Good ol’ time proven candle is a true multi purpose item in your survival kit. Keep several candles in your survival gear bug out bag do not overweight your gear, but can play key role in various situations. With just one tea candle and poncho you can heat up yourself in cold and windy weather, candle with additional citronella aroma can help you get rid of nasty mosquito in summer, you can use candles for light, cooking and water boiling, signaling, fire starting – just about everything where fire, heat or light is required. No wonder why they are included into all survival kit checklists, including kits designed for military and search and rescue personnel.
Nowdays, most of candles are made from paraffin, instead beeswax, although soy, tallow and other wax like substances sometimes are used for candle production. Dedicated for “survival cases” candles often are packed into metal tins and have two or more wicks if you require more heat and light for example emergency cooking. Manufacturer rated by various burn time you have plenty of different choices around so if you still think about need or not this type of survival gear in your go bag, it’s strongly suggested have at least several as reserve.
What survival candles works best and what makes “candles made for emergency” differ from “standard” ones? Basically two things, more then one wick and metal casing. There are no any special chemical composition or anything else, so if you have chance buy long lasting holiday candle for right price, this will work out too. My most preferred time to hunt after cheap candles bargains are after major holidays like Christmas, you can easily stock up your emergency candles supply paying often less then half from usual price.
If you have collection of used and not fully burned candles or better block with paraffin or wax, with metal tin, tin from pastilles would be good enough, cotton wick and a bit of patience you can build your very own survival candle. Steps how to make survival candle by yourself are very simple, in first chop your paraffin source into smallest possible peaces to speed up melting process, put it into some old tin or kettle and wait till paraffin or wax is melted into liquid form. Fill your metal tin with liquid substance, wait a bit, then stick your wicks into tin. Try place wicks in equal space from each other and do not over saturate, two or three would be quite enough for average candies tin or you are not able burn your wicks separately. As soon wicks are planted, put your survival candle into fridge or outdoor if there are cold enough. Wait some hours and here we go – our self made survival candle is ready!
Some extra fire starting tools like weatherproof matches with striker would be good additional feature of your self made emergency candle. Glue them on the tin lid inner side. After completing this simple steps you have nice and handy emergency fire, light and heat source for your car, bugout bag, boat or house.
Here are some videos of candle making process :
SURVIVAL TIPS: Candle in a Altoids tin. :
Classic survival candle from tin, some wicks and old candles. Easy step by step instructions.
Amazing Wilderness Survival Candle – DIY Video :
How to make survival candle from old canned food tin, paraffin and cardboard. Cheap, simple and effective.
DIY projects always rocks! Be safe and prepared.