duraflame firestart cubes?

[Ashley Coalburn]

Asked my wife to pick up some Weber starters and she brought home duraflame. I've never used them, but experience with campfire starters is stink. I'll probably take them back and get Weber, but out of curiosity, has anyone ever tried them?

[powermatt99]

I have some duraflame fire starters in my camper in case I can't find the DIY ones made by the local boy scout troop or the like. They work but not spectacularly. They most definitely have an odor that I wouldn't want in my food. I have not used the cubes which appear to be marketed for charcoal fires. They may be fine.

[Ashley Coalburn]

Thanks. I figured as much. I use the Weber Paraffin and they're odor free.

[DougWilsonsSlapper]

In my first purchase ever of charcoal  I also bought some Zip brand starters.  Took a whiff and chucked'em. 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[Ashley Coalburn]

Since I'm "working" from home, I decided to try my own. I recalled a long while back about someone making starters out of wax and toilet paper. I poked around a bit and found some recipes on the internet, one used sawdust. I combined those and made some up.

Started with sawdust in the bottom of a disposable pan, then poured paraffin over the top until covered. While still liquid I laid a single ply of tissue over the top, then covered with more wax. It made a couple dozen 2" or so squares.



I compared it to a Weber starter cube. The tissue served as a wick and I'm not sure how well they would've lit without it. At initial light the Weber took off like crazy, while the homebrew looked pretty wimpy.

 

After a minute though the homebrew started to catch up, and by a couple minutes in it out-flamed the Weber.



By 5 minutes in homebrew was rockin', and Weber was starting to fade. The homebrew lasted 7 minutes total while the Weber went around 8 minutes, but the last 3 or so minutes of the Weber was a small insignificant flame.



The downside to the homebrew was the leftover wax residue, while the Weber left nothing but ash. The plus is cost. With the Weber's running $5 for 2 dozen, these were free. I think you could make a couple hundred with a 5 pound block of wax. Neither one had any kind of odor, although be careful not to use your wife's bayberry cream candle...

One more test. In the last photo I broke one of the 2" squares into four 1" squares and lit 2. They last about 5 minutes and would've been plenty to start charcoal. The advantage in this was a lot less wax.



Conclusion: Great fire starters, excellent for a campfire or cook fire. Ok for charcoal if you can start the chimney on the ground, but not sure I'd make a habit of using the charcoal grate due to the wax. YMMV.

[Zrschaef]

I use cotton balls soaked in 91% isopropyl alcohol. I keep a mason jar full in the garage. One ball lights a chimney with ease!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[Ashley Coalburn]

I use cotton balls soaked in 91% isopropyl alcohol. I keep a mason jar full in the garage. One ball lights a chimney with ease!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

Ever have any trouble lighting them? I've read all kinds of things, from wring them out to don't wring them out, won't light, etc. Can you expand a bit?