The lowly candle...

[Sarge47]

One item that no survival kit should be without and that I feel does not get talked about enough is the candle. Yes, I know that many of you carry them, and some even like the little trick birthday candles that can't be blown out; I have several of those also. But let's look at a regular candle; maybe a "pink lady" or those made by Coleman for emergency's, for example. Look at what you can do with a regular candle:

1.) Make a candle lantern.

2.) Dry out wet firewood.

3.) Make a tent stove by placing one under a tin can with holes poked in it.

4.) Stop a tent leak.

5.) Rub it on a zipper to make it zip smoother.

6.) Replace waterproofing on a boot, etc..

Any other ideas? :cool2:

[randyt]

If it's a tallow candle I suppose if times were desperate, it could be eaten. I wonder if a little of the wax could be mixed with spruce gum and a backwoods chewing gum could be made. Usually I use bee's wax for this.

[jake abraham]

wax bow string

[Pal334]

in an extreme pinch, lubrcant for weapon bearing surfaces.

[LowKey]

A candle will keep your car warm if stranded in cold weather. Maybe not sub-zero, but anything helps.

[crashdive123]

When I used to camp in the snow (honest - I haven't lived in Florida all my life) I used a UCO candle lantern to warm the tent. I did surprisingly well. Of course my UCO lantern had a brandy snifter attachment on top to warm the Courvoisier.

[kyratshooter]

When making fire with primitive gear I usually light the candle first, then light the wood. I do not put the candle out until I know the wood has caught. You will never lose your flame and have to start over that way.

Candles are also good as a light source, even without the lantern.

You can also use the hot wax to seal a container or threads on a lid and make it waterproof

[hunter63]

Drop of wax in a cup of water and a needle, magnetized will make a compass....and a drop of wax on the smoke hole in your char cloth tin will seal it up till needed.

Always have a couple of candle ends floating around in my gear........handy thing to have.

[Highhawk1948]

Start the small twigs and kindling burning.

[pete lynch]

Good for warming your hands up so you can build a real fire.

[Rick]

Good point, Pete. You lose motor skills as you get cold. You may need a warm up just to function.

[BENESSE]

You can wax poetic whan all else fails.

[hunter63]

You can wax poetic whan all else fails.

Around here when all else fails....you just holler "uff da"! run in circles scream and shout........
http://www.lawzone.com/half-nor/uffda.htm

[hunter63]

Just light it a use it for light?....maybe?

[Wildthang]

I carry 8 of the small tea candles with the tin bottom cups on them in my BOB. One thing you guys forgot is that a candle warms the heart when the night is cold and dark! I was thinking, if you had a deep bleeding cut, and didn't have anyting to sew it up or bandage it, would hot candle wax seal the wound? Yeah the hot wax would hurt some, but it would beat bleeding to death!

[Rick]

No. Hot wax won't seal a wound. Compression is the answer unless it is arterial or massive. If you don't have a med kit then rip up your shirt or pants to make one.

[mouse111111]

Like jake abraham said, I use those little white unscented candles to wax bowstrings

[natertot]

They're great to ignite farts with too! :lol:

[Rick]

Why would you want to set a highly trained member of the response team on fire? That's just sick.

[natertot]

Why would you want to set a highly trained member of the response team on fire? That's just sick.

As I wrote that, I kinda thought you'd say sumthin' along those lines. Don't worry Rick, you are safe. Unless your standing behind me!

[finallyME]

Why would you want to set a highly trained member of the response team on fire? That's just sick.

As I always tell my scouts, give a man a fire, keep him warm for a night, light a man on fire, keep him warm for the rest of his life.

[BENESSE]

As I wrote that, I kinda thought you'd say sumthin' along those lines. Don't worry Rick, you are safe. Unless your standing behind me!

Nate, Rick is a F.A.R.T. (Fast Action Response Team) and flames make him nervous.

[crashdive123]

Nate, Rick is a F.A.R.T. (Fast Action Response Team) and flames make him nervous.

That would be Fairly Agile Response Team.......your title puts entirely too much pressure on us.

