I'm a hobbyist woodworker and have a TON of sawdust in my shop. I knew I wanted to make firestarters, but never really gave any thought to whether or not they could be lit with a ferrous rod. I will definitely be using this idea, and carrying these in my pack when I go hiking. Excellent idea and a must have for any outdoors adventure.
I like that they'll start easily with a ferro rod. I'm planning to make custom ferro rod keychains as gifts for Christmas and these fire biscuits would go great with them as a mini kit. I have a ton of sawdust I saved from cutting up logs for firewood and now I know what to do with all of it. Thanks for the video!
I collect saw dust from when I’m cutting up logs for firewood. I discovered something interesting that I’ll share with you. Take one of the “rounds” and stand it on end as if you are going to put other logs on it to split them for firewood. Sometimes I put a tire or two around it to hold it place. Now with your chainsaw cut a notch across the middle of the top of the “round”. You should end up making long “ribbons” of wood instead of regular sawdust. When i have a good pile of these sawdust “ribbons” I gather them up and put them in paper bags. I leave them in the paper bags until they are completely dried out. I then use them to make my fire starter blocks instead of regular sawdust. They are great tinder and burn longer than regular sawdust
Man, you have made a wonderful improvement to an old tried, and true firestarter. We have to deal with damp wood in our tropical environment and always carry a Mag-Bar, powdered magnesium sealed in plastic drinking straws, or other means to ensure a fire should we find ourselves in an emergency situation. I saved the sawdust from processing mango and guava tree limbs, we scavenged from around our subdivision here in the Philipines. The "plugs' we made with sawdust and candle remains work well provided you had an open flame to get them going. Your upgrade will allow ignition by many other methods including an empty butane lighter, ferrocerium rod, and many others. Perhaps this will also work with flint & steel. Watching you from our secret retirement location in Bulacan province on Luzon Island. Thank you for sharing the idea and taking the time to post the video. You have earned another subscriber.
Great recipe! 50/50 lighter fluid and wax on a cotton pad works very well with a fero rod too, but the addition of the saw dust and wax to extend the burn is brilliant. I haven’t seen this technique before either. Thanks.
excellent fire-starter Joe, I love the idea that it is water-proof as well. Great little rainy day project to make a few of those. Small light and water-proof, great combo for the old kayak adventures this spring. Thanks for sharing
Nice! Not only did I have fun making these, but they are incredible for starting fires in my little Vogelzang at home, and porting along for camping. Great addition to any go-bag. I like that, compared to the commercial fire starters, they aren't full of chemicals with the typical petrol smell. Thank you!
Nice Video! Excuse me for butting in, I would love your thoughts. Have you thought about - Proutklarton Incredible Match Plan (erm, check it on google should be there)? It is an awesome one off guide for getting an understanding of how to survive in a disaster and make your own survival food without the hard work. Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my m8 at last got excellent success with it.
Nice Video clip! Apologies for chiming in, I would appreciate your initial thoughts. Have you researched - Proutklarton Incredible Match Plan (google it)? It is an awesome one off guide for getting an understanding of how to survive in a disaster and make your own survival food minus the headache. Ive heard some unbelievable things about it and my cousin got cool success with it.
Nice and simple process to make a great survival item. I make lots of fire starters.... they need a match/lighter to get them going.... I will make some of these. Thanks for the video.
Great video, I really appreciate the quality audio too. Gonna try making some of these myself...I have TONS of sawdust on a regular basis, now I finally have something I can do with it 👍🏻
Hey good idea. But i found the square cotton make up pads dipped into wax and then squeeze out a little of the wax, then lay em out on a cooky sheet. Take a whole hand full at a time. Dip the whole stack at once. Then after you let them cool off you have a stack of pads that store easy! And they are pleated . So you can cut each pad into 5 pieces! Easy to start with a flint too! Burn time 5 minutes small flame for the pieces and large flame for the full pad! 👍👍👍 Its all in fun.
Coffee cup warmer #1 heads up, Jelly on cotton ball #2 heads up, Condiment cup #3 heads up, Minimum wax on wood chips #4 heads up, makes this the best video on the subject. Great job!! Don
My mix is with fire paste instead of wax. But exactly like you. Now I melt fire paste with the vaseline, soak strips of cotton and bater the strips on sawdust. I put them inside 1" straws and seal the ends. I can make 3.5 firestarter straws with one straw out of a food joint. My 2cents & great job. Enjoyed the video
Great video. Very clean and attractive looking little blocks. I make mine with dryer lint, wax and egg cartons which work very well but I like your method. Thank you!
Add a small amount of lamp oil to the wax (not too much or it won’t set) and some magnesium powder/shavings to the saw dust and watch how hot they burn!
