How to make Flame Torches

[longmd00]

I was watching Ray Mears, Bushcraft last night and he was wondering around with a massive flame torch (not sure if that's the correct terminology but it was a flame on a stick).

It seemed to burn for ages, can anyone tell me how I can make one of these?

Cheers
Dave

[tenbears10]

Dave

Have a look at this thread (http://www.bushcraftuk.net/community/showthread.php?t=4122&highlight=torch). The search facility on the menu bar is really good and should turn up lots of info :wave:

[Realgar]

I'll get some pitch forks and we can head on up the castle.
You never get a decent mob these days.....

[Toddy]

I'll get some pitch forks and we can head on up the castle.
You never get a decent mob these days.....

I'm working there....and they use gas powered ones now :cry:
Seems you can even buy the fittings quite easily....the LRP people love them :?:

Toddy

[tomtom]

if your guys are after a non too bushcraty one.. you can just bind a stick in oil lamp wick and soak it in a flamible liquid!

[match]

if your guys are after a non too bushcraty one.. you can just bind a stick in oil lamp wick and soak it in a flamible liquid!

Much experience of making these for the Beltane Fire Festival (http://www.beltane.org) in Edinburgh (shameless plug) :-)

Some important things to remember:

Firstly, always use a natural material for wicking, such as cotton - don't use plastic materials such as nylon :yikes:

Secondly, its often worth covering the material with something like chicken wire to hold it in place - if its not too windy, a torch with a head of football size cotton, and a stem diameter of 6-10cm will burn for nearly an hour if soaked overnight beforehand in paraffin - however, if you don't bind the materail on with something non-flammable the head just drops off after your knots burn through :-)

Thirdly, don't use a wooden stem less than 6cm in diameter for a torch, for the same reason as given above!

[Motorbike Man]

Much experience of making these for the Beltane Fire Festival (http://www.beltane.org) in Edinburgh (shameless plug) :-)

Some important things to remember:

Firstly, always use a natural material for wicking, such as cotton - don't use plastic materials such as nylon :yikes:

Secondly, its often worth covering the material with something like chicken wire to hold it in place - if its not too windy, a torch with a head of football size cotton, and a stem diameter of 6-10cm will burn for nearly an hour if soaked overnight beforehand in paraffin - however, if you don't bind the materail on with something non-flammable the head just drops off after your knots burn through :-)

Thirdly, don't use a wooden stem less than 6cm in diameter for a torch, for the same reason as given above!
Not sure I'd fancy carrying that around for an hour though, must weigh a fair bit :yikes:

By the way, if you're not going down the bushcrafty route, but you just want a torch, you can get kevlar wick from various sites like home of poi (http://www.homeofpoi.com/) it's used for fire staffs and poi. If you have a look around the site, you'll find some plans for staff and poi that can be adapted very easily for a torch

[match]

Not sure I'd fancy carrying that around for an hour though, must weigh a fair bit :yikes:

Yep - they're fairly heavy, although not as bad as you think... and if you're sticking them in the ground to light a campsite then they're fine.


By the way, if you're not going down the bushcrafty route, but you just want a torch, you can get kevlar wick from various sites like home of poi (http://www.homeofpoi.com/) it's used for fire staffs and poi. If you have a look around the site, you'll find some plans for staff and poi that can be adapted very easily for a torch

Ahh, you're stumbling onto my other hobbies now :-) Remember that theres a general rule of max 3 minutes per foot burn time for torch wick - i.e if you wrap a metre or wick around a torch head, you can expect it to burn for at most 10 minutes. And thats if its not being spun round your head... cue blatant opportunity to post a pretty pic of me

http://juggling.eusa.ed.ac.uk/gallery/images/mattpoi.jpg

[Realgar]

Try these guys:
http://www.rushlight.org/

all sorts of antique lighting methods