I have known about being able to make oil candles for quite some time, but in a TEOTWAWKI situation it seemed like using perfectly good oil to make a candle would be a waste of precious food and calories.
That is, until it's no longer a waste of precious food because the oil has gone rancid. Which is, of course, what happens to 30 quarts of vegetable oil when you learn that it is actually soybean oil and that 98%+ of the soybeans in this country are GMO. And so you don't wish to feed vegetable/soybean oil to your family anymore.
I learned that about ten years ago and decided to eliminate as much as possible from our diet. But it seemed like such a waste to throw away all that oil, especially if our country collapsed and that oil would be needed. At the very least, I could give it to others who wouldn't be so concerned about GM foods.
But of course, oil eventually goes rancid and then no one wants it. However, as the oil was going rancid I was also learning that it could be used for oil candles. And I probably made one or two back then, but I sure don't remember much about it.
This time around, things are different. I still have 30 quarts of oil, all with a best by date in 2009 or 2010, but the armchair approach to preparedness is gone. Changes are coming to our way of life, and I better be prepared to deal with it. So I have to be able to make oil candles that really work. And the first place to go for information is the Internet, where anybody can post anything and say it works, even when it doesn't.
The most important thing to get right (other than fire safety when using your candle) is the wick. Those people that say you can use jute twine, hemp cord, embroidery floss or twigs are nuts. They don't light at all, at least for me. Some suggest using a torn T-shirt (which might work if the shirt is 100% cotton) or a clean shoelace. I didn't have a t-shirt I was willing to sacrifice, and I'm thinking shoelaces could become pretty valuable, especially clean ones, so I didn't even want to try that one. Another suggestion is to use a twisted or rolled up bit of paper towel. I'm thinking it's better to use something else--paper towels are going to run out pretty quickly. Because I couldn't find the cotton butcher's/garden twine, I decided to go raid the yarn basket for some cotton yarn. No matter what, you always want 100% cotton for your wick.
The diameter of the wick will determine the size of the flame. Small wick=small flame. This is probably not what you want if you actually need to be able to see. So that cotton yarn is probably not going to be adequate. The candle will stay lit, but it just won't give off enough light. My solution to that was make the wick bigger. Now most people would braid three lengths of yarn together and just use that. And that should work just fine. But you know, I am just so lazy busy that I needed to do this quickly. So I just cut off about a foot of yarn and folded it in half and twisted it a lot, about as much as possible without causing it to kink. Then I folded it in half again, so that there were now four plies, and twisted again in the opposite direction. (That whole process took about 15 seconds. Braiding would have taken a few minutes.) Set your wick aside (probably weighted down so that it doesn't untwist).
Pour the rancid oil (of course, it doesn't have to be rancid) into a glass jar. Make a hole in a used canning lid large enough for the wick to pass through, but small enough to hold the wick in.
Soak the wick in oil and push one end through the lid. Replace the lid, leaving the rest of the wick in the oil. Light your oil candle.
Observations throughout this little experiment: Like I indicated above, jute twine, hemp cord, and embroidery floss did not work at all for me. I didn't even try the twigs, t-shirt, or shoelace. The rolled paper towel actually did work pretty well for a short while, maybe an hour. The flame was as bright as the oil candle, but gradually it dwindles smaller, too small to be worthwhile. The twisted cotton yarn with four plies worked the most reliably. However, it should be noted that this still is not a super bright candle. You'll need a few to be able to see much.
For more information: https://www.highlandstakeinfo.org/app/docs/prep/newsletters/June%202017%20-%20Oil%20Lamps.pdf
Those who know much about food storage understand that oils are a weak link in the chain. Given that many of us prepare for calamities of unknown length, some store oil in large amounts. The problem is that oil's relatively short shelf life means that we are stuck with rancid oil over time. I am glad to see that you have offered readers a solution for using the oil.
ReplyDeleteBeeswax candles, although a preferred means of illuminating a home, were, and are still, expensive. It has always annoyed me to see movies where there were 20 candles burning bright in a room--unless, of course, the room was that occupied by Augustus Caesar or Louis XIV. Obviously, paraffin candles were not an option yet.
Ancient Romans mostly illuminated their homes with lamps that used olive oil. I read many years ago that the primary way people of modest means illuminated their homes in colonial times, especially on the frontier, was with tin Betty lamps. The lamps were made in different shapes, but they all used oil and grease with cotton wicks. Here is one example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tin-Betty-Lamp-Late-18th-Early-19th-Century/274251507659?hash=item3fdaa9e7cb:g:p2IAAOSwb39eOzRf
While many types of oil and grease could be used, the use of ubiquitous bacon grease was common. The downside is that, after years of use, the lamp would create a greasy film on the walls and such near the lamp.
"Yet it is far better to light the candle than to curse the darknesss."
--W. L. Watkinson.
(Don McCollor)...I think the wick must be renewed as it burns away (like raising the wick in a kerosene lamp). For wicks, lots of cotton batting in older sofas. By all means, have the oil lamp in a (metal) pan that will contain all of it lest it tip or spill. Take time, when dark adapted, a single candle seems lots of light...
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ReplyDeleteditto - on using precious oils & fats for SHTFtime lighting >>> the worse I see constantly is advising to use a $8 can of Crisco for a candle - violations of the prepper tenants across the board ;;;;;;;;;;
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