Candles made out of lard???

[Auxi]

Does anyone know how to make candles out of lard or tallow? We've made candles for years using bees' wax, soy, etc., but have never seen a recipe for candles using lard/tallow. I've heard people talk about it, but last time we tried to make it, it just got the wick all greasy and went out. Anybody have an idea???

 

[IanT]

I know I can make a pretty good Torch out of Lard to lig, but as far as candles... not sure... I did however find you a tutorial online:

Lard Candle Tutorial


Also , this book has a section it it for Lard, under candle making:

Book

Hope that helps!!

Also... as far as the last time you tried to make it...(I am no expert in candles...) but scientifically speaking, It sounds like there wasnt enough heat to keep the flame going, so I am thinking maybe you need to use a much larger wick with Lard candles?

 

[carebear]

the reason chandlers and soapmakers tend to be associated is that historically they both used tallow - so I imagine lard can be used although I don't imagine the quality of the candles would be what we are used to with paraffin (or even soy, sigh).

what wicks are you working with?

I have a faint memory of a thread over at candletech (now craftserver) about candles made of just about everything, including a wick stuck into a cannister of crisco!

 

[IanT]

lol now thats what I call macguyver'ing something

 

[Auxi]

Great! This has been a lot of help. Looking forward to testing it out.
Oh, as for wicks... I just used a regular candle wick (what we use on all our other candles), that may be a problem... Thank y'all for your input!

 

[IanT]

No worries! yeah it looked like that kid on the tutorial link i posted was using a pretty large wick...

applying the same logic.. if you dip cloth or something into lard and wrap it around a stick... Home made torch ... just in case the end of the world comes or your stuck in a dark cave with nothing but lard, sticks and matches or flint lol... it lights relatively easy if you can get a hot enough flame, and it burns pretty darn slow due to its saturated nature

 

[donniej]

Lard and tallow were the candles most people used for thousands of years. You just melt the lard and dip the wick, cool and re-dip... repeat....

This makes for a terrible candle. It stinks and makes a lot of soot, but hey, it's what people could afford.

In the mid to late 1800's it was discovered that oil/fats were made of fatty acids and glycerin. It's the gylcerin that makes the lard candles sooty because it's burning temp is too high for a candle, so it doesn't burn well and makes soot.

Lard/tallow are mostly stearic acid, which makes very nice candles. They're very hard, dripless and smokeless.

If you have a lot of tallow and *have*to* make some no-soot candles, do this... Saponify the tallow and mix it with hot salt water (the more salt the better). The soap will float as curds on top, the glycerin will stay in the salt water. Scoop off the soap curds and put them in a separate container. Mix with lots of vinegar to nuetralize the lye, which will leave you with the fatty acids. Rinse them off with lots of clean water, dry and use for your candle wax.
I've tried this with liquid soy, which is mostly lighter fatty acids and it didn't work very well for candles. If you try it with lard or tallow, let me know how well it works.

 

[IanT]

that sounds like an awesome experiment to try (logged in To Do book )

 

[craftsmaster]

A tallow candle, to be good, must be half Sheep's Tallow and half Cow's; that of hogs makes 'em gutter, give an ill smell, and a thick black smoke. Romance seems to rush out the door when you consider that the candles smelled like sheep fat or beef!

 

[Best Natural Soap]

Lard and tallow were the candles most people used for thousands of years****** This makes for a terrible candle. It stinks and makes a lot of soot, but hey, it's what people could afford.
***************************
Lard/tallow are mostly stearic acid, which makes very nice candles. They're very hard, dripless and smokeless.

So, does Lard/tallow make a dripless, smokeless candle, or stinky full-of-soot candle?

 

[soapballs]

Oh crap...I just posted this same question then saw someone already asked. I can across a tutorial where the person made emergency candles out of tallow...they just melted it and poured it into glass jars that were already wicked. They did not mention why type of wick they used...just what they had on hand basically was why they used....they made them for emergency candles, and said they did not smell bad when burned though.

I would not recommend just using any ole wick you have in any candle...testing would need to be done but it seemed like whatever they did worked out by the post. I stumbled upon that tutorial looking for tallow soap information. Until then it never dawned on me I could use the tallow for a candle...so I was amazed and made a post on the forum here to see if anyone ever used them. So I apologize for the duplicate. roblem:

 

[soapballs]

Here is the link I saw it on: http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2014/01/tallow-emergency-candles.html