If you want to blow something up without getting injured, you need to ensure that the pyrotechnic charge can detonate safely. The most common way to do this is to make a wick that can be lit at a safe distance. Below you will see a couple of methods for making a wick.

How to make a kickford cord

For insulating wires, empty paste from an ordinary pen or a soda straw is perfect. Fill the shell with crushed (be careful, they may detonate while crushing) match heads. If you want, you can replace them with gunpowder or another similar mixture. If you light such a cord, the wind will not extinguish it, and if it is well insulated, you can also use it under water. The more you compress the filling, the longer the fuse will burn.

In order to optimize the process, if you use match heads, the sulfur may not be scraped off, but the match heads may be broken off immediately, since there is no more than 10 sulfur on one match, and the main ingredients are Berthollet salt and phosphorus (KSIOZ). Lay them out in a row, then wrap it all with tape. However, some craftsmen manage to remove wax with one graceful movement of their fingers.

How to make a jute wick

An ordinary jute rope will do, which must first be soaked in potassium or sodium nitrate dissolved in water.

How to make a stopin

For this type of wick, the same jute rope is suitable, or better yet, if you take an old cotton rope. Repeat the already familiar procedure of soaking in a solution of potassium or sodium nitrate and dry thoroughly. Then mix organic glue and gunpowder pulp to a viscous, thick consistency. Stopin is a cotton rope that is pulled through this mixture and soaked in saltpeter.

Hunting matches - wick

Why isn't this a wick? One match can burn for about 20 seconds without going out even in bad weather. Just make sure that the charge does not detonate before the required time due to sparks flying in all directions.

The candle is one of the great inventions of mankind. For many millennia, it was necessary to somehow feed the burning lamps, pour melted fat or oil into them. Such a lamp had to be re-installed each time. It smoked strongly and the smoke was persistent bad smell. The invention of the candle eliminated all these inconveniences. Nowadays, candle making is more of a wonderful hobby - a way to realize your creative potential. One of the difficulties on the way to mastering this revived craft is precisely the manufacture of wicks.

What is it and what is it for?

Traditionally, a wick is a piece of fabric or thread of varying thickness and weave density. Its material absorbs flammable liquid and helps it rise up. From the molten liquid, even more flammable vapors spread between the fibers of the wick fabric and around it. The wick is easy to set on fire, the vapors and flammable liquid burn, illuminating the area around. But setting fire to the mass (oil or fat) in which the wick is lowered can be difficult, and sometimes impossible.

Thanks to special device wicks, kerosene or other flammable liquid (such as alcohol) do not ignite immediately, and their combustion in more advanced burners can be controlled.

In a candle, the wick is impregnated with wax or paraffin. Thanks to the correct wick (material, density, thickness), the flame is even and illuminates the room without soot or flares. Paraffin or wax gradually melts, turning into liquid state, are absorbed into the fabric and feed the flame with flammable vapors. This way the candle gradually burns out, remaining stable enough not to completely melt.

Thanks to correct selection The diameter of the candle and the thickness of the wick, as well as its exact position in the middle of the candle, result in a device for long-term and reusable use.

What are they made of?

Wicks for oil lamps were made from any absorbent fabric of plant origin. The oil or fat was placed in a shallow vessel. At its edge, pre-impregnated in the same flammable liquid twisted piece of fabric. For lack of anything better, these were, in general, passable lamps. However, they still had quite a lot of shortcomings. Firstly, such a bowl with a burning wick is difficult to move - it is easy to spill melted fat, and even more so oil. Secondly, the flame of such a lamp constantly smoked. And the fat also gave off a very noticeable unpleasant odor. However, just like that lighting fixtures often used by whalers in distress or Arctic explorers at the beginning of the 20th century.

For candles, wicks began to be made from specially prepared thread or twine, also of plant origin. Unlike oil lamp flammable material Now I started to do it gradually, it became possible to choose the correct diameter and structure of the wick. In addition, the candle could now be moved, although quite carefully so as not to extinguish the flame with the flow of air.

For candles, a wooden wick is made from foundation (specially processed wax)- a splinter, simply a dried sliver. Of course, it must be prepared in a special way. The splinter must be taken well dried, then it must be impregnated with wax and only then rolled into foundation. Such a candle, if all the parameters are selected correctly, burns evenly and for quite a long time.

