​Fire in a Can No 5 (and 6)

[Guest]

Well after everything cooled and contracted last night I did a second pour and added anothe 3/4 of a pound to the ol' roaster. Total now stands at 5 pounds even.
Jim

Jim, that sounds about right weight wise for that size roasting pan. Are those Gulf Wax slabs?

I learned some things from your build, like simply melting the wax in the FIAC pot itself instead of using a separate melt pot and ladling out hot wax (well duh, that’s easier). Pouring hot wax may have one advantage. I pour the hot wax over and into the corrugations to help fill those voids (it still settles and need at least a 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] pour).

I think it helps to have the exposed wick waxy all the way to the top of the cardboard, so that when you light it it doesn’t burn off too much wick before it melts at the base and begins to suck up hot wax.

I like the oval and cross design, it looks Celtic somehow, and the Peace Symbol design idea as well. What’s next?

https://www.google.com/search?q=smi...Fphotos%2Fvblibrary%2F8673546462%2F;1024;1024

The next one I make will have some recognizable wick design. Cool idea, thanks.

I’m psyched to see some photo of the inaugural burn. If you like the final result just stick the PIAC in an old stuff bag with some feeder bricks and you are ready to blaze up anywhere at a moment’s notice.

BTW, the first burn takes longer to get going, but after that once the wick is charred it blazes up quite fast the next time(s).

 

[Boatman53]

Hi Mike, there was no problem with the wick getting saturated. I was thinking about that when first inserted the cardboard, but that mass of hot wax took almost an hour cool and in that time the cardboard was fully coated. Not to mention when I added the little bit more I did pour it into the wick an all over. That much wax was best done in the FIAC, much safer.
I also did a tuna fish can with a star pattern. I'll take a pic of that tonight.
Jim

 

[Guest]

I also did a tuna fish can with a star pattern. I'll take a pic of that tonight.
Jim

I really like the idea of a wired together pattern simply submerged into the intended pot of melted wax. Many thanks for that in the FIAC evolution.

I’ve been told that the tuna can thing is a Girl Scout craft tradition, and have wondered if that was the genesis of the Maine Guide idea for enlarging it as an instant/anywhere fire for clients at “no campfire” sites.

I will be making another as soon as I find an appropriate pot at Goodwill, and it will have some wick design.

Fire those FICA’s up tonight and take some photos. Hey, standing outside with one at 10F should be a good test of how much heat they throw (I am beyond tired of these absurd temps – mid-Feb highs here are usually in the 40’s and everything, including the tidal bays, is frozen solid)

And of course enjoy the other fun part of blazing up a FIAC; turn off the house lights, fire it up it in some very dark place, enjoy gazing into the flames. And then enjoy the utter and absolute dilated pupil black when you put on the lid and abruptly turn off the light. That is freaky cool.

 

[Boatman53]

Well here are the results. Before the burn.





Then the tuna can.



And the roaster. I have no experience with these so I have no comparison, but it's pretty nice. The only thing I think I would change is to have the oval bigger and closer the the edge. A side note when left out in the single digit weather to cool the whole block of wax can just pop right out.



Jim

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

It looks to me that the fire is bigger and more pot-encompassing when the wick touches the pot at several points.

How about lining the inside surface of the pot with a flush cardboard oval, and then having cross pieces of wick or spiral crumples of wick touching the oval liner at several spots.

 

[Guest]

It looks to me that the fire is bigger and more pot-encompassing when the wick touches the pot at several points.

How about lining the inside surface of the pot with a flush cardboard oval, and then having cross pieces of wick or spiral crumples of wick touching the oval liner at several spots.

Thinking about past FIAC flames the best of it is when the top lip of the pot gets hot and the wax boils and sizzles there.

The sea kayak FIAC reportedly worked well in the Everglades, including places where you couldn’t otherwise have a fire. And the citronella was appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Fire In A Can Update

The kayak sized FIAC is the smallest I’ve built and I haven’t lit it, so I don’t know how much light and heat it will provide.

