Handy Candles

jumpmonkey

jumpmonkey

Joined
Oct 16, 2006
Messages
970
I bought a pellet gun the other day, one thing led to another and now I got some candles...

Candle-1.jpg

Candle-2.jpg

So the pellets come in these handy little cans. I couldn't bring myself to up and throw them away. I decided that some candles would be nice. Most candles aren't likely to take a spark so I decided to get a hold of some super cool, tactical survival wicks (cotton balls.) I melted down a bunch of paraffin wax in the tin, stretched out the cotton ball and rolled it up to make the wick. Suspend in wax, let cool and shazzam! you got CANdle (pattent not pending.)

Candle-3.jpg

Candle-4.jpg

Candle-5.jpg

The cotton ball took a spark like a... cotton ball. It lit up, burned high for a couple of seconds and settled down to a good burn. I lit the little guy up around 5:22pm

Candle-6.jpg

It kept burning well. Around 7:02pm I took another pic. The candle was burning a little lopsided. The wax on one side of the can wasn't melting. Around 8:02 The left side was still un-melted. There was no more melted wax in the bottom. I tipped the can so that the flame was licking up the left side

Candle-7.jpg

Around 8:10 I took a look, it was still burning well. The wax on the left was melting and feeding the candle. (This picture does not actually represent this statement. I tipped the CANdle when I was on my way out to pay a visit to my friend, the good General Tso and had other things on my mind.) At 8:32 the General and I returned to find the candle still burning but not wax in the tin. We got caught up enjoying either an episode of Psych or listening to the Sacketts... (I forget which) and forgot to check on the candle again. I estimate from my former experiments with parafin soaked cotton balls that it went another 10 before petering out.

All in all it burned very nicely for at least 3h10m. The cans are nice little cans. I have yet to test them for water resistance and submersibility.

Hope this is of some use. Thanks for your time.

God bless,
Adam
 
Nice work, will have to give this a try some time. Looks like a good item to add to the over night pack. Very impressed with the burn time, was more than I would have figured.

Thanks for sharing
 
that is awesome! some twine might make a better wick since it's smaller, but this was a really great idea. i've been messing around with cotton balls and petroleum jelly and have been impressed by the burn time, but over three hours is amazing. i'll have to try this one. thanks for your post!
 
I have some pellet tins (none empty atm); I might have to try that some time. And thanks for the idea of using a cotton ball as a candle wick. I have a candle, that the wick is buried in, so I'll have to do this cotton trick to "replace" it.
 
Guys,

Thanks for the comments. Now that I think about it the 3hour burn time is pretty wild. I refilled the tin today and filled a second empty tin. I'm doing another burn to make sure that what I had with the first burn was not a fluke.

I'm learning you need to be careful not to make the wick too long, but you still have to make sure it's long enough that you have a good portion of unwaxed cotton to take the spark. before it starts getting to the wax. But with a longer wick like I've tried with my candles today you wind up with this ungainly burning cotton turd in the tin.

Stealthchaser,

I do not know if you'll just be able to burn a cottonball on top of the wax and get it to start wicking. You will likely have to melt the wax and stick some of the cotton ball in. But I am now curious to find out if I can just take a slab of wax and a cottonball and create insta-candle. That'd be awesome!

God bless,
Adam

PS: Report will follow on tonights burn length test (just overall burn time for this one.)
 
Ok quick response after a quick test. I was able to lop off a square peg of paraffin. I took a cotton ball and for complete lack of any better means of description used it to make a tiny cotton condom for the top of the wax peg. It took a spark, burned down to the side and started to wick. It's been going about 2min and is burning really high. Not sure how great this will be or how long the wick will last but it can do for a bit. It is clearly wicking since no untreated cotton ball will last beyond a few seconds.

Another note I must mention in all this, you are not likely to get any of these cottonball gizmo's going with a spark without dry un-wax-filled cotton. Sometimes I've been able to relight these creations via spark, but either a new piece of cotton will be needed to start or a good old fashioned lighter.

God bless,
Adam
 
Good idea, maybe better than carrying "tea candles" or at least another option. I have commercial made "can" candles in my big bag. This is a good idea for a small bag.
 
jumpmonkey said:
Stealthchaser,

I do not know if you'll just be able to burn a cottonball on top of the wax and get it to start wicking. You will likely have to melt the wax and stick some of the cotton ball in. But I am now curious to find out if I can just take a slab of wax and a cottonball and create insta-candle. That'd be awesome!

God bless,
Adam

PS: Report will follow on tonights burn length test (just overall burn time for this one.)
Click to expand...

well, I got the candle fixed, but not by placing the cotton on top of the wax (actually, tried to put the cotton in the candle, like a wick, but didn't work). But I did find out how nicely the cotton burns with the candle stuff (the candle I was having trouble with is more of a rubber/silicone type stuff). I have a chunk of it, that I am saving for emergency candle/tinder.
 
neat. but my problem is that a warmish summer day (not even a HOT one) would melt the wax and make it level... and there's no telling what angle the candle would end up at inside a pack.

one of the vendors used to have some "microcrystaline wax" candles that had wax that wouldn't melt in a hot car... but they don't sem to carry them any more.
 
Well, I forgot to post up, the second candle burned for about 3 hours. It burned low so it woulda gone another while longer (about a third of the wax was still there)but I was off to bed by that point.

fixer,

I'll have to test that out... in about 4 or so months. I'll have to start looking into other types of wax.

God bless,
Adam
 
I have done something similar using cardboard as a wick. Just make a criss cross of cardboard from the bottom of the tin to the top and pour in wax. The hot wax fills into the cardboard. They burn for hours but one word of caution. Once they get going and the whole cross of cardboard is burning they get HOT!!!! You can also use small canned food cans. Once the wax is in the wick, it doesn't matter if they get wet.
Cheers
Balding
 
Nice idea, I have a couple of those in my sons room :D

How about a tennis shoelace for the wick maybe even paracord?? I'm wondering if you'll increase your burn time.. here's a link to some easy fire starters I use for controlled burns or if I'm trying to start wet wood in my fireplace.. (which has been zero times this year:D)

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8885018&posted=1#post8885018

These have worked when diesel wouldn't on brush/tree piles.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top