[ridgebuggy]

I've never noticed anyone doing this I saw it on youtube a long time ago. Take a cotton ball dip it in wax and lite.I made 2 of these one larger and 1 smaller I lit the smaller one and it lasted for 35 minutes.the flames were between 3 to 5 inches high and were way wider than a candle flame.It could be useful for cooking or boiling water.Here are some pix I pit my becker bk2 in there for a scale refrence.

 

[Jojo]

You are right about the cooking thing...poke some holes around the top of a used tin can, add your cotton ball, you can set a camp cup on top and have coffee. You can make up a handfull of these and wrap them in newspaper to take with you to camp. Lived through a 11 day power outage with temps around 0, this came in really handy!

 

[AtticusFinch]

I have not used the cotton/wax before, but I have been using cotton balls with vaseline for years now.

I would be interested in seeing a comparison of the two (burn times, heat put off, etc.).

The cotton/wax is much less messy than the cotton/vaseline, though.

 

[BUSHER]

just dip , let dry and light?



ive done a lot of messy cotton/vaseline balls - pretty messy indeed


I have about 20 lbs of wax upstairs....was gonna ,elt it with sawdust and pour into egg cartons but this cotton dip is interesting too....hmmmmm

 

[AtticusFinch]

Giving it some thought, here is my hopothesis on vaseline vs. wax cotton balls:

Easy to start: Vaseline cotton balls will start easier

Initial flame size: Vaseline cotton balls will produce a larger ball of flame faster than wax cotton balls. The wax balls will have to melt the wax before it can consume it.

Temperature: The vaseline balls will burn hotter than the wax balls

Duration: The cotton balls will burn longer than the wax balls

Residual: There will be melted wax left over, no vaseline will be left

Wax balls are much less messy, and easier to pack/carry. Vaseline balls have uses other than fire starting.


So, looks like I may have to do some comparison testing this weekend

 

[dontbuypotteryfromme]

You are right about the cooking thing...poke some holes around the top of a used tin can, add your cotton ball, you can set a camp cup on top and have coffee. You can make up a handfull of these and wrap them in newspaper to take with you to camp. Lived through a 11 day power outage with temps around 0, this came in really handy!

I wrap mine in silver foil. so it is a compressed little package that is water resistant. And then I use the silverfoil as a base to transfer more heat upwards.

 

[ridgebuggy]

Giving it some thought, here is my hopothesis on vaseline vs. wax cotton balls:

Easy to start: Vaseline cotton balls will start easier

Initial flame size: Vaseline cotton balls will produce a larger ball of flame faster than wax cotton balls. The wax balls will have to melt the wax before it can consume it.

Temperature: The vaseline balls will burn hotter than the wax balls

Duration: The cotton balls will burn longer than the wax balls

Residual: There will be melted wax left over, no vaseline will be left

Wax balls are much less messy, and easier to pack/carry. Vaseline balls have uses other than fire starting.


So, looks like I may have to do some comparison testing this weekend

Actually there is no wax left over it burns the wax too almost like another source of fuel.When it burns out just flip it over and lite again and there will be nothing left but ash