Best Fire Starters

$10.00

Our homemade fire starters for wood stoves or fire pits are easy to use and sold in sets of 10. Just sit one with your kindling, light the cup and watch your fire burn. Our 12 year old makes these starters, and he can make them in any color. They are great for camping or home.

Fire starters also make great favors for a wedding or bridal shower. We can customize them to your event colors, too! The souffle cups are filled with wood shavings and upcycled wax, so they light great every time.

Fire starters store very well. Keep in a cool, dry place.

Bud’s Fire Starters are easy to stack in your camper for outings, basement or living room for a wood stove or in your shed for summers by the fire pit.

Easy to use. Great for fire pits. Start fires in your wood stove fast – the first time! Many colors available. Always use with caution (we are not responsible for injury)

Fast shipping. These are made one at a time by hand and ship from Mifflin County, PA. We ship Priority Mail for this product, so you should have it in 1-3 shipping days (Monday through Saturday) in most cases. Production time is 5-7 business days.

Local to Lancaster County or Mifflin County, PA? We have a pick up shed where you can pick up as soon as your order is ready.

We stand behind all of our products. If you aren’t 100% happy, please let us know. We’ll try to rectify the situation as best as possible. Check us out on Facebook and Instagram, too!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5-8zw2Le-dk

Looking for more info on our homestead? Check out our blog: https://www.chapelhillforge.com/the-leggett-homestead/

What are fire starters made of?

Bud’s Outfitters fire starters are made of wax and wood shavings. He has built a great reputation within our community, and he is often gifted old candles, old wax melts that were already used, and wood shavings.
Of course, you can make fire starters from many materials, such as toilet paper rolls with lint, newspaper stuffed into paper towel rolls, or by simply balling up sheets of newspaper with junk mail.
But – you won’t get as awesome a start to your fire without Bud’s fire starters. They are perfect for wood stoves, coal stoves, campfires, or bonfires.
If you are looking for instructions on how to make the best firestarters yourself, we will detail those instructions below. We will talk about if fire starters are safe, how to make fire starters with wax, talk about how fire starters work, and how to use fire starters for your fireplace or campfire ring safely.

Are fire starters bad for chimneys?

If you are going to use your fire starter indoors with your coal stove, wood stove, or fireplace, again, we recommend getting your indoor fire vessel inspected yearly.

We personally use our fire starters in our home’s coal and wood stove all the time. We have our stove and chimney inspected every year by DS Stove out of Gordonville, PA. They thoroughly clean our chimney, inspect our bricks, clean the interior of the stove, and they give us any feedback necessary for care or future use.

We highly recommend you find a trusted resource in your area to inspect your stove before using our firestarters or burning fires at all. 

Are fire starters toxic?

This is a question we get often, and we feel like this is somewhat subjective. We are pretty crunchy in our home. We feel like since the firestarters burn up, go up the chimney, and no one is inhaling it, we don’t worry about it.

Even if you’re using it in an open style fireplace, it still burns up in a couple minutes, and the toxicity level is likely nothing. Again, this would be up to your comfort level.

Fire starters aren’t hard to make, BUT they do take some time, space, and resources.

Bud has a great setup in our barn. He’s got a small single burner stove, a big pot, a pour pitcher, an old wooden spatula, souffle cups, wood shavings, and wax. This supply list will get you making firestarters in no time.
We are often asked how to make fire starters with sawdust and wax. We don’t use dust because it’s so fine, but it could probably work. We prefer sawdust because it’s coarser, holds wax very well, and frankly, it looks prettier. People also want to know how to make firestarters with wax.
We don’t like to waste around here at all, so we fill the souffle cups with wood shavings, pour the wax on top, and then we will dump the excess. You really only need enough wax to keep the shavings in place and have enough to light.
So how do you use wax for fire starters? You simply want to put the wax in your pot, melt it, and pour it over your saw dust filled souffle cups.
You can really use any wax that you have. You could use already melted/used wax melts from a wax melter. You could use the bottom of old candles that are just left in the jar.
You can even make fire starters with crayons! Get creative!
Finding wood shavings will be a great way to build a relationship with neighbors. Maybe you have a sawmill in your town or a friend who does woodworking. Folks who do lathe work have the BEST shavings! The type of wood really doesn’t matter for your shavings.
We have a wood and coal burning fireplace. We do not burn pine or soft woods. We burn hardwoods or nut coal.
Our wood fires are usually reserved for spring and fall when we only need a fire in the evenings and overnight. We have coal fires through the winter. We start our fire in November or so, and the same fire burns all through the winter in Pennsylvania – till usually March-ish.
Keep in mind that you can probably burn all seasoned wood in your campfire ring outdoors.

Can you mail fire starters?

Of course! We are setup to ship all of the products on our website. If you are local to us in Lancaster, PA, you are welcome to pick up at our house to save shipping.
If you need your firestarters shipped, we can Express ship them, ship regular Priority Mail, or we can do UPS, if that’s your preferred method. If you need extra help with shipping during checkout, please reach out.
We pack our fire starters snuggly in boxes and usually with brown paper that can all easily be burned. We love using all materials and having no waste, so we try to help you do the same!
We sell our fire starters in packs of 10. If you need a lot more than that and need help with shipping because the website quotes high for shipping, please reach out!
We often run stock up sales, too, so follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay posted on those! Mention you read our blog about How to Make the Best Firestarters, and we’ll throw in 5 starters for FREE!

Fire starters for Camping

Fire starters are super portable, and they are great for camping in RVs, fifth wheels, or tag alongs OR when you’re hiking and backpacking.
You can stick a few in your belly boxes of your camper, in your tote with all your tent camping supplies, or in your backpack to hit the trails. They are small, easy to transport, and they are great when you need to get your fire started quickly and safely.
Use our fire starters to start a fire in your campfire ring while you enjoy time with your friends and the outdoors!

Are fire starters good for party favors?

We LOVE making special orders for weddings, baby showers, bridal showers, or parties! If you are having an outdoor themed wedding, a WILD ONE birthday party, a nature themed baby shower, or the like – reach out!
We are happy to custom make firestarters for your special occasion. We can usually make fire starters in a variety of colors that match your theme.
If you need fire starters in bulk, let Bud do the messy work for you! Fire starters are an awesome gift to go home with. You will be supporting a small business and young entrepreneur, and your guests will go home with a sustainable product that is useful!

Don’t forget your fire poker!

You can’t have a great fire without the best fire poker on the market. Our fire pokers are made to last, made one at a time by hand, and they are perfect for your home, camper, or cabin. Once you learn how to make the best fire starters, you’ll definitely want the best poker to go with them.