Alright, I tried this a couple days ago with a twist. For the fat portion, I used the grease from frying up ground hamburger. Had a small mason jar and did the coffee filter rubber-banded (man, is that a word?) around the top. Poured the grease in, it filtered fine but made two layers in the jar for some reason. (water??) Poured off the top and used the bottom layer pouring it into a cat food can.
For a wick, I originally tried a small piece of unknown string. It kept slumping over and choking itself out. I had a little bit of inner tree bark cordage that I tried making on a whim a while ago. I used the "end" that was bent back onto itself and twisted. Poked that into the grease right after the first one burnt itself out liquefying the material around it. That worked for a few minutes until it too fell over and went out.
Ok, take three: Took a twist tie from a bread bag and stripped the plastic off. Second, took a single sheet of toilet tissue and rolled it around the wire. Third, folded the wire in half and twisted the bent portion to resemble cordage at the tip. Fourth, the bottom portion that would sit on the bottom of the can was bent perpendicular, and when viewed from the bottom would look like an "S". Hard to describe and might have to post a pic.
That worked very well, as the grease turned to liquid during the burning time the wick did not fall over. I can see using two or three of these to regulate temperature and add/remove as needed. (yes, I know of the popular canned candle that uses that system, but this is free)
I used the small cat food can and the grease in the can measures about 3/8 of an inch thick. I let the wick burn for well over three hours, and barely any grease is gone.
Lastly, it doesn't smell like hamburger when its burning, but certainly does when it's blown out. Similar to kero lamps smelling like kero when extinguished.
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Originally Posted by edr730
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