The Real Know How

Instead of using wax as its fuel, a tallow candle uses animal fat.

In the following video, the tallow used comes from caribou and the wick is made from willow bark. Phreshyr molds the candle in wet sand. He uses a double boiler method to melt the tallow, so that there is less of a risk of it catching fire.

In the video he wonders aloud if “this will work” – in his comments he clarifies that what he was wondering is whether the candle would be stable and the wick would work as a wick should channeling tallow to the flame or if the candle would go out. His tallow candle burns well and he notes that the techniques are simple enough to use in a bare bones outdoor setting.

MiWilderness uses deer tallow for his candle bodies and dogsbane cordage for his wicks. He presoaks his wicks in melted tallow and uses opened paper clips to hold the wicks in place as he pours the tallow and while the tallow sets. He used a twist tie in the bottom of the tea light candles he made to keep the wick erect. He mentions, but doesn’t show the method of creating candles by dipping them repeatedly in the tallow.

He says that the tallow candles don’t have any kind of odd smell.

Mimechef shows us his beef tallow and bacon fat tealights. He also talks about other uses for tallow – as in plumbing: