G
Guest
Guest
Slideshow
http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/CooperMcCrea/slideshow/Fire In A Can 3
FIAC #3 used a 10x14 oval roasting pan. Just to check I filled the broiler pan with water and measured the volume. I needed over a gallon of wax.
I didn’t have enough virgin wax for a filled pan, so I started with the old stanky stuff for the base. Once it was melted I added some crushed-to-powder Green Tea Incense cones to mask the smell.
I struck out with obtaining church candle stubs and moved on to new wax sources. The only local candle shop does not sell bulk wax, but I found a giant Peach scented candle at the Goodwill, and bought a half dozen “Padre Nuestro, the Lord’s Prayer” candles at the dollar store.
I’m going to hell for sure now.
I had a nice long cardboard box from a paddle shipment and the band saw made short work of more 3” wide strips than I needed. The critical issue with the cardboard “wick” seems to be leaving it loosely wrapped, with plenty of space between the spiral coils for wax fill. Inserting a couple of taller starter wicks towards the middle helps both with maintaining the spacing and with lighting the thing up.
I used the old stanky wax for the initial fills. Man there was a lot of crud in that ancient wax. It probably didn’t help that the 1970’s wax sculpture from whence it came had been sitting down in the woods for the last 10 years. Hopefully the powdered Green Tea Incense cones help mask the stink.
I used the virgin Padre Nuestro and Goodwill peach candle for the top fills. If the candle is augmented occasionally with a small feeder brick the stinky bottom wax base may not be much consumed.
Multiple wax pours when filling a large volume can are necessary. The initial pours will settle and leave deep cardboard sucking voids. It takes a looong time for a roaster pan of wax to fully set. After four pours the pan was filled to the brim and I called it quits for the day
The next morning, after all four wax pours had set the FIAC had developed a half dozen wax voids, some of them an inch deep or more. And the wax in the middle was still warm to the touch. Time to melt more wax and do a 5[SUP]th[/SUP] pour.
While I had the wax melted for the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] pour I made a couple of wax bricks with citronella oil added. If I want to be burning bug juice wax I can just add a chunk off one of those feeder bricks.
And I learned another trick – the wax brick will slide loose from their rectangular molds much more easily if I spritz a little silicon spray in the containers before pouring the wax.
Test fire: I thought I should check my work with a test fire. Oh heck yeah, that baby throws a lot of heat. I overfilled can on the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] pour and half of the cardboard spiral was completely covered with no wick exposed. No matter; after 15 minutes the entire surface was aflame, even though large parts of the wick were still submerged.
And it smells good.
Total weight 11.5 lbs, almost twice the weight of the round pan version.
http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/CooperMcCrea/slideshow/Fire In A Can 3
FIAC #3 used a 10x14 oval roasting pan. Just to check I filled the broiler pan with water and measured the volume. I needed over a gallon of wax.
I didn’t have enough virgin wax for a filled pan, so I started with the old stanky stuff for the base. Once it was melted I added some crushed-to-powder Green Tea Incense cones to mask the smell.
I struck out with obtaining church candle stubs and moved on to new wax sources. The only local candle shop does not sell bulk wax, but I found a giant Peach scented candle at the Goodwill, and bought a half dozen “Padre Nuestro, the Lord’s Prayer” candles at the dollar store.
I’m going to hell for sure now.
I had a nice long cardboard box from a paddle shipment and the band saw made short work of more 3” wide strips than I needed. The critical issue with the cardboard “wick” seems to be leaving it loosely wrapped, with plenty of space between the spiral coils for wax fill. Inserting a couple of taller starter wicks towards the middle helps both with maintaining the spacing and with lighting the thing up.
I used the old stanky wax for the initial fills. Man there was a lot of crud in that ancient wax. It probably didn’t help that the 1970’s wax sculpture from whence it came had been sitting down in the woods for the last 10 years. Hopefully the powdered Green Tea Incense cones help mask the stink.
I used the virgin Padre Nuestro and Goodwill peach candle for the top fills. If the candle is augmented occasionally with a small feeder brick the stinky bottom wax base may not be much consumed.
Multiple wax pours when filling a large volume can are necessary. The initial pours will settle and leave deep cardboard sucking voids. It takes a looong time for a roaster pan of wax to fully set. After four pours the pan was filled to the brim and I called it quits for the day
The next morning, after all four wax pours had set the FIAC had developed a half dozen wax voids, some of them an inch deep or more. And the wax in the middle was still warm to the touch. Time to melt more wax and do a 5[SUP]th[/SUP] pour.
While I had the wax melted for the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] pour I made a couple of wax bricks with citronella oil added. If I want to be burning bug juice wax I can just add a chunk off one of those feeder bricks.
And I learned another trick – the wax brick will slide loose from their rectangular molds much more easily if I spritz a little silicon spray in the containers before pouring the wax.
Test fire: I thought I should check my work with a test fire. Oh heck yeah, that baby throws a lot of heat. I overfilled can on the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] pour and half of the cardboard spiral was completely covered with no wick exposed. No matter; after 15 minutes the entire surface was aflame, even though large parts of the wick were still submerged.
And it smells good.
Total weight 11.5 lbs, almost twice the weight of the round pan version.
Last edited:
