Emergency preparedness is always important to be working on. You never know when something awful could happen which could render you helpless after a blackout, a flooded home or any disaster for that matter. Being prepared for such a time can sometimes be overwhelming to think about, but regardless of that it is still very important. I think this little trick is really neat and could really be useful if you have just a few of these household items on hand (which I think most houses would).
The Original
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http://www.instructables.com/id/Orange-Candle/#step1
A super awesome candle made out of an orange, and some cooking oil.
The original site says to use an orange removing the peel from the flesh of the fruit, and then adding a little oil to the bottom of the peel "bowl", ( it can be any kind of oil example: olive, veggie, canola etc.). You then light the orange peel stem (that comes from inside the orange) and that becomes your wick. They then cut the center out of the other half of the orange and used it at a "lid".
**See website for full directions, this is just a paraphrase.**
Ashley tried out this pin, following all the directions and using veggie oil, and here is her Pinstrosity.
The Pinstrosity
Fire!
After reading the directions and not seeing really anything that Ashley did wrong, there is one thing I can think of. On the comments from the Instructables page about this, someone mentioned that you really need to make sure that there aren't remnants of the white part that grows between the orange flesh and the peel left on the peel. Addendum: If the hole in your lid is too small, oxygen can't get in and your fire will go out, if your hole is too big however there is too much oxygen and therefore lots of fuel, which produces a larger flame. As seen above.
One way to avoid this problem is to not put a lid on it. With that being said it might be smart to put this one on a glass plate like Ashley did above, or put it in a bowl, or a candle holder that has sides.
I must also do my mandatory safety speech, never leave this lit while you are not home, not attentive to the fire, or in reach of children or animals. Fire is hot, the orange will probably get hot and the oil is definitely really hot. Please take caution when doing this.
Now that that is out of the way I can say that if there ever arises a need for a candle and you don't have one on hand, this is a good alternative. I found a good how to video here as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-LeCp1u3J4
Happy Friday Pinstrosipeeps! Have a great weekend, and stay tuned for Marquette's post tomorrow!
I'm actually more likely to have candles around than oranges, but that flame is impressive!
ReplyDeleteI have actually done this with great results. The biggest thing is to make sure the "wick" is trimmed short. I'm betting Ashley's burned so high because bits of the top fell in?
ReplyDeleteMy cut-out lid got slightly singed, too. I figure that part just needed to be cut slightly bigger. Or left off altogether. I used olive oil because I love the smell.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladysaotome/7094924885/ - here's a pic of mine.
one of the best posts yet!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are supposed to use only olive oil. Olive oil itself is not flammable but works for lamps (i dont know why)and dosent catch fire, make a horrible smell or smoke. I did this project and other than having to peel the orange very carefully it worked perfect.
ReplyDeleteOrange BBQ! I think I remember these from the last oil crisis, way back. Way, way back. Also, how to make stinky candles from cheap wax crayons. Short answer? Don't.
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy! lol Nice to know it works though!
ReplyDeleteKatie Pea
http://craftycrazylife.blogspot.com
I've heard too many horror stories about this one, I'm surprised it hasn't made it on this site before now! lol Honestly though, I've heard of much bigger, scarier fires from doing this, so if you must attempt this, be careful! I've heard you should only use olive oil. And if you're thinking this is an inexpensive scented candle, it's not, I've heard it smells nothing like oranges! I think it may just be cheaper to buy candles, than using expensive olive oil. I know it says you can use this in an emergency, but you should always have candles in an emergency kit, I know because I live in hurricane prone Florida. Surprisingly, living in Florida, I never have oranges in the house! lol
ReplyDeleteI wonder, since most fruit these days is waxed to make it all shiny and attractive in the store (and keep it fresh a little longer), would that wax be flammable? And I think it would make a difference to have a more open shape rather than part of the "top" of the orange still there...
ReplyDeleteI tried this based on a similar pin that advertised not only would you get a pretty glowing candle, but a fresh orange scent. It definitely did NOT have a fresh orange scent. It just smelled like something burning. I've been scared to try again every since.
ReplyDeleteI tried this back in march and I couldn't even get the darn thing to light!I did however manage to make a lighter explode while trying to light the orange.
ReplyDeleteSo, let me see if I understand this right...in an emergency situation, when you suddenly find yourself in need of a source of light, you will use a knife and try to carve out an orange - in the dark - and carefully leave the "wick" intact. Who authored this idea? MacGyver's mentally challenged little brother?
ReplyDeleteWe also tried this pin. It didn't work at all. Maybe because we used small oranges? It didn't light. We tried probably three kinds of oil, tried dehydrating the peel, everything we could think of! It would just barely catch, and then sizzle out. Not exactly a beautiful orange glow... Glad someone got it to work!
ReplyDeleteWe tried this pin with amazing success!!! I buy Cuties and/or tangerines for my 10 yr old and that was all I had on hand.
ReplyDeleteI cut the orange in half, scooped out the fruit (Cuties are very easy) and carefully pulled it away from the pith. I scooped everything out of the top half. Then I cut out a crescent moon at the top, maybe an inch wide, maybe a little more.
Fill about half way with Olive Oil and make sure the pith is standing, but moistened with oil. Then just light. I was able to cover it with the top & it singed only a little. But it smelled wonderful and burned slowly. :o)
The Cuties are the best for this because of how easily the fruit comes out.
ReplyDeleteThe center pith, that is to say the wick, needs to be coated in your oil. Use an oil with a low smoke point. Coconut oil has a good smell and cools to a solid state so you can put your candle away when you're done.
I had one of these for about 3 months before I bumped it enough to empty the remaining oil out and I tossed it. The peel was dried by that point, but was still orange and no hint of rot. It also still had the whites.
Anyway, my guess is that vegetable oil is too flammable.
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/402720_10150498568329823_1466919421_n.jpg (no idea if it'll work) is the picture of the ones I did. You can see the larger one still has solid coconut oil and the smaller one has melted coconut.
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