fire making attempt:

1. Dry kindling is mandatory. Even a blow torch will not burn wet wood.

2. Starting a fire in the wild requires tremendous amounts of patience, practice, and experience.

3. Brute force and determination are not enough. Avoid burning precious energy wherever possible.

My solution to life saving fire was to make my own fire starters. I wanted the kind of fire starter that would take a match and stay lit long enough to ignite kindling. Store bought fire starter is expensive and not weatherproof. Why weatherproof you ask? Have you ever tent camped or backpacked in the rain?

My solution to cheap, weatherproof fires starters: left over candle wax and dryer lint. If your home is anything like mine then there is a lady that lives there too. That lady loves scented candles. My wife has so many scented candles that my living room looks like a church on Easter Sunday with all of those things lit. I have been wondering what to do with dryer lint for years. Those useless little balls of cotton, pet hair, and who knows what else light and burn up faster than gasoline on a campfire.

Why the wax? The wax serves two purposes. Petroleum based wax burns slowly. The candle wax soaked dryer lint is easy to light but burns slowly. It is that slow and steady flame that you need to ignite damp kindling. The wax also weatherproofs the dryer lint. Lint along will soak up any moisture which renders it useless. Coated in wax, the lint repels water and stays ready to use.

Access candle wax by first allowing your sweetheart to burn all the candles her little heart desires and pretend you like the cupcake, vanilla, cherry blossom, pine scent. Remove the bottoms of the used up candles and save the residual wax in a plastic bag. Access dryer lint by pretending you are a good husband and do the dang laundry for once! Pull the excess lint out of the dryer vent filter after each cycle. Store it in a ziploc bag.

Carefully melt the wax in a small pot on the stove on low heat. It takes only a minute or two. DO NOT leave it unattended.



Drop the golf ball size balls of lint into the HOT melted wax. Flip over and press lightly with a teaspoon to coat the lint and get the wax to soak in.



Remove the waxed lint balls and allow to cool and dry until somewhat hard to the touch.



Test out in your fireplace or on a camping trip. It takes only a small match to get lit.

Store in a plastic bag until SHTF.

What do you use for affordable fire starter? Please share your thoughts. We value your input.