making a torch

A

andrew7978

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On my last overnight trip, I was planning on doing some night hiking from my campsite to a mountain summit to catch the sunrise, however, I forgot my flashlight. Anyway whats the best way to make a torch from fire. In movies the torches always last such a long time, way longer than just a burning stick would. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
The torches you see burning for more than a little while without burning the carrier are made by soaking cloths in pitch or another flammable liquid, and tying them to the end of the stick. But keep in mind, burning bits will be falling off and it would be a big fire hazard.
 
Go to Ranger Digest, they have some cool mini lantern ideas. and a bamboo walking stick with a built in lantern/torch.

I remember reading about twisting grasses in small bundles to create torches, they are short lived and usually you to carry several. dont remember where I read it.

other than that Templar Knight covered it, burning cloth soaked in flamable liquidwrapped around a stick, sounds like a good recipe for disaster :)

Remember a flashlight, :rolleyes: two lightsources should be a minimum for any wilderness outing especially if you plan to stay overnight.
 
andrew7978 said:
On my last overnight trip, I was planning on doing some night hiking from my campsite to a mountain summit to catch the sunrise, however, I forgot my flashlight. Anyway whats the best way to make a torch from fire. In movies the torches always last such a long time, way longer than just a burning stick would. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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Hey andrew (and everybody else) when you ask for suggestions, it's really helpful to know where you live.

Anyway, some of the easier torches are Birch (Betula papyrifera), on the left, and Cherry (Prunus spp.) bark, on the right. Take note that Cherry can burn better than picture would indicate. (See below)
DocwithtorchesatWalters.jpg


No, I don't know which Mora that is, cord is 3 braid 550, and hiding behind Mora is a magnesium fire stick from World Survival Institute (the late Chris Janowsky).

Take a piece of Birch bark and roll it in a cone shape (hollow on the inside - helps in the burning). Fasten it together with bits of cordage along its length to keep it from coming apart. A foot and a half torch will burn approximately 20 minutes in still air. Cherry bark also works, just not as well. For a quickee light, take a piece of Birch bark and fold it in half, 3's, or whatever and jam it in the split end of a stick and light.

Another good torch is to use the female flowerhead of Cattail (Typha spp.) and soak it in tallow or vegetable oil.

Mix beaten up, fibrous Cedar bark (Thuja occidentalis) with melted Spruce (Picea spp.) resin and roll in a little ball. Place cedar ball on a flat rock, piece of wood, or shell and light. Works like a little candle.

That should get you started.

Doc
 
This is a little primitive lamp. The wick is made of dried Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) leaf that was rolled up when green and secured with pieces of cordage. The fuel is some outdated, left over Peanut oil I had from stir fry.

MymulleinlampatWalters.jpg


Nut oils can be rendered in the field, not a quickee solution, however.

Doc
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Hey andrew (and everybody else) when you ask for suggestions, it's really helpful to know where you live.
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Thanks that is great advice, I live in New England. Is that picture just really bark shaped in a cone? It must be several strips. I dont want to peel too much bark off one birch tree and that can kill them.
 
andrew7978 said:
Thanks that is great advice, I live in New England. Is that picture just really bark shaped in a cone? It must be several strips. I dont want to peel too much bark off one birch tree and that can kill them.
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Shouldn't be a problem in New England, I think. It's just one piece of bark, although it didn't come off of a live tree. Bark on downed trees works just as well. In fact, I've taken bark from underwater and it worked - only one time, did I experience it not working and I don't know why that was - perhaps it had been in the water so long the oils (or whatever) had leached out?

Doc

BTW, EmsRescueGuy, if I give you my wife's phone number, could you phone her and tell her what you posted? :D

Anyways, thank for the BS. :D

Doc (encore en fois)
 
Those are cool torches Doc. Must see what I can make that is equivalent down here in the South Pacific. I think our early Maori folk had some sort of thing they used, but I can't recall what I've read now.

Doc.... the Fount Of Knowledge. That is true. From now on you should be referred to as Doc the Fok.

I think LED flashlights, particularly headlamps, are one of the greatest bits of technology of my lifetime. I spend a lot of time away from the 'grid', and these little beauties have really made improvements in my life.

Prior to discovering LED lighting, one of my major breakthroughs was coming up with a bottle lantern that protected a simple candle. A candle on its own is easily blown around in the wind. If the wind doesn't blow it out, it often makes the flame go sideways enough to melt the rim of the little wax 'dam' that holds the pool of molten wax below the wick.... and consequently this wax runs down the candle and the candle burns away really quickly.
bottlelantern2.jpg

Knocking the bottom out of the bottle is the big challenge. In fact the bottomless bottle can be used by itself to offer some protection from the wind....the candle can be jammed into the neck, and the bottle is held by the neck like a torch.

The wire gets very hot directly above the opening of the bottle.... so keep it plenty long enough...and don't hang the bottle beneath flammable materials.... allow plenty of air gap above it for the heat to disperse.

I have knocked the bottoms out by placing a four inch nail in the bottle and shaking it up and down a few times. It doesn't always break cleanly. A colleague suggests warming the bottom of the bottle above a flame before dropping a heavy object into the bottle while holding the bottle upright.... she used a stainless bread and butter knife I think. I run a stone around the broken edge to reduce the sharpness. Broken glass is sharp.... be careful.

