Uses for used tea light casings?

[Wetneck]

Hi all,

It's that time of year again and my wonderful wife fills the house with oil burners, at the end of each day I seemingly have a small mountain of empty casings to dispose of.

Does anyone have any tips for making these useful? It comes across as such a great waste.

Alex

 

[mrmike]

Bitesize cake tins?

sent from my windswept fell using Tapatalk 4

 

[Shewie]

You can put meths in them and use them ultralight stoves, honestly some folk actually do that

 

[shaggystu]

Could you use them to make tea lights?

Sorry, I'll get my coat...

 

[slowworm]

Could you use them to make tea lights?

I was going to suggest something similar. I want to try making a small candle or oil lamp and use dry birch polypore as a wick, as used tea light hold sounds ideal.

 

[Mesquite]

Could you use them to make tea lights?

I was thinking exactly the same Stu

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

http://zenstoves.net/TeaLight.htm

ive made several for fun but they actually burn quite well. top middle was best one

 

[Wetneck]

I was thinking about buying some wax and putting the wax in to the holders along with some cotton wool to make some long burning fire lighters but by the time I added up all the costs of the wax and the time required to put it back together it's not really worth it.
100 Tealights are only £1 from Ikea so it's far cheaper just to buy new and make those into firelighters if I want.... which sort of defeats the object of the exercise.

Ah well, I'll just have to keep dumping them in the recycling I think. Thanks for the suggestions guys.

 

[Thetillerman71]

Take a look at this:

http://www.seresurvivalexpert.co.uk/edible-plants/survival-fire

 

[ateallthepies]

I have put two together and filled with chafing gel and sealed with foil tape. Makes a great disposable back-up burner. Cut out the top with size hole to suit burn.
I found a 4D Mag-lite makes a good die to form one of the T light cups.

Steve

 

[Ahjno]

Esbit / hexi stove, just add 3 decent sized nails to put your mug on (or improvise with sticks).

 

[Hog On Ice]

You can put meths in them and use them ultralight stoves, honestly some folk actually do that

I used to do just that - it was the most efficient burner that I find to use with a beer can pot - the nice part was measuring the meths was very easy - just fill the tea light candle tin all the way up - was good for warmer weather to boil 1.75 cups of water

I no longer use meths due to my hands shaking too much when I try to fill the burner or else I would still be using this technique

 

[Hog On Ice]

I was going to suggest something similar. I want to try making a small candle or oil lamp and use dry birch polypore as a wick, as used tea light hold sounds ideal.

I played with this a bit also - a loop of wire holding a twist of paper for a wick and olive oil (or any cooking oil) - would burn a couple hours or so depending on how much oil was used - the loop of wire held the wick fairly tightly so that one could adjust how big the flame was - bigger flames tended to be rather sooty

 

[Toddy]

Find some smallish pinecones and dry them. Wrap some string around the pinecone in among the 'petals' leaving an end sticking up like a wick.
Hang onto the scraps of wax from candles (one of this years Quality Street tins at Christmas is ideal as the store tin) and when you have a sufficiency of both empty tealight holders and scrap wax, get thee to the £store and buy a small pan to be kept for wax and to keep the peace at home
Melt the wax and dip the pinecones in it. Put them into the tealight case to set. If you have wax left over dribble it over the pinecone until it almost fills up the case. The whole thing sets and they light really quickly and give a brilliant light These are excellent firestarters, and the wee metal cup thingie keeps the mess to a minimum.

cheers,
Toddy