Awhile back in Roy’s Camping Blogger post about making your own tinder I commented that, out of some strange coincidence, we’d lined up the same how-to within the same week. I’d even already taken my photos and made my tinder–it’s funny how the timing worked out. Nevertheless, I commented that I’d post mine whenever I got a chance (and at long last, we commence).

The process is extremely simple.

Materials

• Gather together some lint, I keep a plastic bag right by the clothes dryer
• Gulf wax (grocery stores in the canning section)
• Non-stick pan
• Wax paper
• Shoe box (or similar sized box)

First line a shoe box with a couple sheets of wax paper. This is your work surface. Your mold may leak a little wax, which is fine. It’ll peel right off the wax paper when cool and can be reused in your next batch.

Per “brick” of tinder, use 3 sticks of Gulf wax. You can use a butter/margarine box or the Gulf wax box itself to form your tinder in. This will be your “mold”.

Over low heat, add wax to a non-stick pan and heat until melted. In your work box, place your mold on the wax paper. Pack it full of lint and compress it, but don’t overfill the top.

Next, carefully and slowly pour wax into your mold. Distribute it evenly over the surface as you pour. If you take your time doing this, you’ll spill less and have less drain out. You may find it useful to create a cardboard funnel to help guide the wax. Simply fold a thick piece of cardboard in half to form a “V”.

Allow this to cool completely. You can burn this tinder by the box (ala Duraflame) which is probably enough to start a bonfire. A better option is to slice off chunks and use them as you need them. This tinder will light when wet, even when floating on water. Burn time for a 1″ cube is typically a couple minutes.

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