[hunter63]

As I always tell my scouts, give a man a fire, keep him warm for a night, light a man on fire, keep him warm for the rest of his life.

......for as long as that life might be.....fire safety.....

[Rick]

Dang B I had heart palpitations. I thought someone had raised the bar. You can't drink comfortably if the bar is too high.

[natertot]

That would be Fairly Agile Response Team.......your title puts entirely too much pressure on us.

Yeah, you don't want too much pressure on a FART. That is how accidents happen!

[ClayPick]

I throw all the leftover candles in a coffee can which I melt on my wood stove. Then I mix in saw dust. When there’s more candles I melt it all over again and add more sawdust. A chunk of it makes a strong and long lasting flame.

[Beans]

Around here when all else fails....you just holler "uff da"! run in circles scream and shout........
http://www.lawzone.com/half-nor/uffda.htm

You are close.
I beleive it is:

Brown side out
Green side out
Run in circles
Scream and shout


Semper FI

[sh4d0wm4573ri7]

I recall when I was growing up. I was repeatedly taught , matches were to light candles and then proceed to light whatever you were intending to light with the match, if it did not light the candle was idle anxious to be a hero.

[lucznik]

Yeah, you don't want too much pressure on a FART. That is how accidents happen!

A little extra pressure on a FART can make them rather explosive when ignited.

[crashdive123]

A little extra pressure on a FART can make them rather explosive when ignited.

Zactly. Some of us have tempers.

[randyt]

I hear tell that some of the f.a.r.t.s. have lumps.

[Rick]

Lipomas to be exact.

[hunter63]

One item that no survival kit should be without and that I feel does not get talked about enough is the candle. Yes, I know that many of you carry them, and some even like the little trick birthday candles that can't be blown out; I have several of those also. But let's look at a regular candle; maybe a "pink lady" or those made by Coleman for emergency's, for example. Look at what you can do with a regular candle:

1.) Make a candle lantern.

2.) Dry out wet firewood.

3.) Make a tent stove by placing one under a tin can with holes poked in it.

4.) Stop a tent leak.

5.) Rub it on a zipper to make it zip smoother.

6.) Replace waterproofing on a boot, etc..

Any other ideas? :cool2:

Breaking News........

OooH...OooH, I just thought of another use.......need a little thumb sized lump of wax to add to the lead pot when dossing off melted wheel weights, or any lead for that matter.

Almost forgot the jest of this thread.......

OK back to your regular scheduled programming

[randyt]

bees wax is best though, ifin ya have it.

[hunter63]

bees wax is best though, ifin ya have it.

Yes, you are right on there........Mostly always use bees wax as the candle lanterns use them, the burn better and the wax doesn't run all over the lantern

[crashdive123]

What's the reason for the wax in the melted lead?

[randyt]

It acts as a flux and dross floats to the top. Sulfur is also a good flux for this. I'm not sure if the term"flux" is proper for what I mean.

[crashdive123]

Cool. I understand.

[hunter63]

Yup, you stir it in and it might even start on fire, do not breath the fumes...if it doesn't start on fire, I light it with a match.

It will all turn black on the surface, just skim off the impurities....and you melted lead is clean.

[randyt]

Hunter, ever give sulfur a try? it works better than wax.

[crashdive123]

Many, many years ago I worked on a dive platform that was used to work on Submarine sonar transducers while the ship was alongside the pier. This saved a whole lot of time and $$$ if you had to change out a transducer - before this platform, you had to drydock the ship. Anyway...........we had entirely too much lead ballast on it when we started. We removed about 2500 lbs of lead (100 lb bars). Had I known then what I know now........ I did snag one bar and poured my own dive weights.

[hunter63]

LOL, yeah well I used to buy truck loads 40k pounds at a time for use in a wire heat treating operation.

Packed at 5k pounds at a time in 100 lb pigs....used to grab a couple of them for 'winter weight" for the back of my van.
Bring them back in the spring.

If I would have know that they were gonna close the plant I would have "borrowed" a whole lot more stuff.

