<br> I was looking at survival candles over the internet recently and was considering ordering either the nuwick or the coghlan's and then I thought that these are round tubs and rather difficult to carry in the pocket, though no problem in a pouch I'm sure. <br> So I thought, what if there were candles in altoid type tins ? I proceeded to make one of these just for fun. <br> The following is what you will need:<br><br>1. 4 - 5 tea lights (burns 4 - 5 hours each) Also very cheap... like these <br><br><br>2. HD aluminium foil <br>3. Pot to boil water (and a stove of course)<br>4. empty altoids tin ( I'm not sure - if you leave some altoids dust inside, will you get a peppermint candle ? )<br>5. Aluminium tape ( not really necessary)<br><br>Directions<br>1. Place some aluminium tape over the openings at the side of the altoids tin where the hinge is. This is to allow you to pour more wax inside. If you want to omit this step, you have to be careful not to fill the tin too much with the melted wax.<br>2. Make a container from the HD Alu foil.<br>3. Put 2 tea candles inside.REMOVE from outer case 1st!<br>4. Bring a small amount of water to boil in a pot and put alu foil container inside.<br>5. Wait for wax to melt and take out the tea candle wicks with some tweezers.<br>6. Add more candles one at a time until you have a tub of liquid wax.<br>7. take the retrived wicks and place them in the altoids tin ( 2 - 3 wicks spread out.<br>8. Once you have the melted wax and are ready to fill the tin, place the tin in a hot water bath to warm it up.<br>9. Pour the wax in and adjust the wicks<br>10. Cool tin and contents in a tepid water bath.<br><br>Ta-da! Your own altoids tin survival candle ( I think 4 -5 tea candles each with a burn time of 4-5 hours each should give you roughly 18 - 20 hours depending on how many wicks you burn at once) Please correct me if I'm wrong ( I just don't have the time to test out the burn time) !<br><br>So there is your pocket sized survival candle (cum mini stove). The lid will help to protect the candle, you can squeeze a box of matches inside, and will help snuff out the flame. You might even be able to use the lid as a heat reflector (I haven't figured out how to do it yet... any ideas ?) <br><br>Each time after you burn off some wax you can always melt down some more tea lights and refill it! <br><br>Anyone else tried this before ?<br><br>


Edited by Trusbx (09/18/02 04:40 AM)
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Trusbx