I just made my first starters following your video. Works great. And I used a Ferro rod to see if it really lights and it does. Amazingly and valuable in the back country hiking or hunting. I also played around with a few different tweaks on cup size and wax source. I did a couple with regular candle wax and then a couple with beeswax. I also did them in a 3oz plastic cup and a 2 oz plastic cup. NOTE: Hiram Cook has a channel and he did some with Beeswax and found out they burn hotter and higher BTU’s than candle wax. I also used planer shaving which are really nice. A couple things I found playing around with different concoctions. 1st if you press down your sawdust or wood shavings (fuel) too tight the wax will not soak in and then when you remove them from the cup the top will separate from the fuel source section. I learned that from my first batch. Then the 2nd batch with light to firm pressing of the fuel source I made (4) different starters. A) 2oz cup with candle wax B) 2oz cup with beeswax C) 3oz cup with candle wax D) 3oz cup with beeswax The results where that each of the above were lite all at the same time. I also tried to get equal portions in each size and type when making each starter. A) burned for 20 minutes B) burned for 23 minutes C) burned for 30 minutes D) burned for 45 minutes. I was amazed. Clearly the beeswax increases the burn time and also based on the BTU’s of beeswax will burn hotter over wax. My only concern is will the beeswax attract bears in the back country. Anyway. Just a few thoughts on what is clearly the best video and product on making your own fire starters.
I'm glad I came back to this video and found your experiments. My first thought is that I suspect that whatever you are cooking on the fire you made would probably be far more likely to attract bears that the short lived scent from a beeswax candle, lol. Be that as it may, most wouldn't choose beeswax anyway because it costs about twice what paraffin or soywax cost if you're buying and you're not very likely to come across it for free either as most candles are made from paraffin, soy or a blend of the two and perfectly capable of getting the job done. I think the real magic of this design is the combo of the vasoline and wax as they are used together allowing them to be started with a fero rod and that the use of the sawdust is overkill for a simple fire starter. However, that extended burn capability is valuble for those times where the conditions are far from ideal in wet or windy situations. Thanks for your efforts👌
Shot glasses and sawdust i have plenty of. Great idea for wet conditions, nice vid...I been up north rebuilding the camp we bought, been gone for two weeks.
That was a good method. Same as how I’ve been doing it. I now make mine in a mini muffin silicone mold. Sawdust, wax, Vaseline, spark! Simply put, as long as the Vaseline catches the spark, the rest will follow easy enough! This is the exact method I’ve been using for years. You also get a fire going easy enough by using dried leaves that are crumbled up! I’ve even seen some people use the ol’ Fess Parker method and use a zippo!
Nice job, I have made one of the other 452321 variations, to speed up production, try mixing the wax and saw dust like rice krispie treats and add it like cookie dough (DO NOT use you wife's good pans). Plus, I'd bet that if you filled the cup full you would have a "fuel tab" instead of a simple fire starter and with the help of a soup can stove be able to heat water for an MRE, coffee or anything small. I'll be trying it.
I learned something new. Never heard of the ferrocerium rod and it took a couple of times with some random guesses at the spelling before Google figured out what I was looking for. Thank you, now I’ll have to go get one.
I am due to go back out in my sea kayak for another two weeks in the Firth of Clyde (Scotland). Thank you sir for this wonderful product. I wish you good health. Stay safe.
gonna make some of those for sure, I keeps checking your RU-vid channel for new videos and boy do I get excited when you post new videos love your videos man keep it up thanks
For melting wax, I got a mini-crockpot from Goodwil for about $4. They had a few on their rack. It will safely melt a brick of Gulf Wax in about 90 minutes so start early if you want to go that route.
Thank you for this video it is greatly appreciated. You could always use another mini shot glass as a press to push the sawdust down into the glass that you are currently packing.
Finally! I was soaking all my cotton balls completely in wax and it took me forever to light them up, now I guess it would be much easier to use my fire starter to light it up, thanks!
That's a cool idea I am going to have to give it a try. Definitely be a good idea to keep a supply of these in the camping and survival gear. Thanks Joe for a great video, be well brother.
! ! ! THAT´S JOE FOR SURE ! ! ! .....he watched those videos and said to him self......yeah....they are good.....but....lets try to make them a little bit better :)))) .....i´m going to do them also. Thnx buddy for sharing....keep on keeping on and all the Best from Berlin Germany.
Great job Joe. I like the idea of making it more compatible with a fire steel. I bought some from a lady at a show once, she made them with paper baking cups so the whole thing was flammable.
I collect saw dust from when I’m cutting up logs for firewood. I discovered something interesting that I’ll share with you. Take one of the “rounds” and stand it on end as if you are going to put other logs on it to split them for firewood. Sometimes I put a tire or two around it to hold it place. Now with your chainsaw cut a notch across the middle of the top of the “round”. You should end up making long “ribbons” of wood instead of regular sawdust. When i have a good pile of these sawdust “ribbons” I gather them up and put them in paper bags. I leave them in the paper bags until they are completely dried out. I then use them to make my fire starter blocks instead of regular sawdust. They are great tinder and burn longer than regular sawdust
Great little fire starter joe.You are like the Energizer Rabbet, You keep going and going and going Always have many irons in the fire lol Sorry I haven't got in touch been having a hard time , Can't seam to get on top of my breathing lately. Tell Sandy I said Hi and hope she is feeling better
Nice video, great idea. I definitely will be making some. BTW I was considering carrying a blow torch in my pack but this is lighter.. lol Thanks for sharing
well done, going to make some tonight! Given the long burn time and big flame I'm excited to try boiling 500ml of water in my titanium pot sitting above one of these little buggers!
Chainsaw dust usually produces those curly-Q shavings if your buddy doesn't own a wood shop. Just listen if you don't own one. Someone, somewhere will be cutting a tree down. Just fill up a Ziplok gallon size, and leave it open to dry for a few weeks.
I'm not sure how many times you can be told that this is awesome but seriously great idea. I set some time aside to try it out and ended up making a few dozen just to have on hand.
