Vegetable Oils vs Animal Fats for Candle and Lamp Making

July 21, 2014

Vegetable Oils vs Animal Fats for Candle and Lamp Making

Vegetable Oils vs Animal Fats for Candle and Lamp Making

I remember reading somewhere a long time ago that rendered animal fats were used for candle making for many centuries all over the world.

If that is possible then it gives us another very useful product that we can make out of what is normally just discarded from the animals that we butcher for meat. This also would then bring us a step closer to sustainability which, after all is the goal of the true homesteader or Self-Sufficient person.

The only issue that might come up with using animal fats for this, is that there might be a little more smoke, so having some form of ventilation would be needed as good common sense. For example it would not be a good idea to have several candles made from animal fats going inside a small caravan with all the doors and windows closed. One should exercise a little common sense and have a vent or small window at least, slightly open to allow any smoke to escape to the outside.

The reason I am thinking along the lines of animal fat, is that should things in the world really go belly up and all normal supply lines for food and fuel disappear then we will still be able to make lighting by utilising animal fats as I do believe it can be made with any fat at all, including fish fats/oils.

In the old whaling days the whale blubber was rendered down to make lamps and candles, so I see no reason why we cannot go back to those methods in time of emergencies or crisis.

It used to make me laugh when the so called purists were banning the use of animal fats in things like soap and candles. Their reasoning for this apparently was because it promoted the killing of animals. However, these very same people were and still are in some of these cases, quite happy to tuck into a good steak at a fancy restaurant, wear leather shoes and clothing, sit on leather furniture, or put on and wear lipstick all day long.

All these products were made from animals – the steaks, and animal by-products – the skin for leather items and fat in the case of lipstick. Yet they will not now use soap made from animal fat and would rather use something that takes a huge amount of energy to produce and is therefore not sustainable.

It never ceases to amaze me that these people see it as perfectly fine and acceptable, to use the skin of these animals to make their expensive leather shoes and handbags, or their fancy leather jackets and coats and even to upholster their furniture and the interior of their extremely expensive cars. But to use the fats which coincidently get totally transformed, in the making of such useful products as soap or even candles is totally disgusting to them.

This attitude is what has led to almost every facet of our lives turning away from natural products and the introduction of nasty chemicals. Not only in our personal hygiene products such as soaps and shampoos etc., but also cosmetics and even more importantly our foods.

It is the chemical revolution that is killing us. People today have far more skin problems because of chemicals in the soaps, shower gels, shampoos and conditioners that are manufactured today. More people are contracting food related allergies (some are dying from this) and the incidence of deaths from cancer is increasing at an alarming rate despite the billions and billions of dollars worldwide being poured into cancer research for which they are no closer to finding a cure.

Our candles today are made in some cases from chemicals or petroleum based products as “natural” became a filthy word.

In so many cases of these various ailments, the cure is extremely simple – stop eating chemicals and eat REAL natural food and use REAL natural products to make candles, soap etc.

There is a desperate need for us to get back to the old way of doing things such as in utilising as much of an animal for example so as to waste nothing.

The fats from these animals make one of the best soaps I have every used, and for centuries these fats made excellent candles too.

Animal fats produce a much harder product so it only goes to reason that if we can make harder candles buy adding suet (the fat found surrounding the kidneys of an animal) then we can make candles that will last far longer than the commercial candles do today.

They will in turn burn slower meaning we will not need to use as many, which then in turn makes them very frugal. The money saving benefits alone would be quite noticeable. Buying candles today is not a cheap exercise but we can make them virtually for free when we raise our own meat.

Maybe, just maybe peoples eyesight would remain better too if not having to deal with some of the very harsh lighting that is in use today. No one knows what damage that is doing to us. Sure the manufacturers tell us all that it is perfectly safe but of course they will say that because they want us to buy and use their products so that they can get rich from them and off us.

One day the lights will go out and not come back on again ever. When that happens, there will be no batteries for torches and unless we learn the old ways of making candles from vegetable oil and animal fats again then we will have no choice, but to then live in the dark once the sun sets each day.

I would like to explore the art of candle making and will be looking at using vegetable oil and animal fats for use in this process. I will deal with vegetable oil in this posting and will deal with animal fat usage at a later time. In the meantime though I want to give a little perspective to all this, so I am going to give a little (and quiet brief hopefully) explanation as to the practicality of vegetable oil vs. animal fat.

A few migh

t be able to make a little vegetable oil at home in presses. Once you need to use that oil for candle making, soap making and cooking then the volume needed becomes unrealistic for a home producer to make enough to be able sustain them. It takes a massive amount if seed to make just a small amount of oil. This just cannot be done on a homestead let alone a small city block.

For example:

Just 6 kilos of fat will produce enough soap for bathing and making laundry soap for a year for a family of 4. A cattle beast can have more than three times that weight of fat on their bodies at butchering age. 1 cattle beast will feed a family of 4 for 1 year providing you are not dining on 2 pound steaks each every day. This is also assuming that you have other meats such as pork, chickens and or fish etc.

This means that just one cattle beast can supply the bulk of the protein source (meat) and enough fat to make soap to last a year, and quite a few candles for the family. Remembering that you can incorporate fats from all the animals that you process and depending on how long you have your candles burning for, it is highly possible to produce enough candles for the year.

This is also done without the need to use up valuable pasture space for a separate operation - that of vegetable oil production. No special equipment is needed except a fire and a large pan for rendering.

As for the skin, this can be treated and used as a floor mat or used to make belts (both for holding our britches up or for running some sort of equipment), horse tack or even shoes. All of which are skills that can be learned over time.

If we look at strictly vegetable oils for making candles or lamps then we are looking at a considerable area to plant the crops to supply enough to sustain a family of 4 for 1 year. To give you an example if using sunflowers which are the easiest to grow on a small scale – it takes roughly 5-6 kilos (very roughly 10 – 12 pounds) of seed to get just 1 litre (very roughly 2 pounds) of oil. Some other seeds may produce more and some will produce less.

This means that a huge area of crop needs to be planted and irrigated. Then the crop needs to be harvested, cleaned and hulled before it can be processed effectively. This is aside from the cost and need for the special equipment needed for the cleaning, hulling and oil extraction processes to process the seeds into oil.

So that covers, all be it very crudely at this stage, the practical differences between using animal fats and vegetable oils.

Learning to make candles from vegetable oils (while we can) and animal fats is one of the easiest skills for us to learn and in some ways, one of the most practical skills too.

Candles can not only give us light, but they will allow us to cook a meal too in a real pinch, and with the addition of a clay pot we can also make a heater for a small room to stove off the cold.

Below is an article sent by a friend that describes in detail how to make a lamp for lighting, using vegetable oil from:

http://www.judyofthewoods.net/diy/lamp.html

All credit for the article and photos below, goes to the original author.

Over time I will add - making candles with animal fat as I feel that this avenue, especially for those that raise their own meat, will be the most economical way to produce candles for the home.

Homemade Vegetable Oil Lamp

Page created: 26 January 2008, updated: 20 February 2009

Photo credit - http://www.judyofthewoods.net/diy/images/intro_lamp.jpg

If you like candles, live without electricity, or like to have some lighting back-up; you might like this simple little DIY project.

An oil lamp can have a number of advantages over candles and mineral oil lamps:

very cheap to run - can even burn used cooking oil
the fumes are less toxic than those of paraffin candles or mineral oil lamps
the production of renewable vegetable oil is less harmful to the environment than petroleum based products (including paraffin candles)
for the extreme survivalist, vegetable oil is easier to store in bulk, or can even be produced on the home farm
due to the wider base, more stable than candles, and the flame of any burning wick falling into the oil will be extinguished
odour free when using olive oil

Making an oil lamp is very easy, quick and cheap, and gives plenty of opportunity for a creative outlet. The basic element is nothing more than a piece of twisted wire, a length of twine, some vegetable oil and a vessel to hold it all in. The photos pretty well show how to do it, but there are a few tips which might help, and save some trials and errors.
However, if you don't want to mess around with a fiddley job or don't have the tools and materials, you could; instead, buy a lamp or just the holder and spare wicks, as well as a booklet called I Didn't Know that Olive Oil Would Burn from Lehman's if you live in North America. You would be supporting a cottage industry practicing right livelihood. The maker is a small family business in the USA. If you live in the UK you can now buy the lamp or wick holder (made by the same company as the US wick holder) from www.allthingsgreen.net. The lamp is an octagonal jar with wick; wick holder and instruction leaflet and at £5 makes a very attractive and unusual gift even for the tightest budget. It would appear that price even includes delivery.

You Will Need:

pliers or a vice
wire cutter (may be part of pliers)
a nail or similar for shaping the wick holding coil (diameter as wick)
wire
vegetable oil
container

Making the Wick Holder

The wire should be thin and soft enough to bend into a small circle. I had a roll of tinned copper wire from a skip (dumpster), which was just right for the job, but you could strip a piece of electrical wire, or use whatever you can lay your hands on which will do the job. Steel wire of the same diameter is much tougher to bend. It needs to be a little thinner than the wire shown in the photo, which is about 1 mm diameter.
Caution when using copper wire - vegetable oil is a fatty acid and when in contact with copper for a while will produce toxic verdigris. I noticed the oil turning blue-green when I used copper wire, probably with verdigris. When using copper wire, to be on the safe side, remove the wick holder when not in use and wipe off any oil to prevent the formation of verdigris.

Caution when using galvanised wire - remove the zinc coating with abrasive paper or a file to prevent toxic zinc vapours. I don't know if the lamp flame is hot enough to vaporise the zinc coating, but I'd do it as a precaution anyway.
Work out the length by using a piece of twine, wrapping it around the nail about 4-6 times, then tracing the height, the radius of the base, the base circle and the handle. As a guide, the simple holder seen in the photo here is made with a piece of wire about 35-40 cm long.
The height is determined by how much oil you want to have in the container. The top level of the oil should always be fairly close to the bottom of the wick holding coil. The wick needs to be drenched with oil at all times, or it will be consumed too fast. If the oil is too far below the flame, the oil cannot be wicked up as fast as the flame is consuming the oil. To avoid the constant need to top up the container, the surface area should be greater than the height, i.e. a wide, shallow container is best. Alternatively, drop some pebbles or marbles into the oil to raise the level as the oil is used up.
The handle allows the wick holder to be removed from the container for lighting, and should be long enough to avoid burning your fingers when replacing the holder. If the container is narrow, the handle needs to extend over the edge. If the handle is likely to be heavier than the holder and base, then the base needs to be counter-weighted by wrapping another turn of wire around the base. The shape of the handle will be determined by the dimensions of the container. If the container is wide enough to allow the handle to be inside it without the risk of getting burnt when grabbing the handle, then the handle should be below the rim so that the lid can be placed on the jar when not in use.
Start shaping the wire by holding one end of it against the nail with pliers or a vice, and twist the wire around the nail a few times, until you have a coil about 1 cm long. Hold the end of the coil with pliers whilst bending the wire parallel with the nail to form the stem, then bend at right angle and follow the shape on the photo, doubling up the base loop if necessary.

The Wick

Most plant fibre twine should work. I used cotton twine, but you could experiment with sisal, jute, hemp, flax, nettle or any plant based fibre. It should be absorbent and reasonably smooth, which may precludes sisal, jute, and other rough cordage. If you have some handy, and nothing better suited, give it a go anyway. A length of about 40 cm will make a reasonable length of wick. Twisting the wick is a bit tricky, and a job best done with another person, though you can hold one end in your teeth as you twist the other end, or tie one end to a door handle or chair leg or whatever, but allow extra length for tying. Twist it under tension until the twine becomes quite hard, then grab the middle, and bring the ends together, still under tension, then let go of the middle, and the two ends will twist around each other to form a thicker, denser cord.
Now feed the twisted end through the wick holding coil from below, until it sticks out about 6 mm. The burner element is now finished. Tip: if the wick won't easily go through the coil (it should be tight enough to prevent it dropping out), twist the wick as you thread it in, to firm it up.

Container

You can use any glass jar which gives enough clearance for the flame; any clearance above 4 cm should be safe. As stated earlier, the proportions should be more width to height to avoid frequent refuelling. Think of Roman oil lamps, they were shaped like a shallow gravy boat. If the container is shallow enough for the flame to be above the rim, the container can be of opaque material, like a terracotta dish or heavy saucer.
If you use pebbles to raise the oil level, you may want to use a saucer under the lamp or a small additional dish to keep the oily pebbles after topping up with oil, maybe also a spoon for retrieving the pebbles.
For outdoor lighting it is best to use a sheltering glass container. It is also easy enough to make a portable lantern by wrapping some wire around the neck of the jar, include some loops and hook a long handle into the loops. If the flame is too hot under the hand, you could put the lid onto the container after punching a few holes into it. The beauty of this kind of lantern is that the flame can shine through the base of the jar too, casting more light onto the ground.

Oil

Now you may be thinking that burning vegetable oil must be very smelly. Some oil may be, but olive oil burns very clean and without odour. Smoking oil smells unpleasant, but burning oil does not. So forget the stench of a smoking frying pan. However, even the smellier types of oils can be used economically outdoors. Perhaps you have a bottle of forgotten salad oil at the back of the cupboard. Here is some use for it. Or how do you get rid of the deep frying fat after making a few batches of chips (French fries)? Light your porch, patio or garden path. You could even collect waste oil from fast food joints. Strain it and use it for your lantern. You could also add a few drops of essential oil for a scented light. The volatile oil will evaporate easily with the nearby heat, before the flame can actually burn it.

Using the lamp

The first time the lamp is used the wick should be allowed to fully absorb oil before lighting it. Keep the wick about 6 mm long, and make sure the oil reaches to just below the coil. If the holder is in a jar, lift it up to light the lamp. When the flame shortens it is a sign that the wick is also shortening, and it should be pulled up a little with a pin or tweezers. Remove any charred wick. The wick should not burn very fast. If it does, then the oil level may be too low. Top up or drop in a pebble. It is also best not to extend the wick too far, as a large flame is more likely to smoke. To extinguish the flame use a candle snuffer, purpose made or improvised, or if the handle is inside the jar as suggested earlier, just place the lid on the jar. This will prevent any smoking. Alternatively, the lamp can be tilted and the holder tipped over to submerge the flame into the oil, which will instantly and smokelessly extinguish the flame.

Update

Thanks to all those who commented, and a special thanks to those who suggested some great ideas. Prompted by the idea for a floating can base I made one which is shown in the last photo below. The can base was cut off with some old scissors (careful - very sharp edges). I then bent the edge over with some pliers to make handling safer. I pushed a nail through from the bottom to make a hole for the wick. The resulting prongs which are sticking up will prevent the wick from slipping down. The hole should not be too tight though, so that the wick can be pulled up as it burns down. There is no floating material underneath like polystyrene. I found the domed base to be enough, however, the sides could be a little higher, as the oil level comes too close to the edge, and the slightest tilt will sink the holder. Adjusting the wick length will be trial and error.
Ellie commented with a great suggestion for a wick - an old cotton shoe lace.
The comments have been disabled on this page as it had to be moved. I will try to extract all the good ideas and write an update with them when I get around to it.
For a discussion on various waxes and oils, toxins and environmental impact, go here.

Other Uses

A light in a shallow container with a trivet above could be used to keep food warm on the table, the way that tea light candles are used. Several flames may even be hot enough to do a little cooking or heating water, or pre-heating it.