Survival Candle

[ProTrixter]

Woult it be possible to use melted vaseline, pure petroleum jelly, instead of wax?

[ken25taylor]

ahhh what a great upload. thanks a bunch!

[nothadnotbad]

i wanted to tell everyone that if you accidentally start a fire with hot wax... never pour water on it! it explodes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!! grab the first thing you can find to smother it out.

mike

[Uriel1816]

nicely done

[Texasoutback]

Have you tried using evaporating wax. I wonder if it would cut down on the soot isue

[hiramcook]

I'm not familiar with evaporating wax. Could you give me more info on it? Where do you get it and what is it usually used for?

[Texasoutback]

@hiramcook The only instance that I am familiar with is no drip candles.

[sneakyninja273]

can you cook with it?

[hiramcook]

That depends on what you mean by cooking. I don't think you could cook a steak but I've cooked eggs and boiled water on this.

[nativegirl35]

great idea thanks for sharing.......another good idea is to use a med/small coffee can (metal) put a roll of toilet paper into the can, pour rubbing alcohol over and light. It will burn hot for a long time.

[BOYLOBOYLO]

cheers for that dude , i watched this video last nite so i decided to make one see what it was like , and tonite i boiled noodles with and it works way better than i expected , yeah it take a few mins longer than the cooker but thats basicly a free way of cookin without needin electricity or gas and without havin to build a fire , im guessin if its hot enough to boil water it would b hot enough to cook with a frying pan , thanks again man thats actully really cool

[mandgsurvival]

Nice survival candles! Is that just common candlewax you use? I'll make some myself, and this is a great example!

Greetings, mandgsurvival

[mandgsurvival]

Nice candles! I'm going to make some myself.

Greetings from Belgium

[gusbish]

We used to make these but we used tuna fish cans and we also used a birthday candle in the middle to light faster and easier, Just a suggestion.

[hiramcook]

The tuna fish can is what we used in Scouts to make ours. In this case I used the can I did because the candle is protected by the water-tight lid.

[1thatisilluminated]

Use bees wax as its non-toxic and will actualy clean the air and it burns slower than regular wax.  Regular wax is toxic.

[bubbawilcox]

what can are you using for the big one

[savgal1211]

Yes, I use a tuna can , like the Scouts do, and buy Gulf wax or parafin! 

[SaviourSole]

I'm not sure I get the point... is it to have a larger flame?

I guess I could understand if you were making a candle out of raw materials, but it looks like you are making a candle out of a candle... what about this process makes it a "survival" candle? I would think in "surviving" you would want to conserve your resources, not burn your wax as fast as possible.

Maybe scrap wax into a tuna can or salvaged food can might make more sense to me.

Anyway, thanks for the technique.

[hiramcook]

I'm glad if my video came in handy.

[ELIJA40]

Thanks . That's very helpful; Keep up the good work.

[dklilm0mma]

Thanks for sharing! Where specifically can I get those resealable tins, though?

[blamshiza]

Looks mighty handy, and that tin is a real convenient size. I use the same pocket knife for digging candle-stubs!

[BifrostCheckPoint1]

I have done the same thing with roll of fabric instead of cardboard. Also works very well.

[hiramcook]

Interesting idea. Was that cotton fabric you used? Thanks for sharing.

[BifrostCheckPoint1]

Cotton, yes. We came up with the idea, when citranilla buckets of wax were turning into vats of molten wax. Any rain and WHOOSH big flame and big splash. Drop some water drops in a deep fryer sometime to see the same. Scary to tip too, while camping. So we wanted to make it less dangerous. So we rolled cotton scrap into a thick 6" roll and soaked up the loose wax with that. It became a big wick. Then we saw the rolled cardboard later at a store, and realized it was similar.

[coreg12]

we call them today cardbord candles

[hiramcook]

That's good to know. Thanks.

