Helix, Heelix, (H)elix1

We have wood fireplaces in our home, and one of the best things about living in Minnesota is we can enjoy it for five months of Winter, plus a fair chunk of Spring and Fall....

Starting the fire can be tricky. Kindling and last weeks newspaper work if you have them, but it scares my wife when I swing an axe around. My bride found some 'fire starters' a few years back that really work well, just toss one in with a few full size logs and you were in business. They were essentially sawdust and paraffin blocks. They were also more expensive than I was willing to pay - me lucky dollar!

Last years camping was also really wet, considering how dry the Boundary Waters was in 2006. Nothing like coaxing a fire to life after a few days of hard rain (while it is raining, of course). I started considering packing in something that might help things along. Thin strips of magnesium worked in the past (may order more), but the sawdust style blocks were heavier than I wanted to pack in. Apparently kruft generated by drying laundry works really well if you pour a bit of melted wax on it.

Always one to try something before I drag it out into the field, I experimented and found it worked well. Well enough that I started hording the scraps of dryer lint.

Yes, my bride is convinced she just found a new definition for the word "cheap".