DIY starter logs for fireplaces and woodstoves

Good morning, friends! I hope you all are doing well. I am loving this weather, today. My old Marine room-mate Eve called it, “a postcard from Spring.” (Don’t you LOVE that? She’s a professional writer, so she has an awesome way with words.) The temps today are high of 52 deg. Tomorrow has a 90% chance of thunderstorms and high of 61 deg. (My cousin, Joey, laughs because in all my Facebook posts, at least once a day, I do a full weather report. Maybe in a former life, I was a meteorologist. 🙂 ) Anyway, this weekend the temps are supposed to drop to below freezing again with snow and freezing rain. Bummer. That means the wood stove has to be fired up again.

My hubby, is amazing when it comes to starting a fire in the wood stove. I swear, the man can start a roaring fire with one match and a bunch of wet logs. On the other hand, I can have several dry branches, 15 newspapers, a flamethrower and I’ll still wind up yelling up the stairs and asking Don for help. In fact, when he knows I’m going to attempt to light a fire, he starts hanging chicken and hunks of beef around the room and calling friends saying, “Hey, anyone want a smoked chicken? Smoked beef? Jen’s lighting a fire, so everything should be fully smoked in about 30 minutes.” He also calls our local fire department and informs them the huge amount of black smoke coming from our house ISN’T a fire, but “just my wife attempting to build one,” then he issues gas masks to the kids as they sit back and laugh, while I keep wadding up newspapers and attempting to start the fire. Many times, as I sit there, choking and gasping I remember a story my English teacher had us read in ninth grade by Jack London, “To Build a Fire.” That story haunts me at odd times, not just when I’m struggling to light the fireplace. It’s about a man who is alone on the Yukon and how in -75 degree weather, he struggles to build a fire to save his life. Like all of Jack London’s stories, it’s excellent.

Anyway, I was telling a friend last year, about how I needed to find a store that was selling the Duraflame starter logs, since most of the local stores were sold out, due to the nasty weather. He replied, “Why? Just make them yourself. I do, every year. It’s easy.” Then he explained how to do it. This is a project that you can do a bit of, as you go along, throughout the year, or you can make them on a rainy day with the kids helping.

DIY Starter Logs

empty toilet paper rolls, or empty paper towel rolls

the ends of candle wax (after the wick has burned down, there is always about a tablespoon or so of wax at the bottom of the container)

lint from your dryer (FINALLY, a use for lint. Preferably lint from only natural materials, like cotton. I don’t use the dryer much, so we don’t have a lot of lint. The reason i say to use only natural materials like cotton is, nylon and polyester, although do not give off much lint, when burned can create carcinogens.) or newspaper ripped into pieces. I have also used dirty tissues, junk mail, cardboard boxes from food items, old schoolwork from the kids. You don’t even need this, you can just fold up the toilet paper rolls and stuff them inside one another.

Here is my tub of toilet paper tubes and other items that are originally rolled around a cardboard tube (like waxed paper; aluminum foil, etc.) I have an empty tissue box that I keep scraps of candles in, chunks of wax from crayons that have been broken so far down and I haven’t the patience to make new crayons from them (yep, I’ll tell you more about that in another post) wax from cheese (like the Bonnie Bell and Baby Bell cheese) etc.

If you don’t have any lint, or really shredded dishcloths (yes, even my shredded dishcloths are used for something) will work, used tissues, junk mail, scraps of paper, newspaper that you shredded into easier, smaller pieces (about 12 inches across, is good). If you lack all of that, you can roll up another tube as I did here and stuff it inside another tube.

I usually save all my tubes throughout the year and stuff them all inside one another, as they are collected. It helps save space, since I may save up close to a hundred over the course of spring through autumn. Then, when it starts to get chilly out and we will be lighting the stove soon, I pull the rolls out from one another and start packing them with stuff.

If you tear up a newspaper, or junk mail, etc, wad it up gently, and stuff it into the center of the cardboard roll. The wax that is left over from candles I will scrape up or if it was a pillar candle, break it into hunks and put a good chunk inside the cardboard roll. Continue to stuff newspaper, or raggedy dishcloths into it. Once it is full, let a small piece stick out, like a tail.

Keep adding paper, or dryer lint or raggedy material into the rolls and adding a chunk of wax with each one, until they are all full.

If I have to melt the wax to get it out of the glass container it was in, I will usually dunk the end of the roll into the melted wax, after it is stuffed. The melted wax dries and hardens and kind of locks the material inside the tube. Make sure if you melt the wax, DO NOT put the glass container into the microwave. Many times the candles have tiny metal prongs at the bottom to hold the wick. NOT a good idea to microwave metal. Using a spoon, scrape the wax out of the original container, so you can have a good look, then using the double boiler method, melt the wax.

Once you have your tubes ready, just prepare the logs as you would, normally. But put one of these amongst the logs. Then, light the tail that is sticking out. You may need two or three of these to assist in starting a fire. Those starter logs that cost almost $10 for about 20 of them are just sawdust and warm wax, that is compressed into a shape. The ones we are making are literally free. Each of the items you are putting into this project is actually an item you would throw away (or recycle.) The cardboard lights easily. The wax melts and helps to hold the flame so it burns longer and thus will ignite the branches and logs easier.

Like several of my posts, this is an item you need to save up for…but not money-wise. Like the suet, which is grease which you would be normally throwing away, stale peanuts, eggshells…all items you normally would throw away, now becomes a winter treat for birds, these starter logs can help you start a fire on those cold nights. Tomorrow, I will show another way for starting a fire, but you’ll have to finish your morning coffee and scrambled eggs, first. (hint, hint.)

Remember to follow me as we journey together in our quest for finding ways to live off the grid, live frugal, turn leftovers into new-overs, organize our lives and our homes.

What have you done to help another person out, today? Perhaps put a quarter into someone’s dryer, at the laundromat, when you see it has stopped turning. Give the paid-for wagon at Aldi to another person, and not ask for a quarter in return. Take a walk at lunchtime and smell the fresh air and notice the clouds. Buy a soda for a co-worker and leave it on their desk in the morning, before they come to work. Bring in a canister of coffee for the coffee pool. Give an extra two or three dollars tip to a waitress. Tell a veteran, “Thank you for serving.” Pull over and give right of way for a funeral procession, or an ambulance, taking a moment of silence for the victim. Buy a few cans of cat or dog food at the supermarket and drop it off at your local animal shelter. Stop by for an hour at a nursing home. Even if you don’t know anyone there, some of them would be so grateful for a visitor, since their own families rarely visit. Better yet, bring your child. Some of the elderly miss their own grandchildren and they can pretend your child is their grandchild. It would make them so happy. Make a simple, easy to heat meal and pack it in freezer-safe containers and bring it to a new mom. These little things can mean so much to another. Have you made another person smile? What was the reason YOU woke up this morning? Until we meet again, my friends, remember we are all living and breathing under the same sun, moon and stars. Be kind to each other, big and small, great and tall. Peace!