Gotta go and make me one of those awesome torches now. They'd be safe enough on a gravel beach or in damp conditions.
 
coote said:
Doc.... the Fount Of Knowledge. That is true. From now on you should be referred to as Doc the Fok.
Click to expand...
Seems to me I've been called something similar to that before, except I think the adjective 'dumb' preceded the 'F' part, with a 'er' suffix. :rolleyes:

Anyway guys, I'm glad you like them.

Coote, if you could, please post anything you find about Maori lighting even if it's using plants indigenous only to NZ.

Thanks,

Doc
 
neato bottle! I would try spinning it slowly while running a oxy-acetaline torch with a welding tip along the bottom, im not a glass blower, but its worth giving a shot.
 
andrew7978 said:
Do you have some special technique for striping the bark? The biggest piece I have ever gotten off a birch tree was maybe 8 inches long and 3 inches wide
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Nothing special, just ran a blade down the trunk and made cross cuts at the beginning and end of the vertical cut. Then peeled the bark off, around the trunk.

Anything you find on the ground is probably damp/wet with rotten wood inside. It rots easily, because the waterproof nature of the bark stops the internal moisture from escaping. Anyway, because it's damp/wet you should be able to roll it up in a cone shape without much trouble. If you find that the bark is too stiff, and you have a fire going, heating up the bark will make it much more flexible. Of course, take care you don't set the whole thing on fire. :eek:

Soaking the bark for a while, can also make it more flexible. Warm water even more so. If the bark tears a bit, who cares, just use some cordage to hold it all together (in a few places, of course, because the cordage will burn when the flame gets to it).

Go and try it. If you find it works for you, and it will, you owe us pictures! :D

Doc
 
Keith_H said:
neato bottle! I would try spinning it slowly while running a oxy-acetaline torch with a welding tip along the bottom, im not a glass blower, but its worth giving a shot.
Click to expand...

Keith, I've never tried it, but I've heard that a large nail will quite often work just the way coote described it. And besides, if coote says it will, it will. :)

Doc
 
andrew7978 said:
On my last overnight trip, I was planning on doing some night hiking from my campsite to a mountain summit to catch the sunrise, however, I forgot my flashlight. Anyway whats the best way to make a torch from fire. In movies the torches always last such a long time, way longer than just a burning stick would. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

I love when someone in a movie just reaches down and grabs a burning stick and goes running goes running off into the woods for whatever reason and it just keeps burning forever. I remember seeing something similar on Lost where they grabbed the stick from the fire and in the next shot you could see burning drops of oil or whatever flammable stuff they had on it.

Anyhow, to address the actual question at hand, I've done some night hiking with no source of light at all. Of course this was with clear skies and a full or nearly full moon. If you were close enough, you could also wait to head out until the sky first started to get light. Check out this sight:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html

That will let you know how much time you have between "civil twilight" and sunrise. Civil twilight can be a good bit later than first light, depending on the time of year.
 
coote,

A thought. How much fat is on the Brushtailed Possums? I'm assuming a fair bit. If that's the case, you could render the fat and use as a torch fuel.

Salamander, that is a neat link. Thanks for that.

Doc
 
Possums are actually one of the wild animals that we do have that often are carrying a bit of fat... generally not on the tail though. There can be fat around the base of the tail, but mainly I find it near the kidneys. There can also be a bit of fat to scrape off the skins before I sell them.

I will research the Maori torch ideas. I think they used them for hunting eels at night...probably amongst other things.

Yeah.... the torches in the movies amuse me too. They burn for friggin' ages, and they are so easy to set alight. Plus the torches they have on castle walls etc seem to burn for hours without replenishment. Its a bit like the way you can sometimes get a dozen shots out of a sixshooter in a cowboy movie.
 
The only decent book I had at home had a reference to torches in relation to bird hunting in the forest....but they gave no details as to how they were made.

I found a couple of references on the internet. One stated that torches were made from lengths of New Zealand flax flower stem tied together. This stuff is quite light and porous. Bird (and possibly animal) fat was soaked into the torch.

The other reference mentions the bark of the Totara tree...but once again fat was an ingredient. This torch was used for hunting the 'mutton bird'. Here's the description:
http://teaohou.natlib.govt.nz/teaohou/issue/Mao05TeA/c25.html

Ernest Thompson Seton seems to have written quite a bit of stuff that might interest people interested in the wilderness. Here is some of what he's said about 'lights':
http://www.inquiry.net/outdoor/skills/seton/lights.htm
The candle-in-a-can idea won't be new to many people, but it is an idea well worth considering.

But LED flashlights are the best thing I know of for convenience. Even a tiny keychain LED flashlight will keep going for ages...it might not light the path 10 yards ahead like a more powerful torch, but it gives enough light to enable you to take the next step safely. It is no trouble to carry two or three of them. You just have to be careful that they don't get turned on accidentally in your pack or pocket. Some switches are better than others in this regard.
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Go and try it. If you find it works for you, and it will, you owe us pictures! :D

Doc
Click to expand...

I will post some pictures if I have time to try out this technique, but I have been pretty busy these few weeks and havent had time to practice my skills or even go hiking. I am trying to work, finish a construction project for my neighbor, and pack for school.
 
I've made torches out of fat wood,cuting long thin slivers and securing them to a solid stick,and a good old pine knot works pretty well once you get it going.
 
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