DIY Fire Starter Bricks with Only 2 Ingredients

Since we have a wood burning stove at home that we use as our main source of heat in the winter, we find ourselves needing to start a fire pretty often. To make this lots easier, we had been using commercially made fire starting blocks.

I heard someone comment that you can use old candles and sawdust to make your own fire starting blocks. Hmmm. Since we have lots of both ingredient, thought I would give it a try.

I used a 13×9 pan lined with wax paper, about half an ice cream pail of sawdust (that’s a standard measure, right?) and some old candles. Pour the sawdust into the lined pan and pack down firmly.

Melt your candles in whatever method you prefer. I tried the microwave for one candle and the oven for the other……. either works ok. Drizzle melted wax over the sawdust and using another piece of wax paper as a barrier, periodically press the wax into the sawdust until you think you have wax throughout your sawdust layer.

I actually put the whole pan in the oven to allow the wax that hardened on the top to melt through the sawdust. Once all the wax has settled into your sawdust, allow to harden/cool and then remove from pan using the wax paper. If it holds together, perfect! If it is still crumbly and falling apart at the bottom, put back into the pan and repeat using more melted wax, drizzling, pressing, etc until it all holds together when cool.

Cut into blocks and store in an appropriate container (there’s that ice cream container again). I’ve done this twice so far and have found that the dryer the block, the easier it is to light. They both work but the one on the right lights a little easier. These work GREAT starting a campfire too!!