Photo: Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 3.0 ee · source

Other · From Bladwijzer

Resin firelighters

Updated on 9 October 2026

• Makes: 12 firelighters
• Time: 30 min + 1 hr setting
• From: Norway spruce

Ingredients

• 100 g hardened spruce resin
• 100 g beeswax or candle ends
• 1 cardboard egg box for 12 eggs
• 1 large handful of wood shavings or sawdust from untreated wood
• 1 old tin or old pot to melt in (not to be used for food again)

Method

1. Collect resin only where the tree has produced it by itself: hardened drops on the trunk or on the ground. Never cut or wound the tree. Pick out the largest bits of bark and needle.
2. Fill each cup of the egg box with wood shavings or sawdust.
3. Melt the resin and wax together in a bain-marie: stand the tin in a pan of gently simmering water. Never use a direct flame, as resin and wax are flammable. Stay close by and ventilate.
4. Stir until everything has melted and lift any bits of bark or needle out of the mixture with a stick.
5. Spoon the mixture over the shavings until they are just covered. Leave to set for 1 hour.
6. Cut or tear the box apart into 12 firelighters. Put one under the kindling in a stove, fireplace or fire pit and light the edge of the cardboard.

Storing: Keeps indefinitely in a closed box, dry and cool, away from heat and out of reach of children. Resin and wax are flammable: never leave the melting mixture unattended.