Save Your Wine Corks To Make Simple Fire Starters

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Unless you earned your Firem'n Chit badge from the Scouts when you were a kid, lighting your portable fire pit might prove to be a challenge. As such, you may feel inclined to help matters along by adding a bit of fuel to the fire — literally. However, rather than just dumping a couple of ounces of charcoal lighter fluid directly onto the fire, consider using some old wine corks that you've repurposed specifically for this task. Aside from being an effective way to get the fire crackin', they're also a pretty addition to your backyard campfire oasis, provided you know how to store them properly. 

You'll need to gather some supplies for this DIY, starting with about a dozen old wine corks you've saved from your various wine-tasting parties. It doesn't matter if they're from red or white wines, though the ones from red wine bottles will be stained red, which amps up the project's aesthetic appeal. A small Mason jar with a lid is the next thing your fire-starter DIY needs. It should be big enough to fit 10 or 12 wine corks and still allow you to close the lid without any trouble. The project also calls for either denatured ethanol for firepits from Five Star Materials Resources, or alternatively, you can use charcoal lighter fluid from the Billy Buckskin Home & Beauty Store. A pair of metal tongs and some multipurpose lighters might also come in handy come fire-lighting time. 

This project is pretty straightforward. Basically, you're going to soak the wine corks in ethanol for 12 hours or more until the corks get completely saturated with the fuel. For safety's sake, be sure to put the lid on the Mason jar while you wait for the process to finish. Once you're ready to start a fire, you should only need one or two corks to get the fire going. You'll want to place the fuel-saturated wine corks at the bottom of the fire near the rest of the kindling. To keep the fuel off your fingers, use a pair of metal salad tongs from HOTEC Store to remove the corks from the jar.

If you want to create ambiance, consider adding some color-altering pine cones to burn with the corks. These fire accessories use chemicals to make flames that are blue, purple, and more. Also, you can place some ordinary pine cones in your jar if you don't have enough wine corks to fill it. Pine cones are excellent fire starters, too.

Finally, do be mindful of safety when you're handling the jar since it's going to be filled with fuel. If you're using the kindling for your outdoor fire pit, stash the fueled wine corks jar in something like this Creative Co-op iron kindling bucket. You'll especially want to take this safety precaution after an outdoor grilling session is over, when things can become "out of sight, out of mind" for everyone, except kids and pets who always seem to find this sort of thing when your back is turned.