Very easy to manufacture torches with a combustible base of cardboard bushes from toilet paper, coated with one or more layers of paraffin.
Greetings to all my colleagues the inhabitants of our sites!
Today I want to share the idea of making homemade torches. More precisely, we are talking about the most combustible basis for torches. Of course, this is only one of many options for a combustible base, but, in my opinion, very successful.
The main advantage is the simplicity of making such a combustible base, since it is a cardboard sleeve from toilet paper, coated with one or more layers of paraffin. And since such bushings, as well as paraffin (which can be taken, for example, from a candle cinder), are found in almost every house, anyone can easily make such torches.
You can use such torches outdoors, as well as in a country house or in the country. In my opinion, they are very well suited for celebrating winter holidays, for example, the New Year.
Looking ahead, I want to say that when I celebrated the New Year, I used just such torches on my garden plot. And they really created an unforgettable holiday atmosphere and really liked our relatives and friends who celebrated the New Year with us. And the children were generally delighted with these torches.
Over the past winter, I also used these torches several times during the holidays. And also it turned out quite spectacularly.
In addition, it should be specially noted that cardboard sleeves from toilet paper coated with paraffin can also be used as a good means for lighting a fire, for example, in a stove, barbecue or just for making a fire. Therefore, such bushings can be very useful not only for use in torches.
Well, now let us consider in detail the process of manufacturing torches, and I will start with a description of the manufacture of not the combustible base, but the torches themselves.
I will make torches practically from waste, namely from tin beer cans and scraps of unplaned branches or bars. Of course, they will not look very beautiful, but for me this is not important, because I am going to use torches in the dark and stick them in the snow. Naturally, if one of the readers wants to make such torches, then, if desired, can make them more beautiful.
And for the manufacture of torches I needed the following accessories:
Materials and fasteners:
• Tin cans with a capacity of 0.5 liters for beer or other drinks.
• Self-tapping screws with a 4x15 mm press washer.
• Trimming straight branches or wooden blocks 0.7-0.8 m long.
Instruments:
• Scissors for metal.
• Awl.
• PH2 screwdriver for screwdriving.
The order of manufacture of torches.
Step 1. Punching holes in the bottom of the cans.
Using an awl, we pierce holes for screws in the bottoms of beer cans.
Step 2. Cutting the cans.
Using scissors for metal, we cut off the upper part of the cans, and also trim the place of the cut.
Step 3. Cutting longitudinal cutouts.
Using scissors for metal, we cut longitudinal cutouts 6-8 cm long in the walls of the cans. The number of such cuts can be arbitrary.
Step 4. Making curls.
In order to make our torches look prettier, and also so as not to injure our hands, we make such curls from the strips formed when cutting longitudinal cutouts, wrapping them on a mandrel from a suitable nail or sew.
As a result, we got such holders for a combustible base.
Step 5. Screwing the holders to the wooden handles.
Using a screwdriver, we fasten the holders with screws to the wooden handles.
And now our torches are ready!
Now you need to make a combustible base.
For this we need the following accessories:
Materials:
• Cardboard sleeves for toilet paper.
• Paraffin candle or candle cinder.
Instruments:
• Knife.
• A small paint brush.
• Tin can.
The procedure for manufacturing a combustible base.
Step 1. Cutting paraffin chips.
Using a knife, cut off the shavings from the candle cinder and put it in a tin can.
Step 2. Melting paraffin.
We put a can with paraffin shavings on a small fire of a gas stove or another source of fire and melt it.
The main thing is that the fire should be small, otherwise the molten paraffin will boil, and will splash.
Step 3. Application of paraffin on cardboard sleeves.
We turn off the gas burner and with the help of a paint brush, apply molten paraffin to the cardboard bushes from the toilet paper.
By the way, it is better to apply not quite hot paraffin, but a little cooling, so it will lay down in a thicker layer. In addition, you can cover the bushings with paraffin not in one layer, but in two or three, only in this case you need to wait until each previous layer solidifies. It only takes a few seconds.
In general, the more layers of paraffin wax a cardboard sleeve is coated on, the longer it will burn.
It should be noted that for each torch, we need three plugs coated with paraffin.
Step 4. The final formation of a combustible base for torches.
For the final formation of the combustible base, gently flatten the two bushings in this way.
And then, having folded the tapered bushings in a similar way, we insert them into the third.
And now our combustible base for torches is ready!
It remains only to insert our bushings into the torch holders, and now they are ready for use.
Now let’s test how good our torches turned out to be.
Torch Test.
First we stick the torch itself into the snow, and then we set fire to the upper part of the sleeve using matches or a lighter, holding it in an inclined position. Then we insert the lit sleeve into the torch holder.
Gradually, the sleeve flares up and a pretty decent flame appears above it.
However, as the sleeve burns out, the flame decreases noticeably. And this is apparently due to the fact that for a good and full burning of the sleeve, there is not enough traction.
That is why, I decided to finalize the torch holders, piercing them with an awl, from the bottom in a circle, about five or six holes.
After that, I conducted another test, and here everything fell into place.
In the holder with holes, the sleeve flared up quite quickly and burned with a sufficiently strong flame to the very end.
Here you can see how the sleeve has already burned to the very bottom (you can see how the holes on the bottom of the holder glow), but the flame does not wane.
The flame quickly went out only when the sleeve had already completely burned out and turned into ashes.
By the way, this sleeve burned for about seven minutes.Considering that I covered these sleeves with only one layer of paraffin, this is quite good.
Subsequently, I began to cover the bushings with a double or even a triple layer of paraffin, so that the torches from them burned for an average of about 15 minutes. I used these torches in particular on New Year's Eve.
So in conclusion, I must note that such torches with a combustible base made of cardboard sleeves coated with paraffin proved to be quite good.
The only drawback of such torches, in my opinion, is that beer can holders are not very durable. Since they are made of very thin tin, they can quickly burn out. Although, of course, for a few holidays they are quite enough. However, this drawback is very easy to fix if you make the sleeve holders of thicker metal.
As for the paraffin coated bushings themselves, in my opinion, in addition to the ease of manufacture, such a combustible base has many other advantages.
Firstly, it is much safer to use than a combustible base made with the use of flammable liquids, such as gasoline. Secondly, paraffin coated bushings can be stored for as long as necessary under appropriate conditions. Well, and thirdly, they are always ready to use, without any additional preparations.
Therefore, you can immediately make a few dozen of these bushings, and then spend them as needed, both for torches and just to facilitate the fire.
Well, that’s all for me, and to all my colleagues the settlers of our sites, I wish good luck and success in your work!