Homemade Survival Candle !

pitdog

pitdog

Joined
Apr 13, 2007
Messages
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Thought I'd have a go at making one of these last night. You fill an old Salmon/Tuna can with corrugated cardboard, add a Jute wick and then fill the whole thing with molten wax. I've not tried it yet but the cardboard is supposed to burn down like a wick resulting in a large flame over the entire surface of the tin.
It is said that these can even act as an emergency stove.

Anyone else tried one before ?

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Never tried that before, but it sounds like a plausible idea. Test it out and take some pics! :D:thumbup:
 
I bet it works. Ive used kite string and bacon fat before. It worked great.
 
They call them "buddy burners", have heard the boy scouts use them for cooking for their tin can stoves. Search on YouTube for videos.
 
Yup...made my first in boy scouts some 50 years ago. I must add, mine were much more attractive.
 
When I was a little kid we would make our own candles on the farm. Great job pitdog.

Bryan
 
i make mine using campbell soup cans and even went so far as using a coffee can. Burns great, ashless fire and a large circle of fire around 4-5 inches tall. gotta love them.
 
pitdog said:
Thought I'd have a go at making one of these last night. You fill an old Salmon/Tuna can with corrugated cardboard, add a Jute wick and then fill the whole thing with molten wax. I've not tried it yet but the cardboard is supposed to burn down like a wick resulting in a large flame over the entire surface of the tin.
It is said that these can even act as an emergency stove.

Anyone else tried one before ?


PA170001-1.jpg
Click to expand...


We made them in the Cub Scouts for emergency candles, and to cook over with a tin stove.... The can also be used to start a fire. Looks like you got a little too much wax in there... We also used Gulf Wax (paraffin)... guess they thought it was a little safer to burn. I still make them that way... You can store then easily and they last for a long time.
Nice job..

Doc_Savage
 
I lit it up tonight in my wood stove, I let it burn for about 30 minutes and it had just started to spread to the cardboard~

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kind of a repost, but yea... Scouts back in the early 60s....shoepolish tins....for both 3 wick candles and paraffin cook stoves (we used heavy braded cotton cord for wick)... carried an extra 1/4 lb block of Gulf Paraffin as fuel for both...for jamboree camping Gerber baby food jars for mini hurricane lamps
 
We used to make those with big coffee cans when I was little, I had forgotten all about them. I think we made ours with rolls of TP tho :)

I'll have to make a few again for fun and try not to burn my house down :p
 
I haven't made them in a couple of years...guess what the cubs will be doing on there hike in a couple of weeks? Thanks for the reminder.
 
I've seen those mentioned online various places, i've also seen a version that uses a TP roll inside a can using ethanol for fuel, obviously not quite as portable though.
 
Here's mine.
I have used a tin-can with a lid, so I can keep it cleaner and also, it's easier to extinguish the flames by putting the lid on.

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I've made em outta tuna cans before. They'll burn for well over an hour, probably closer to 2. Nice to have one in the bag, especially in winter, it'd be an easy to light heat source that'll get your hands nice and warm, and still have plenty of burn time left to get a real fire going if needed.
 
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