Wax & Wick: Choosing A Candle For the Tin Can Lantern

Last week we talked about electric illumination devices and chose one for my pack. This week we're going to be talking about the candle lantern, or specifically the candle inside them.  Now if you want to know the ins and outs of how a candle works, go to YouTube and search "how does a candle work," there is a lot of great information there. I am just going to give you the overview.. A candle is made of a wick and a hydrocarbon wax; that is, hydrogen connecting to carbon. When you light the wick, the wax begins to melt releasing a gas which is what keeps the flame burning. You can prove this by lighting the gas above the candle.

What we have today is a contest between three candles. We have a stick candle, what I call a squat
candle, and a tea candle. They will be competing in four different categories: being lit from a spark, how bright they burn, how long they burn, and overall cost effectiveness.

For the first test we must first char all the wicks of the candles. I then got some ferro rod  shavings on a board and was then going to try to use those shavings to ignite a spark from the candle. The only candle that was able to participate in this test was the stick candle and it did not cast a spark. The next test was to get some charcloth in a char tin and cast a spark. This gave us a nice hot ember to try to light our candles on. This time the stick candle and the squat candle got to participate however both failed. I was able to get an ember on

the squat candle, but was not able to light the wick.

For the second test of illumination, we are going to go back to the same track that we tested out our electronic illumination devices. First up is the tea candle which we have to get right up on the sign to see. The same with the squat candle. The stick candle performed slightly better than these other two due to the fact that it has a larger flame. Now none of these did well in comparison to the electronic devices, but this is what we are working with.

For the third test we are going to take a fresh version of each candle, put it into a lantern and burn them until they go out by themselves. For the stick candle we will be using and open top lantern due to the height of the candle. The tea candle burned for 3 hours and 50 minutes, the stick candle for 4 hours and 6 minutes, and squat candle for 6 hours and 15 minutes. I really thought the stick candle would burn the longest since it appears to have the most wax and there fore the most fuel to burn. However, I think where it was in an open top lantern a lot of the gasses that keep the flame burning simply escaped out of the top. Also the squat and tea candles have a metal base that pulls their wicks down. I think for the stick candle there was a moment where the wax was lighter than the wick and it nose dived.

Now looking at cost effectiveness. The tea candles come in a pack of 50 for about $3-5 so individually they are between five and ten cents. Next is the squat candles which are 50 cents a piece and can be purchased individually. The stick candles are 88 cents a piece and are purchased individually. Two tea candles can burn longer than on squat candle, so if you are looking for over all cost effectiveness, the tea candle is the way to go.

Before we talk about which candle I will be using, let's talk about why each candle got the ranking it did. In third place was the stick candle, which technically got a disqualification simply because it does not fit in the lantern. It's not the candle's fault, it's not the lantern's fault, it's just reality. The tea candle is ranked second because it was always playing second fiddle to either the squat or stick candle. It only really excelled at being cost effective, however, I'm not just looking for a cheap candle, I'm looking for a powerful one. The clear winner to me is the squat candle. I almost lit it with a spark, it was only average in illumination, but it burned for an entire 6 hours. Plus, to me there isn't much of a difference in 5 cents and 50 cents.

You may be wondering why we put so much into working with these candles. Next week we will be reviewing a candle and candle lantern that can supposedly burn for 9 hours and I wanted the best candle I could find to contend with it. This will also be the last blog of the year aside from our Christmas special so you definitely don't want to miss it. As always feel free to comment by clicking the comment link at the end of the blog, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.