The 5-year answers to that question is, plenty, and plenty. That travelling sea kayak sized FIAC (handle-removed stainless steel pot receptacle) made in 2014 has been used (and refilled while burning with “feeder” wax) dozens of times, and been well received, both by clients on trips and at season’s end Guide parties.

I am particularly pleased that the Maine Guide originator’s of the FIAC idea were surprised that you could re-re-re-re-re-re-use the same FIAC for 5 years if you keep the wax level up and spaced the cardboard wick more loosely.

The original Maine coast version used a shallow Christmas-Cookie tin, which started salt water rusting the very next day, with a too tight cardboard spiral and no feeder bricks. It was a one-trip burned and rusted out dumpster-destined portable fire.

The 2014 sea kayak sized FICA has finally been burned out. Mostly for lack of feeder wax.

“For want of a nail”; incomplete on last Fall’s to-do list was “Make another stash of feeder bricks”. We could have at least just knocked a few crude chunks off the manufactured wax sheet in 60 seconds and stuck them in a bag for future “fireside” cleaving.

I eventually did the same burn-out with the first FIAC I made, just to see how long and how low she could go if I burned through all the wax.

How long and how low? Very long and very low if you burn it all the way out. Like a flashlight running out of juice it did get dimmer and dimmer, but I was likewise out of feeder bricks far from home, with nothing to lose.

It’s not that hard to start over from scratch with a new cardboard wick and fresh wax in the same pot. Design-wise my cardboard wick coil spacing gets better every time.

We need to replace that burned out cardboard wick coil on the sea kayak FIAC, refill the newly-wicked pot with clean, virgin wax, and make some custom feeder bricks.

 

[sailsman63]

I know that this is an old thread, but I've got a question: Where would you currently go about sourcing wax? The places I've found it runs at least $4 a pound, once shipping is factored in, unless I'm willing to buy close to 50# at a time.

 

[Boatman53]

I bought some from the hardware store in the canning isle. The rest were old candle stubs.
Jim

 

[scoutergriz]

I know that this is an old thread, but I've got a question: Where would you currently go about sourcing wax? The places I've found it runs at least $4 a pound, once shipping is factored in, unless I'm willing to buy close to 50# at a time.

I make oversized candles using 3/8 cotton rope and salmon cans, my wax comes from a friends church- it's the stubs from candlelight processions. Easter got me almost 10 lbs...

 

[Guest]

I know that this is an old thread, but I've got a question: Where would you currently go about sourcing wax? The places I've found it runs at least $4 a pound, once shipping is factored in, unless I'm willing to buy close to 50# at a time.

Any place I can accumulate enough. Like Scoutergriz the last couple were made largely with leftover church candles (thanks again Conk) and the stubs of large diameter pillar candles my wife tosses my way when they are down to stubs. I melt them down in a pot and scoop out the remaining wick material with a sieve.

Others were made with Dollar Store prayer candles. At one point a friend wanted to construct a giant stock pot FIAC for a cross country trip and we split a 50lb case of wax from Candlewic.

https://candlewic.com/p/candle-makin...nt-wax-4045ep/

That kept us in wax and feeder bricks for years, and I made several more, including a couple sea kayak hatch sized versions.

The sea kayak sized FIAC’s have become a favorite item of guide friend Joel’s clients in the Everglades. First timers love them, and repeated visitors ask “Make sure to bring the fire in a can again”.

So well received that the owner of the guide service now provides the wax, bought in segmented slabs from Michaels Crafts.

https://www.michaels.com/9lb-premium.../10349078.html

Still not as cheap as leftover church candle stubs, like $2 a lb, but it pays to give the clients what they want. With ubiquitous Michaels discount coupons/membership and in-store pick up not a bad deal.

 

[sailsman63]

That actually looks reasonable! I'd forgotten that Michaels exists (They're about an hour for me, but I have a couple things that need doing up that way soonish...)

 

[Guest]

Worth calling ahead to make sure it is in stock, or ordering for in store pick-up, and using some 20% off coupon code.

FWIW the least expensive Michael’s wax was a single 9 or 10lb slab with pre-formed break apart segment grooves, not the pre-cut blocks shown in that link. I didn’t see it on Michael’s site, but I wasn’t looking through 9 pages of wax stuff.