Recently on Lifehacker.com I read this article on making an oil lamp using bacon grease. I did a bit more Googleing found a site where someone posted pictures of their bacon candle. I wondered how well this would work, so I set out to do it myself.
I had to cook two packages of bacon, so I got everything prepped and ready to go (admittedly, three tin cans was a bit overkill).
After cutting the lids off my cans, I used a hammer and nail to poke a hole through the middle. I fed the string through and tied it off, so it would set in the middle of the can. I just used ordinary string (I imagine for this thicker = better)
I draped the string across.
Cooking the bacon is always delicious smelling and messy. Mmmm. Bacon.
From two packages of bacon, I was able to get about half a can full of grease. It took about four hours for the grease to harden (note: the grease never gets hard... it took about four hours to get as hard as it will get).
I poked around a bit to see how soft the grease was. Very. You will definitely have to keep it in the can. It won't work as a standing candle.
Yay for bacon candles! It worked. Not super bright; but hey, I just made a bacon candle.
Conclusion:
Bacon is amazing. Bacon candles are fun, but not that great. It works but is not very bright. This is probably just a fun experiment to do at home, but it probably won't be replacing real candles any time soon.
As for the smell... I didn't really notice any huge bacon smell coming from the candle. Sorry :(
There is actually quite a bit you can do with bacon grease. Candle is a good one for guys. I would wear bacon scented cologne if I could! It's easy enough to do and a good way to keep this knowledge alive.
ReplyDeleteIf you blend the bacon grease with a candle wax such as beeswax or paraffin, it will offer a more stable candle. Blending also means that your bacon grease can be used to make more candles.
ReplyDeleteI used an 8 oz. jam jar with a lantern wick cut length wise to about 1/2 inch (10-ish mm) thick. The flame was plenty bright. If you attempt this project again I would like to hear about your experiences.
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