Pinecone Fire Starters

Crafted from pinecones, wax and sawdust........Pinecone fire-starters are a great way to get a roaring fire going in the fireplace. You can also make them as inexpensive Christmas gifts for friends and relatives.

Idea:  Fill a basket or cellophane bag with some fire-starters and give as a gift.

1. First, you'll need to dry out the sap on the pinecones. To do this - line a baking sheet with foil to keep it clean and place pinecones on the foil. Place the pan in a pre-heated 225 degree oven for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes, turn off the oven but leave the pinecones in the oven for an additional 2 hours to finish drying out.
2. Once the pinecones are dried out, you'll need to melt your wax in a double boiler or wax melting pot. This should be a different pan than you use for food.
3. While waiting for the wax to melt, prepare you work area by covering it with an old vinyl table cloth or cover it with newspapers and plastic (such as a disposable table cloth or garbage bag).
4. Spread sawdust in one of the shallow boxes. Lay a piece of foil inside the other shallow box.
5. When the wax is melted, use the tongs to dip a pinecone into the wax. I find it works best to dip the pinecone in the wax then take out and hold over the wax for a minute then re-dip. Do this 3 or 4 times until you get a good coating of wax then immediately roll it in the sawdust.
6. After you roll the pinecone in the sawdust, place it in the foil lined box to dry.
7. To use, simply place under the firewood in your fireplace and light on fire. The sawdust ignites quickly and the wax pinecone will burn long enough to get your firewood burning.
    
    
    Hint: In our home, we burn wax tarts instead of regular candles. When the tarts have lost most of their scent, instead of throwing them away I save them to make fire-starters.