Weber Kettle Club Forums
Cooking & Food Talk => Charcoal Grilling & BBQ => Topic started by: austin87 on October 24, 2015, 11:51:06 AM
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Fire starters. I made fire starters today with dryer lint, paraffin wax, and egg cartons. Shove lint into the egg side, pour melted wax over the top (I used an old can in a pot of boiling water to melt the wax). Once they harden you cut them into individual cups and use them in the chimney starter. I used just under 4 pounds of wax ($8 at a craft store) to make 5 dozen starters for a whopping cost of 13 cents each.
I heard about these from @Troy and the joke is that dryer lint is full of pubes. I can at least verify that my dryer lint is filled with blonde hair (girlfriend) and cat hair.
(http://i569.photobucket.com/albums/ss131/austingaydos/image_zpstfncqgxi.jpeg) (http://s569.photobucket.com/user/austingaydos/media/image_zpstfncqgxi.jpeg.html)
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That's hilarious!
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Yeah ever since Troy posted about these, I've been making and using them exclusively. Only difference for me is I use tea lights. Once the the wax is all liquid I pour them into the egg cartons. I used to use one tea light per starter, but I've found I can use one tea light to make two starters. So six tea lights make a dozen starters.
They work without fail. Made some yesterday as a matter of fact.
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I need to make more! Love these things
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I will stick with the Weber lighter cubes at 17 cents each without the pubes and hassle of making them
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i start my charcoal with a grease fire.
i soak up bacon grease in paper towels, cut them into thirds, wind them up & thrown into a sandwich bag in the freezer. 2 plain newspaper balls, and one with the grease. i normally set my chimney in an old beater CI skillet, and use my blowtorch to start the newspaper.
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i start my charcoal with a grease fire.
i soak up bacon grease in paper towels, cut them into thirds, wind them up & thrown into a sandwich bag in the freezer. 2 plain newspaper balls, and one with the grease. i normally set my chimney in an old beater CI skillet, and use my blowtorch to start the newspaper.
Poor form! Bacon grease should be saved and used to cook eggs, not burned up in fire! ;D
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I always have plenty of egg cartons around ….. I'd like to try this. Thanks!
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i start my charcoal with a grease fire.
i soak up bacon grease in paper towels, cut them into thirds, wind them up & thrown into a sandwich bag in the freezer. 2 plain newspaper balls, and one with the grease. i normally set my chimney in an old beater CI skillet, and use my blowtorch to start the newspaper.
Poor form! Bacon grease should be saved and used to cook eggs, not burned up in fire! ;D
i got plenty of bacon grease for eggs. hell, i got plastic tubs of it in the freezer. i think we eat bacon at least 4 days a week for breakfast.
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Blow torch is fast, and fun. Make sure to get one with that does not have a torches that points straight up. Look for a horizontal torch so that you can point it at least slightly downwards with out it going out.
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I use newspaper balled up in the chimney and it stops the smaller pieces of lump from falling out before the rest has settled.
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I just use the side burner on the gasser...light it under a chimney, walk away, come back in 10-15 mins.
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Ingenious. I'll bet those work very well.
I've probably used all the charcoal starting methods listed after the original post. But I'm still stuck on how to tell my wife "I need us to start saving dryer lint and egg cartons...Oh, and tea lamps...no"
I have her at a point where she is at peace with the kettles. I'm not mixing this in. Not gonna start. I will not get caught up in this.
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Ingenious. I'll bet those work very well.
I've probably used all the charcoal starting methods listed after the original post. But I'm still stuck on how to tell my wife "I need us to start saving dryer lint and egg cartons...Oh, and tea lamps...no"
I have her at a point where she is at peace with the kettles. I'm not mixing this in. Not gonna start. I will not get caught up in this.
LOL, yes you will.
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Let me know when you need to stock up and I'll shave!
(http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w129/americanwest/a98acb32.jpg) (http://s175.photobucket.com/user/americanwest/media/a98acb32.jpg.html)
You could go to your local bikini wax salon and get wax with the hair already in it.
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Haha good one! I used one to start a fire in my Weber fire pit last night and it worked great. Went for at least 15 minutes and got the kindling and bigger pieces going great.
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I will stick with the Weber lighter cubes at 17 cents each without the pubes and hassle of making them
Could not agree more!
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I will stick with the Weber lighter cubes at 17 cents each without the pubes and hassle of making them
Could not agree more!
they can be a considerably cheaper than the weber cubes.
I've made at least 150 starters so far out of $10 in wax.
Plus they're fun to make and they work better. (burn longer, taller flame)
And its damn cool to turn trash into something useful!
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After doing the first round I can attest that they definitely work better, burn longer and taller. I also think I could have used significantly less wax. I would go as far as to call mine completely weather proof with the amount of wax used per cube.
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Recycle some used tires - they burn even longer :P
(http://www.genuinewitty.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/springfield-tire-fire.png)
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I might have have tried these , until he went and called them that . Now there's no f-ing way lol
Not sure the cost per lighting on this set up , but I've used this same tank all summer , takes about 5 minutes
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/29/716068478bfbaa430769c507db32f7b5.jpg)
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I had to try my hand at this. My main reason …. Well, I just like making stuff. :D
I went with 1 lb of wax. Melted the wax in a 28oz can in hot / slow boiling water.
All great advice from @austin87 in this thread, and he was kind enough to offer up some more thru PM.
I was hoping for 24. Ended up with 30, albeit, not as pretty as Austin's. :)
A slight brain-fart … Really hot, melted wax soaks into the carton rather quickly … Who knew? ??? :) ;D
As I proceeded, it wasn't too bad. Next time, I will remove the can for a spell (perhaps 1 minute or so before pouring).
I scraped the wax off the board and added the crumbled pieces to some of the cups.
Thanks to Austin for the inspiration!
(http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n615/MacEggs/IMG_5672.jpg) (http://s1142.photobucket.com/user/MacEggs/media/IMG_5672.jpg.html)
(http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n615/MacEggs/IMG_5675.jpg) (http://s1142.photobucket.com/user/MacEggs/media/IMG_5675.jpg.html)
(http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n615/MacEggs/IMG_5676.jpg) (http://s1142.photobucket.com/user/MacEggs/media/IMG_5676.jpg.html)
(http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n615/MacEggs/IMG_5678.jpg) (http://s1142.photobucket.com/user/MacEggs/media/IMG_5678.jpg.html)
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Ok, so going to have to try this because like Mac...I love making crap! Couple questions, how long do they burn and does the wax get consumed or does it just drip down as it melts?
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Ok, so going to have to try this because like Mac...I love making crap! Couple questions, how long do they burn and does the wax get consumed or does it just drip down as it melts?
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This is a great question!
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Ok, so going to have to try this because like Mac...I love making crap! Couple questions, how long do they burn and does the wax get consumed or does it just drip down as it melts?
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Pretty much everything is consumed. Very little leftover
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I've been using these exclusively since Troy first posted them, and I've never had a problem with wax dripping onto the kettle.
In fact the first time I used them, I was so worried about drippage that I lit the coals on a cinder block (there was nothing left on the block), and ever since then I just light straight in the kettle.
I also use tea lights to make mine, probably not as economical, but I had bunch laying around. Use a little less than one tea light per "cube"