Dryer lint is a free and plentiful form of kindling. It can be used directly as it is, or mixed with paraffin to make a more effective fire starter. These won’t light quite as readily as the ones made from cotton balls and petroleum jelly, but they are excellent for use with your primary fire starting methods or with methods where the sun’s rays are being used to start the fire.

While these can be made in almost any form, the easiest is to make them in egg cartons. You’ll need the ones that are made of cardboard, not the Styrofoam ones. When the Styrofoam ones burn, they put off noxious gases that you really don’t want to be breathing. Put a ball of dryer lint into each cup of the egg carton. Size isn’t really an issue here, as pretty much any size will work about the same. Melt some paraffin (candle wax) in a double boiler and pour it into the egg carton, thoroughly wetting the dryer lint, but not overflowing from one cup to the next. Allow to dry.

The nice thing about this form of tinder is that no special care is needed for storing them, as there is with the others we’ve discussed. The egg carton can be closed and stacked on a shelf. When one is needed, it can simply be torn out and used. While they won’t work when soaked in water, they will work in normal humidity, even if left out.