Wanting to condense my fanny-pack sized kit a bit I was looking for another way to have a candle that wasn't as bulky as what I had in there.
This:
I didn't really want a tea candle that could melt all over everything and I wanted something that lasted longer then a birthday candle. So, I took my big candle and a small generic altoids type candy container.
This:
I took the wick out of the big candle and placed it in the little metal container, then I melted wax on/around it until it came up to the holes in the container (cut out for the hinge). I then tilted the container away from the holes so I could get as much wax in as possible. Now it looks like this:

I am going to seal it with some tape to stop the smell and any melted wax from comming out (it worked on the big candle). I don't know exactly how it will burn, but it should work just as good as the candle I got in there and it is a lot better option then a tea candle. Plus the cover can be used as a handle or to help shield the flame from the wind. Polished up it acts as a reflector for the light. All in all I thought it was a good idea that someone here might like to try. I was trying to think of things wrong with it or things I could improve and my only real big idea was to use a magic relighting candle wick instead of the regular candle wick, it might fare a little better in wind. I hope you guys like that, if you try it let me know how it turns out. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

thats pretty cool. had a thought, if you had some reasnably stiff aluminium foil you could make some sort of side screens for it, cut down on the wind factor and allow either more or less concentrated light depending on how you positioned them.
stevec

Paul,

Looks good, but have you actually fired it up to see if it works the way you want it to?

As a child I was a bit of a candle maker. We made dipped and cast candles. Your candle will burn pretty much as you expect. Unfortunately it will not last much longer than a tea candle. For two reasons.

First The citronella impregnated wax is a lower temperature wax than that in a tea candle which means it will melt, evaporate and burn at lower temperatures. This is partly due to the citronella and partly required by the design. In the larger can the outer edges of the candle would not get hot enough to melt a harder wax and you would burn the wick and the center and waste most of the wax. This lower temperature wax will burn faster - perhaps a bit brighter - or just sootier.

Second The purn time of mostly equivalent fuels in mostly equivalent burners is dictated by the amount of fuel. Your candle has about the same amount of wax if not a little less than the tea candle.

A compromise that I have struck - works for me - is the coghlans candle lantern. I protect the glass by using some buble wrap that came in the package and I stack the interior full with tea lights. This is a bit more bulky than your mint-tin candle but still smaller than the citronella can. It is amazingly light, wind-proof, and bright enough to eat dinner by after dark. I have even used this as a hanging light in a dome tent to no ill effect. I would suggest putting a foil reflector above the hook you hang it from tho for reasons of soot and fire prevention. If you tent doesn't ventilate well don't do this our you run the risk of being short on Oxygen (that's bad) I find that the candles rattled a bit inside the lantern until I wrapped them in bubble wrap as well.

If I were looking for a simple candle the size of a tea candle with only that size in my pack but I wanted it to have a lid I would take an empty tea candle cup and invert it over the full one and tape that shut. Some have even made alcohol / exbit stoves from this configuration

I did the same thing a while ago with a strepsils tin which was the same dimentions as the tin BCB uses for their kits except for not as long. I used some tea lights with a higher melting point. I put three wicks in mine so that i could regulate the amount of light. I melted the wax in the tin on the Aga. I haven't used it yet.

Minime

What is that hole in the stove for? And do tea candles have a specific purpose (like heating cups of tea <img src="images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />) or are they just little candles?

the big hole in the middle is the pre-heating thing, were the alcohol get heated till it evaporates and comes out of the smaller buring holes.
heating water with tea candle doesn't really work, i tryed to warm a small almount of water once with 2 tea candle's and it took a hour before it started to become warm, not even really warm !

tea-candle are used in hotplates (chafing dish), to keep dishes warm.


Alain

What if you put a liner of foil in the mint tin first. Make the foil liner oversized so that it stands up higher than the sides of the tin. Melt you wax and pour into the tin. When it cools, you could fold the foil down over the candle makeing an additional layer to keep the wax from spilling out. Then close the lid of the tin.

If you don't need the windscreen, fold down outside the tin to help prevent wax spills.