Metal, Oil Burning Candle

This is a small candle made of metal I used from around the house.

Note: The candle I'm making is only a small version. You could easily make a bigger one with a big metal tray (shoe polish lid) and a bigger nut.

Step 1 Materals

You will need:
- String (any will do)
- A nut (I cut one off of a chain link)
- A tray (I used a beer bottle cap)
- A hack saw or metal file
- Crazy glue
- A marker
- oil

Comments

[hackysacker]

this is awesome although I made one and I made it a little bigger and used a Fuze cap and a bullet shell

[strmrnnr]

Looks like an exceellent bon fire starter for the survival kit. The metal parts are recoverable. Just need a little 5ml of oil for a couple of lites and a match.

[plumber4]

Excellent idea! You could fit this in the Altoid tin emergency kit to use for light< heat or fire starting. Maybe use very small eyedrop bottle to store the oil.

[_zAp_]

I really like what you did there, simple and defenitely a cool (or hot i guess) idea!

[junits15]

just use a peice of meat string as a wick

[aboatman]

Try a Q-tip tip of cotton.

[Mitten]

it looks like if you knocked it over, you'd be in a mess of trouble.

[notjustsomeone]

Not really, that's part of the beauty of such a simple design. By using oil -vegtable oil, new or what was leftover from making dinner- there is virtually no risk of igniting the spilt oil unless it somehow vaporizes. So unless the cap's getting hot enough to combust the oil or you think using petrol and a peice of shirt is a good idea, these types of "lamps" can be quite safe.

[DrCoolSanta]

Cool idea, and well I have seen bigger commercial versions of it. I live in India, where we have something called a Diya, an oil lamp made of clay. It is like a bowl and we fill it with mustard oil, and put the wick in it. The wick keeps absorbing the oil and burns. For got to mension that there is a slight depression in it where the wick rests. The flame never reaches the oil inside, and it lasts quite long. It is not much of an only Indian thing, but it is ancient, very ancient. Nice instructable, just don't play with the effects you can apply on the camera.

[littlechef37]

Nice Idea im going to make one like this but im going to use the bottom of a pop can for the oil . Looks bright . what kind of oil did u use, lamp oil (parafin) ?

[A_squared]

ANY OIL! Thats what i like about it I jjust used veggie oil.

[space_thief]

what tijpe of veggie oil (sunflower or or other)

[littlechef37]

I use canola but anything that says flammable will do

[littlechef37]

thanks

[space_thief]

I builded one today in like 3 min and it burns so good I used petrol with a piece of old t-shirt (white) as a string

[luver]

niceeeee! roll up a baking foil or tin or old tube. just nail some holes :) good i-d-Aa

[!Andrew_Modder!]

cool, but this is just basicly a zippo style flame.

[chuckr44]

Hi, I made an oil lamp similar to this during the winter. I managed to find 100% cotton string but it did not work. The only thing that worked was thicker cotton wicks for oil lamps at the store. So, just be aware not "any string" will work every time. I even braided the string to make it thicker and it still did not stay lit more than 1 minute. A thick candle wick from the craft store might work, but I haven't tried it. Just an FYI.

[A_squared]

Yes I'm sorry about that. Not all string works. I found though 1/4 of a sheet of toilet paper works very well

[microman171]

I really like this :D. I have been thingkning hwo to make this for a while now and never thought of that. Although I though this was tinfoil :( If you make tonnes of these then you are prepared for evac's power cuts... ect...

[meddler]

Nice i like it.

[keng]

nice....yep, i've seen these types of lamps made out of clay that were 2 or 3 thousand years old...just a puddle of oil with a wick hanging off the side....