100 lb bars are really a PITA to break/cut/saw off a small enough piece to get into a small melt pot.....and as we had a furnace the was 12 ft long, 30" wide and 18' deep with molten lead in it at all times...most everyone jusr dropped off their mold with the operator, and pick up their whatever at the end of the shift.

Randyt, no I haven't had any since I used it all up from mt youthful chemistry set....so if I come across some I'll give it a try.......candles ends I got, sulfur I don't....yet.

[crashdive123]

I had them cut at work in the machine shop with a friction bandsaw. I melted the lead in a cast iron pan over my Coleman Peak One stove. Molds were borrowed from the dive shop. I think I still have a lot of those weights around.

[hunter63]

Lead = bullets, and of course dive weights, fishing sinkers.

[southard]

My wife uses candles to remind me its our anniversary, I come home they are lit and the kids are gone I'm in trouble.

[Rick]

Man, you young guys are lucky us old guys are around. Hide the candles. When she asks if you know where they are you'll know it's your anniversary. Simple. But I would never forget. I'm trained better than that.

[natertot]

I have our anniversary programmed into my phone. It starts letting me know one week prior!

[BENESSE]

Jeez guys...
Just tattoo the date around your ring finger--the part that's not covered by the ring.
Problem solved, in more ways than one, if you know what I mean. :sneaky2:

[hunter63]

Hey, glad you brought that up, the "adversity date", I mean "anniversary".... LOL this Friday....on the 13th Actually pretty easy to remember,... Fri. the 13th......40 something or other....anyway, long time......guess I better start thinking about it, right?

[natertot]

Hey, glad you brought that up, the "adversity date", I mean "anniversary".... LOL this Friday....on the 13th Actually pretty easy to remember,... Fri. the 13th......40 something or other....anyway, long time......guess I better start thinking about it, right?

Nah, why do today what can be put off till tomorrow?!

[hunter63]

Oh Shut, that IS tomorrow......Oh well...

[ClayPick]

My wife has our marriage certificate framed. If I miss our anniversary I’m dead meat.

[postman]

Good for fixing holes in canoes, also need a little duct tape.

[Old Professor]

I was in a hardware type store one day and at the checkout there was a box of candles labeled "survival Candles" priced at one dollar apiece. I burst out laughtng. I had just seen the same candles in the stores plumbing section labeled plumbers candles for 50 cents apiece. Always check alternate sources fot things you wish to buy.

[Thaddius Bickerton]

I buy up ten packs of 8 hour plain white candles at the dollar store. Have a whole box full.


ETA: ;mean I have a large box with a bunch of the packages of 10 8 hour candles, not just a box of ten. you can never have to many candles and if you keep em cool they pretty much just wait around till needed unless some rodent gets at em but that hasn't happened to the store bought ones, maybe they don't taste right to the little pests? Or the cat is doing its job well.

They work fine. I set one in a tuna can and on the mantle when the power goes off, saves lighting up a kerosine lamp or the colman if it is late and I just need a night light to move around.

I have been carrying a candle and matches or a bic in a baggie since I they started making baggies .

I remember how much better a peanut butter sandwich was when Mom switched to those fold over the top baggies to replace wrapping em in a piece of newspaper. Of it lucky wax paper or maybe aluminumn foil. (had to save the foil and not tear it to reuse later or I got in trouble.)

I used to think stale was normal for bread. and that the only soft bread was fresh baked out of the oven. (bread was wraped in a towel and set in a bread box.

Man ya'll don't know how much nice plastic was and is to keeping stuff fresh.

Back to candles /wax. I always had to walk up to the general store and buy wax for canning time. I think they called it golf or gulf wax, but it was parafin for sealing up jars and such.

Bees wax was used for special things and we kids were not allowed to mess with Mom's supply.

The old feller who gave us that, and now his son still trade me honey for stuff, and come get any swarms I have on the place. I'm gonna miss it when he quits keeping bees.

[Wildthang]

Citronela candles are suppose to repel skeeters!

[hunter63]

Hunter, ever give sulfur a try? it works better than wax.

Well I didn't have any, wax works OK, and I had that.......so on with the show.....LOL