Modern candles can be equipped with a reusable wick. The candle and fuel material are burned, but the wick remains and can be used in making new spark plug. The material for this, one might say, eternal wick is fiberglass. In this case, the spark plug has to be replaced. This approach can be justified for decorative candles with complex shapes.

Sometimes the wick of a purchased candle also needs to be replaced. One of the reasons for the emergence of such a need may be non-compliance with the wick preparation technology, first of all, its insufficient drying. It happens that this element does not quite correspond to the candle for which it was used. For example, a thread that is too thick can form a carbon ball at the end and will smoke heavily. Or it turned out to be thin, and the flame is filled with melt.

To replace the wick you need to prepare a small set of tools:

• needle nose pliers;
• paper napkins;
• wire;
• You may need a soldering iron.

Most often, it is quite easy to remove the wick; you just need to hook the edge of the metal cup, which is found in many candles, or pull the protruding end of the wick. But difficulties may also arise. In this case you can use heated wire, it must be held with pliers. And heat over a flame, for example from gas stove. The wire must be immersed in the candle at the place where the wick comes out, and then pulled out. Turn the cooling wire and remove it too. A new thread can be inserted into the resulting hole. To do this, you can again use a piece of wire. The new wick needs to be glued to it. The end free from the thread must be heated again and pulled through the candle, so that the glued thread takes the desired position. Next, all that remains is to trim off the protruding ends. The wick should protrude 6–8 mm.

How to choose the thickness?

Still, the main material for wicks for centuries has been cotton or linen thread. Selection of its parameters, as practice shows, is not as simple as it might seem at first glance.

• It is important to consider the thickness and structure of the thread. If it turns out to be too thin, the flame will be weak, and such a candle will give little light. A thread that is too thick will contribute to the formation of large soot and, in addition to light, will also create a lot of smoke, and the candle will burn out much faster.
• The density of the material also matters. During combustion, the space between the fibers must be filled with flammable vapors; they are the ones that support the flame. Yes, for wax candle you need a thicker, but less dense, compared to a wick for paraffin or stearic candle thread.
• The diameter of the candle can also be a significant parameter influencing the selection of the wick. It would seem that a thicker candle should be equipped with a thicker wick. However, this is not at all true. A strong flame will cause intense melting of the top layer of combustible material of the candle mass, the wick will be flooded with melt and the flame will go out.

It is, of course, possible to correctly maintain the ratio of the material and diameter of the candle with the indicators of the wick. In an industrial environment, where everything is standardized, errors are virtually eliminated. For various candles, specially prepared thread of various knitting, thickness and density is supplied. But in the case self-made you will have to go through the thorny path of trial and error.

How to make it yourself at home?

The most commonly used material for candle wicks is cotton thread. It can be twisted, braided or crocheted, thus expanding the application options for different candle masses and candle diameters. Moreover, threads can be woven with different densities, and this, as mentioned above, is very important, since the molten masses from which candles are made behave differently.

For a candle with a diameter of 2 to 7 cm, a wick of 10–15 threads is usually used. If the diameter of the candle is close to 10 cm, 25 threads will be required. A product exceeding 10 cm in diameter must be equipped with a wick of 30 threads.

When making a wick at home, of course, you will have to rely on your experience, which does not develop immediately. Like any hobby, candle making (and especially wick making) requires patience.

When making a candle, it is important to place the wick clearly in the middle, otherwise the product will float unevenly and burn faster than required. It is convenient to use a plastic glass or any other hollow plastic product as a casting mold. In this case, you need to make a hole in the lower part and, after tying a knot on the wick, insert its second end into this hole from below. Pulling it in top part future candle, secure by tying it to some kind of spacer, for example from a toothpick or pencil. You should pour the molten candle mass carefully, being careful not to dislodge the wick.

The finished candle should be removed from the mold after the candle mass has completely hardened; this can be determined quite simply by the temperature of the surface of the mold. While it is hot, it is better not to touch the candle.

Required impregnation

Creating a wick is not only about making a thread of the required density and thickness. In order for her to become a candle wick, she must be prepared for this. So that the wick does not burn out immediately, but performs its function, the thread must be soaked.

