I’ve been using Weber’s FireStarters lighter cubes for years. They’re fantastic for getting a chimney or Vortex full of charcoal going in no time. At less than $0.15 a piece they’re an inexpensive way to get a fire going. But, I decided to see if I could make homemade fire starter cubes. What I ended up with light very, very well and burn for a good amount of time. The final cost was less than $0.10 for each cube, not exactly a huge savings, but that was only part of my reason for the pursuit.
You need just 4 things to make homemade fire starter cubes. It doesn’t get much easier.
Homemade Fire Starter Cubes
Ingredients
- Wood chips I found a big bag of alder wood chips on the clearance rack for $1. You can also substitute hamster cage liner from what I’ve heard
- 1 pound Household paraffin wax
- 4 cardboard egg cartons do NOT use Styrofoam cartons
- A small crock pot or double boiler
Instructions
- Place the wax in the crock pot or double boiler over slowly boiling water until melted.
- Separate the bottom of the egg cartons and discard the tops.
- Fill each egg cavity with the wood chips. I started by only filling them 1/4th of the way through but later found that you can fill them completely.
- Add the wax until the cavity is full.
- Let cool overnight before cutting into individual cubes.
- To light, place under a chimney full of charcoal, open-side up (so that the melting wax doesn’t drip down) and light with a match or lighter.
Nutritional values are approximate.
They don’t have to be perfect. Just fill them with wood, add the wax, and let cool. They burn for about 7 minutes, more than enough to light charcoal.
