Nothing Says “Fire” Like Moose Poop

Date October 25, 2011

In a mad fit of work avoidance last Saturday, Benton and I busted out the milk crate of firestarter-making supplies and got busy. This was a milk crate in my workshopt that had slowly been accumulating all of the necessary ingredients:

  • Egg cartons (Carson eats 4 eggs a day for breakfast these days…followed by a couple of waffles; these were easy containers to come by!)
  • Sawdust (courtesy of the collection bag on my dust collector)
  • Old used/warped candles (courtesy of my parents)
  • Dried moose poop (also courtesy of my parents…who stopped on the side of a road in Alaska and collected a large bag once they were told that moose scat was an excellent firestarter)

Growing up, I made firestarters with these same basic ingredients sans the moose poop (not a whole lot of moose wandering around Sour Lake, Texas), but, let’s be honest, dried excrement makes any project more exotic!

We mashed up the poop:

Moose Poop and Sawdust Firestarters

We melted the candles (the initial attempt to line the pan with aluminum foil was not successful, but the pot cleaned up fine with a couple of rounds of boiling soapy water):

Moose Poop and Sawdust Firestarters

We filled the egg cartons with a mix of moose poop and sawdust and then poured in the melted wax:

Moose Poop and Sawdust Firestarters

Moose Poop and Sawdust Firestarters

After cooling for an hour or so, we cut up the cartons and had 3 dozen firestarters!

Moose Poop and Sawdust Firestarters

We used one to start a fire in our firepan in the driveway that evening, and it worked like a charm! We should be set for the winter.

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