[loku1125]

ok cool

[loku1125]

ccould use something like a cerial box instead of corrugated cardboard

[hiramcook]

I would say yes but it really depends on the box. What you could do is melt some wax and dip a piece of the box into it. If the box soaks up the wax then it probably will work. If the box doesn't soak up the wax then it won't. The idea is that the cardboard acts like a wick.

That is a good question. Thanks for asking.

[tatyanahill]

So useful, didn't teach us stuff like that in girlscouts. thanks hiram : )

[hiramcook]

You're very welcome. We scouts have to stick together. LOL

[ihavenonameeva]

And this works with any candle?

Great vid too 5/5

[hiramcook]

Yes, just about any candle, even scented ones. When I was in Scouts we made them from old candle ends and even wax crayons. Thanks for the 5/5

[Christopher711]

very resourseful! Easily made and inexpensive. Thank you.

[ilvs34]

this is really cool and helpful, im gonna make a small one for my pack and a big one for my car

[soldier715]

What kind of tin did you use for the one on the right? I bought some of those smaller ones on the left and in the background from a craft store, around 4 for $5 I think, I can't remember.

[hiramcook]

It's a can I got from Freund Container Co. I had a couple left over from another project I did. Think they are basically pint size pant cans. Hope that helps.

[seka1986]

Good video!

[badphobar]

thanks for the response

now that you mention it, I used to put a roll of TP in the can and ad wax, cool and put the lid on. I just recall things on a different shedule to what i would like.

Good stuff

[badphobar]

we used to call them Buddy burners I think? great oldie but a goodie..

[badphobar]

a classic but must you need to fill the tin with cardboard, can't you just stand a tube of a couple wraps in the middle, or a toilet paper tube not touching the sides of the can to have less flame and more life?

[hiramcook]

Yes, I see no reason why you couldn't do that. I've seen candles that just have 2, 3 or 4 wicks like a regular candle to do like what your suggesting. Great idea. Thanks.

[djsuperstar717]

this has to be the best and easiest candles i have ever seen;

soda cans, crayons, and cardboard shouldnt be that hard to find;

thanks for uploading this

[f60w]

good idea good vid  thanks

[lsabenny]

just made one great idea many thanks

[bowtechgeneral]

Scouting good times good times

thanks for the vid

[pyrotechnition38]

i have also found ou that you can use paper and crayon wax and it still works very well

[PacoWarabi]

Nice job! We never made these in Scouts. I feel deprived. However, the last thing we needed was another way to light things on fire, so it was probably a good thing.

[hoz49]

In fact, a have seen the exact same thing for sale. It's called campfire in a bucket. A real poor substitute for the real thing.

[hoz49]

We called those "Hobo Stoves".Like you said, there is soot.

I remember my Mom being quite upset when all the birthday candles came up missing. Then her best saucepan got dirty from the black smoke...

[CommieChristian]

I've read about this, but Your video makes

it crystal clear!

Thanks Hiram and Max!

[Scytheon3]

We still make these in the boy scouts, but we don't have the metal tin round them we light them and use them to start campfires

[hiramcook]

Yea. We made those too but we called them firestarters. Great for starting campfires in the rain. The candles were made in tins so that we could put them out when done and save the rest for another day. Glad to hear that the Boy Scouts are still making these.

[WorldStove]

Thanks Hiram, That is such a super idea! I'll make one today to keep in my car... and another one to play with.

[THREEFLOORSDOWN1]

you can use more wax than wut you poured at the end. wut type of wax did you use? i have a bunch of tealite candles left over that i can melt down from my stove projects tealite stove projects...i have a new stove i'm gonna vid tomorrow too

[hiramcook]

You can use as much wax as the can will hold. I was suprised as to how much wax the cardboard soaked up. I didn't spill hardly any but yet it looks like it needs more wax. You should leave the very top of the cardboard exposed so that it will light easier.

[THREEFLOORSDOWN1]

wow...thats super cool! i think i might try to make 1 tomorrow. if i do..i'll probly video it & post as a response to your vid

[hiramcook]

Please do. That would be really cool. That's what this is all about. An exchange of ideas.