Tiki brand torches are nice for backyard BBQs, but if you are roughing it in the woods, at a campground or a hiking trail then you most likely won't need an expensive name brand oil torch. I like LEDs for inside of my tent, but for the outside I like to use citronella oil instead of fluorescent lanterns. Fluorescent lamps remind me of the office life I’m vacationing from. Also, citronella smells like the outdoors and adds to the overall feel of camping. The lamp I use combines recycling and camping. I use glass beer bottles and cotton wicks from an old mop head to make a reusable oil lamp.
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Step 1: You Will Need:
Beer bottles (not the twist-off type)
The caps (removed carefully without damage)
Cotton string (thicker the better)
Philips screwdriver
Hammer
Oil (citronella or used cooking oil will work)
Bottle capper (optional)Step 2:
The twist off beer caps don’t seem to reattach well, but the pop-off type fit on nicely if you remove the cap with care. I use a bottle capper to reseal the bottle because I have one, but it is not necessary. The cap will snap back on without the capper if the cap is not bent. After collecting the beer bottles and caps, we will punch a hole into the cap with the screwdriver. I know this seems crude, but it works better then the drill press because punching it leaves a collar that holds the wick better then a clean hole. Take the cap, paint side down onto a piece of scrap wood, and punch the screwdriver into the middle of the cap by tapping it with a hammer.
Step 3:
The cotton I use is from an old mop head. It works just fine as a wick and saves it from a land fill. It will need to be soaked in clean water to remove any cleaning chemicals left on the mop. It can be dried outside or in a clothes dryer. One mop head will give you hundreds of wicks. 100% cotton is required for wicks, a cotton blend cannot be used. If you don’t have a mop head ready for the trash, you can use cotton rope found at a craft store.
Step 4:
Feed the cotton string through the hole to test the fit. It should have some resistance when adjusting the wick, but not so much that it shreds apart while pulling on it. Having a mile of wick is not necessary; as long as there is plenty of oil and the wick is thick, the cotton will not burn quickly. If your wick is thin, try braiding three pieces together to add to its burn time. Fanning out the wick and having a long wick will give you a brighter light but it will run down your oil and wick quickly. I use two bottle lengths of wick because I like to have enough to cut if the fanning of the wick gets out of control. When filling it up with oil, try not to fill it to the top, because the neck can get hot. Never refill when it’s hot, that’s why we make a lot of these before the trip so they can be set aside and a new one can be brought out. A twelve packs worth can be made in less than 20 minutes so there is no need to worry about refilling them and if you wanted to you could just toss them in trash when they are empty. These can be made on the spot, with the supplies on hand. An old t-shirt can be cut into strips and braided to make a wick. This is a useful thing to know for emergencies.
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Lamp oil works just fine, cooking oil works but not as well. Gasoline would make this a bomb. There are many things you should not put in glass bottle then light on fire: anything that is not lamp oil or cooking oil (well, that covers it). I have made quite a bit of these now and I must say that it needs no modifications to my original instructions. It has never heated the bottles and a soda can heat sink seems a bit over kill for an "easy tiki light alternative". Step one would be to make one, then re-engineer it.
i recomend you do it from about 25ft away so you dont get burned
Thanks again for the inspiration!
I have three children (13, 9 and 7) that trip and bump into stuff without realizing...that's just being a kid. Proper placement and making them aware would help, but accidents DO happen! lol
The idea about doing this with the pint size Coors Light aluminum bottle is the way to go if you're concerned about glass breakage.
Perhaps one option is to use one of those aluminum beer bottles. Coor's even has one with a large, screw-off top. And the aluminum in these bottles is thicker.
The mop head idea is fantastic.
I am a big fan of yours BTW, I love the cup holder idea. If only there was a way to stack the chairs... Just kidding.
I think the people trying to knock this instructable are completely missing the point, that this is a torch made from a BEER BOTTLE. It is what it is, and it is just fine the way it is.
Recently I've adopted the philosophy that as long as my instructable is technically correct, I ignore all the comments to 'make it better', or 'you should have done it this way...'
I am a big fan of yours BTW, I love the cup holder idea. If only there was a way to stack the chairs... Just kidding.
If one insists on using glass of any kind while camping, tape the container completely, so that if/when it breaks, at least it is still together. I use clear packing tape, so that the view of the container (ie, label, level of contents...) is not obscured.
But to PLAN on bringing an OPTIONAL item that is GLASS while camping, demonstrates poor judgement, my opinion.
I've just tried mine with the same cotton string style as you, and regular cooking oil for fuel. filled the bottle half way but my wick just burns for 1min and dies. any idea what could be wrong ? Great Instructable, thank you. I'd love to make it work. have a good one!
Thanks a lot tjesse (I'm a Jesse too!)
good evening!
~Cooley
Yet another project I was thinking of making an "instructable" about and someone else beat me to it. They say that "Great minds think alike and your method is nearly identical to my own, including using the screwdriver to make a star shaped hole. Well done!
I have some interesting SHAPED beer Bottles and lot's of Crown Caps with holes in. Anything made of natural fibre should work as a wick, though cotton is probably best, I was going to use strips of old clothes. I think I recall something about soaking a wick in salt for better burning characteristics but that my be more appropriate for "Candle" type light's I'm not sure.
One thing that I WAS wondering about was whether the wick could pull the oil all the way up from the bottom of the bottle, have you found this to be a problem? Have you burned a lamp all the way to the bottom?
Another good reason for using Citronella oil is that it has a repellant effect on insects, it may not be perfect (like most natural products) but it's certainly an improvement on nothing at all