My first survival book was the SAS Survival guide, like, I suspect, many here. But prior to that my dad taught me to bow hunt. We always wore mil surplus LCE with survival gear. Over the years, I have matured and blended several philosophies. My pocket kit is enough for 1-2 days, my belt kit can sustain me for 3-7 days, and everything else is in a back pack.
In the SAS guide Mr. Wiseman recommeds carrying a small stove (like the esbitt) and a small pot in the belt kit. I have found this to be wonderful advice, because I can boil 1.5 qt of h2o, or prepare tea or stew. I really don't like the esbitt type stove because it uses fuel blocks that burn for 7-9 minutes (either trioxane or hexamine)They burn hot enough to boil a pint of water in that amount of time, but they are toxic, the age poorly (military stuff I have is 7 years old and will burn less time because it has powdered, exposing more surface area), and can be expensive.
I like those 40 and 120 hour candles, but never could justify the cost. Then I picked up Len McDougal's book, "Made for the Outdoors". It had instructions for a "buddy burner" (my camping buddy will be the first to field test it...). Basically a small can (sterno or 8 oz paint can) is filled with parafin wax, with a parifin impregnated cotton wick. I was bored this morning, and had purchased the stuff last week.
The cotton string (I used dense dye free yarn) is wound untill it has the urge to wrap around itself. This is repeated untill your new wick is 4-8 strands thick and then dip it in liquid parafin.( I made mine 16 strands and then separated them into 2 eight strand wicks after dipping them) Then the parafin is poured into the sterno can and the wick is suspended from a paperclip through it. I have a can of sterno with 2 .5 inch wicks now. Light as a candle, and put it out by dropping the lid over the hole in the top. According to the book a candle with one wick in this configuration will last 4-6 hours and is hot enough to boil water. I am thinking that the increased heat may offset the increased consumtion. I will let you know.
While looking at it I remembered that the book said to cook on it you need to dig a hole to give it the candle the air it needs to cook. Just resting the pot on it will put it out. I looked in the cupboard and found a can of tuna. After removing the top, bottom, and label I cut slits into the sides for ventalation and the can is the perfect size to set on top of the candle like a fire ring used in chinese cooking (to support the wok over the fire). I will try it in the next couple of days and let you know how it turns out.
While I was at I made what Mr. McDougal calls "fire wicks". Candles are kinda wasteful for their size, you always end up with wax that is useless after the wick burns out. The cotton string is prepaired just as above, but only doubled 2-4 times. It is dipped in liquid parafin and cooled and then cut into 1-2 inch sections. When lit by a match they burn long and fairly hot. A 1.5 inch section of 4 strand wick burned nearly 3 minutes in my sink this morning. This is not tinder. I wrapped a wick with steel wool to try to set the wick ablaze with my tiny, crappy metal match. It was not successful. Wrapping the wick with a vasiline impregnated cotton ball fixed it. The tiny underpowed metal match set it ablaze when the cotton ball was properly fluffed. According to Mr. McDougal the wick is set ablaze by tinder, and then will burn well enough to set larger, damper materials ablaze. Burns longer than pine needles, and is waterproof too. 60 firewicks takes up about the same room as a deck of cards.
Both of these were prepaired with a cash lay out of about $9.00, but I still have one unused can of Sterno, 1/2# of unused parafin, and several hundred feet of yarn. I figure the stoves are about $4.50 apiece, the wicks are about $.50 a gross. The stoves are also refillable. Total time involved, less than 1.5 hours.
whadda think?
Oh, yeah, anyone heard of this? Mr. McDougal says that on hard use boots and gloves he waterproofs the leather by smearing the item with vaseline, baking it at about 150 degrees, and adding more petrolium jelly to the dry looking areas. Says the leather doesn't rot and the threads holding the items together are lubricated, reducing rot, and stress breakage.
thanx.
pat
In the SAS guide Mr. Wiseman recommeds carrying a small stove (like the esbitt) and a small pot in the belt kit. I have found this to be wonderful advice, because I can boil 1.5 qt of h2o, or prepare tea or stew. I really don't like the esbitt type stove because it uses fuel blocks that burn for 7-9 minutes (either trioxane or hexamine)They burn hot enough to boil a pint of water in that amount of time, but they are toxic, the age poorly (military stuff I have is 7 years old and will burn less time because it has powdered, exposing more surface area), and can be expensive.
I like those 40 and 120 hour candles, but never could justify the cost. Then I picked up Len McDougal's book, "Made for the Outdoors". It had instructions for a "buddy burner" (my camping buddy will be the first to field test it...). Basically a small can (sterno or 8 oz paint can) is filled with parafin wax, with a parifin impregnated cotton wick. I was bored this morning, and had purchased the stuff last week.
The cotton string (I used dense dye free yarn) is wound untill it has the urge to wrap around itself. This is repeated untill your new wick is 4-8 strands thick and then dip it in liquid parafin.( I made mine 16 strands and then separated them into 2 eight strand wicks after dipping them) Then the parafin is poured into the sterno can and the wick is suspended from a paperclip through it. I have a can of sterno with 2 .5 inch wicks now. Light as a candle, and put it out by dropping the lid over the hole in the top. According to the book a candle with one wick in this configuration will last 4-6 hours and is hot enough to boil water. I am thinking that the increased heat may offset the increased consumtion. I will let you know.
While looking at it I remembered that the book said to cook on it you need to dig a hole to give it the candle the air it needs to cook. Just resting the pot on it will put it out. I looked in the cupboard and found a can of tuna. After removing the top, bottom, and label I cut slits into the sides for ventalation and the can is the perfect size to set on top of the candle like a fire ring used in chinese cooking (to support the wok over the fire). I will try it in the next couple of days and let you know how it turns out.
While I was at I made what Mr. McDougal calls "fire wicks". Candles are kinda wasteful for their size, you always end up with wax that is useless after the wick burns out. The cotton string is prepaired just as above, but only doubled 2-4 times. It is dipped in liquid parafin and cooled and then cut into 1-2 inch sections. When lit by a match they burn long and fairly hot. A 1.5 inch section of 4 strand wick burned nearly 3 minutes in my sink this morning. This is not tinder. I wrapped a wick with steel wool to try to set the wick ablaze with my tiny, crappy metal match. It was not successful. Wrapping the wick with a vasiline impregnated cotton ball fixed it. The tiny underpowed metal match set it ablaze when the cotton ball was properly fluffed. According to Mr. McDougal the wick is set ablaze by tinder, and then will burn well enough to set larger, damper materials ablaze. Burns longer than pine needles, and is waterproof too. 60 firewicks takes up about the same room as a deck of cards.
Both of these were prepaired with a cash lay out of about $9.00, but I still have one unused can of Sterno, 1/2# of unused parafin, and several hundred feet of yarn. I figure the stoves are about $4.50 apiece, the wicks are about $.50 a gross. The stoves are also refillable. Total time involved, less than 1.5 hours.
whadda think?
Oh, yeah, anyone heard of this? Mr. McDougal says that on hard use boots and gloves he waterproofs the leather by smearing the item with vaseline, baking it at about 150 degrees, and adding more petrolium jelly to the dry looking areas. Says the leather doesn't rot and the threads holding the items together are lubricated, reducing rot, and stress breakage.
thanx.
pat