Making Tallow Candles

[Phil801]

Making Tallow Candles

One of the things that frustrates me in Preparedness is that many of the texts and resources out there don’t adequately cover “Pioneer Skills”. That is to say, they present material lists and instructions that include things that are only available via modern-day manufacturing methods. Often times what I’m looking for is how do I make something out of nothing – nothing being the great abundance that nature provides us with! This is very true when it comes to activities like candle, cheese and soap making. I want to know how to do it in a true collapse or long term survival scenario.

Most recently, this happened when I wanted to know how to make candles. Pretty much everything I could find told me to get paraffin wax. So, I researched paraffin wax to see if I could make it from scratch. Nope, it’s petroleum based. Other options included making them from beeswax, but it doesn’t quite meet my requirements since I doubt I’ll be finding much beeswax in a TEOTWAWKI situation unless I become a beekeeper. Soy candles sounded like a possible option but again, I don’t think I’ll have a supply of soybeans or be able to extract the oil with hexane. There was one option however that met my requirements; rendered animal fat, also known as Tallow.


Making a candle out of animal fat is a perfect solution for what I was looking to do. I fully expect to be hunting animals in a TEOTWAWKI situation for meat and I would not want anything to go to waste from the animals I take. Being able to use the fat from those animals to make candles is just a huge added bonus! I couldn’t find any definitive references for making tallow candles though so I cobbled together my own process from several web sites and youtube videos. One of the key points I was looking for in this process was utter simplicity. I found a couple sites that showed making tallow with water, salt and other ingredients in a huge pot. But I also found other sites that talked about making it just by cooking the meat for a long period of time in a pan in the oven. That sounded much simpler and less involved so that is the process I chose.

For a fat source, I used the fat cuts from a fairly fatty pot roast we had for Sunday dinner. I knew at the time I was going to be doing this so I saved all the trimmings for this project. I started off with a full 13×9 pan of very fatty and already cooked beef. Here are the directions I followed next (there is a video at the end of this article showing the entire process):

1. Put meat in the oven at 370 degrees for 4 hours (the temperature came from averaging out different temps I had seen around the internet. There might be a better temp to use).
2. After 4 hours, strain the liquid fat from the meat through a cheesecloth (I used a strainer for this step but it could be done without one)
3. Build a mold to pour the fat into (I used a peaches can and filled it with wet dirt then hollowed out a pouring hole with my fingers)
4. Make a wick and secure it to stay in the center of the candle, touching the bottom (I cut a small strip out of an old T-Shirt but you could use any kind of cordage for this)
5. Pour the fat into the mold making sure the wick stays in the center
6. Let it sit for several hours (overnight would be good) until completely hardened
7. Dig it out and trim it up
8. Place the candle in some kind of container to hold it (I used part of an egg carton)
9. Ready to burn

This was a fairly time consuming but very easy process to complete. I lit my candle and it worked perfectly! It does smell pretty nasty though so I keep it outside. I’m pretty sure my wife will find a trash can for it.
During my research on old world candle making, I learned several things about candles. Primarily, beeswax candles really are the way to go. Tallow candles really don’t smell good, give off a lot of soot when they burn and are quite soft at room temperature. During the middle ages, the wealthy used beeswax candles while the paupers used tallow. This was because beeswax candles were more much more expensive but preferred because of their pleasant smell and lack of giving off soot. All this tells me that in a TEOTWAWKI situation, beeswax candles will be the premium over tallow candles. This is all the more reason to get into beekeeping and to have several hives when things collapse. If you’re interested in being able to make beeswax candles now, or in the future, be sure to check out the excellent article we have on beekeeping!

This video shows the entire process in detail but opens with a series introduction into light and heat. The candle making starts about 2 minutes in.

[Phil801]

Please read this: http://www.ldspreppers.com/showthrea...reation-System to understand what this post is all about. Thanks!

[Phil801]

A commenter on Utah Preppers suggested looking into a very old book called "The American Frugal Housewife" for some old time information. I found it here: http://books.google.com/books?id=Fq_...page&q&f=false

and on page 114 there is the following instructions for making candles: "Very hard and durable candles are made in the following manner: Melt together ten ounces of mutton tallow, a quarter of an ounce of camphor, four ounces of beeswax, and two ounces of alum. Candles made of these materials burn with a very clear light."

If you have any other references for old time candle making, please post them!

[InDy]

Very cool, Phil......

[Lauri]

It took me a bit of time to find this paticular thread again, after I got registered. I have a suggestion or several for your tallow candles, soap, or rendered fats for cooking. After you have rendered the fat, wash it. If you are rendering the fat for candles or soap, and you have some nice fragrant leaves/plants with some oil content render it with the fats. To clean the rendered fat, add cold to a pot of water, bring to a boil slowly boil for 30 to 60 minutes, let cool, and the fats will be solid on top of the water, you can do this a few times.

Washing your fats will not keep them from going rancid, it will however give you a chance to use the fats without gagging to much on the smell.

[Phil801]

It took me a bit of time to find this paticular thread again, after I got registered. I have a suggestion or several for your tallow candles, soap, or rendered fats for cooking. After you have rendered the fat, wash it. If you are rendering the fat for candles or soap, and you have some nice fragrant leaves/plants with some oil content render it with the fats. To clean the rendered fat, add cold to a pot of water, bring to a boil slowly boil for 30 to 60 minutes, let cool, and the fats will be solid on top of the water, you can do this a few times.

Washing your fats will not keep them from going rancid, it will however give you a chance to use the fats without gagging to much on the smell.

Thanks Lauri! That's exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping to get from this video. I'll try it that way next time.