Inside Projects

It is colder than a well digger's butt out there! The rain turned into snow which in turned, turned into a blizzard. I can't believe we will be having a white Christmas in Texas. I was just a kid when I saw it last.

Home Made Fire Starters
The bad weather gave me the time to do a inside project I have been needing to do. Home made fire starter logs.
In the past, once, I bought and used the ones they sell at the stores and they do work really good. Broke down, they cost about fifty cents a piece. Most people double them up or do not know you need to break them apart making each fire you start cost around one to two dollars. The exceptions are the people who collect kindling and save news papers to start fires the old fashioned way. I have been guilty of this for many years due to the fact I never had the money to waste on buying fire starter logs. Now I make my own.

These are very simple to make. I take any type of cardboard boxes from food, soda cans and shipping. I cut them into strips three to four inches wide and six to eight inches long. I didn't do it on the ones pictured, but I usually place a string along the bottom sticking past the edges about two inches. This is the string I light.
Then as tightly as I can, I roll the cardboard strips up and tie another piece of string around them to hold it together and also to be used for something to hold on to when I dip it in the wax. I then melt some wax in a double boiler. This can be wax bought by the pound or old candles you have laying around. If you choose to buy the wax, then the estimated cost of each starter log is around twenty to thirty cents each.
After the wax is melted, you can either add some smell good stuff or just leave it plain. Dip each log into the wax holding the string in the middle and using a fork to submerge the log all the way in. Pull it out and let it drip dry. If you are making a lot of these, then you would want to make some kind of rack you can hang them on to let dry. After about five minutes, they are ready to use. Place them under kindling and light the end.
There you have it. A twenty cent fire started log you can take anywhere and use anytime. Made in America by an American.