In the case of a wax candle, sometimes impregnation with the same molten wax is sufficient. The wax is melted over a fire in an enamel plate. The thread is placed in a plate and allowed to soak. The procedure must be repeated three to four times until air bubbles no longer appear in the liquid wax. Then it must be hung until the wax has completely hardened. The thread for storage can be loosely wound on a bobbin, laying layers of paper. It is better to store in a cool place so that the wax does not spread. When necessary, you can use scissors to cut the pieces to the required length.

How to make candle wicks at home.

One of the most important tasks when creating a candle is choosing the right wick. If the wick is too thick, then the candle flame will be large and smoky, but if the wick is too thin, then it will burn faster than paraffin or wax, and the candle will “choke.” To make the wick, we use natural cotton thread, which does not smoke or crack when burning.

The ability to properly make a candle wick is a guarantee that the flame will be beautiful.

So let's get started:

Option 1:

To make a braided or twisted wick, take 3 pieces of cotton cord or yarn. Mix 1 tbsp. l. salt, 2 tbsp. boric acid in a glass of water. Soak cords or yarn in the solution for 12 hours. Hang them to dry. When dry, twist or braid them together to form a wick. The wick is ready! Using scissors, cut to the desired length (candle length + 10-15cm).

To make a waxed wick, dip the already rolled wick into the melted wax until it is completely saturated. In order not to miss this moment, watch for bubbles; as soon as the wick starts to blow bubbles, you can pull it out. Once removed, straighten the wick and place it in water. After that, lay it out on wax paper to dry. Ready-made wicks can be twisted into coils and stored until the right time.

Option 2:

First, take out the wick from another candle. To do this, you can buy household candles: they are very cheap and soft. The wick is very easy to get out of them - you just need to pull the tip of the wick.

The candles are more than 2 thousand years old. The first mention of the device dates back to the 1st millennium BC. IN ancient China and Japan, wax was extracted from sumac seeds. This is a shrub that bears fruit in the 5th year of life. Plants younger age They were not suitable for creating wax, because they did not yet produce seeds.

By the beginning of our era, candles based on animal fat were invented. They dipped the wick into it, covering it layer by layer. The wick itself was made from tow, cotton, timothy or milkweed stems. You can still make a candle yourself. How? More on this later.

Making a candle wick

To make a candle at home, you should start with the wick. They buy natural cotton thread for it. A striking example of this is “floss”. This embroidery material is available in any sewing store. For a candle with a diameter of 2-7 centimeters, about 15 single threads are required. For a product with a diameter of 10 centimeters, 24 threads are taken, and for a souvenir with a width of more than 10 centimeters, 30 threads are woven.

But, the diameter of a candle is not always an indicator of the thickness of the wick. There are models that burn through only partially. Such products only partially consist of flammable materials. The core burns out, leaving an untouched outline. The calculation of the power of the wick is made taking into account the paraffin, helium, or wax part. Wax does not require tight twisting of the wick threads, but paraffin and gel samples require tight twisting.

The wicks are crocheted, braided, or simply twisted. All options are valid. In order not to waste extra time, they even use ready-made parts from household candles. To make a candle with your own hands, you can soak the threads in advance, or you can do it at the same time as pouring.

Determining the shape of the candle and installing the wick

In the matter of form, the author’s imagination plays a decisive role. Any container made of plastic, metal, or ceramic will suit it. Paraffin is poured into table cups, teapots, metal tubes, boxes, and yogurt cups. If there is a paper label, it is removed. During the process, the cellulose may catch fire.

It is most convenient to work with plastic containers. They are recommended for beginners. It's easy to make a hole in the bottom of a plastic container. A wick is inserted into it. WITH outside glasses of thread are tied in a knot. It will negate the flow of stearin or paraffin through the hole. The hole is made with a thick needle.

Place a toothpick, wire, or any crossbar on the top of the glass. The second end of the wick is tied to it. Thus, its position is fixed. The threads should stand straight in the middle of the container. Otherwise, the candle will burn and melt unevenly.

Coloring a candle

How to make a candle color? Simple and affordable way– wax crayons for children. They are easily mixed with the lamp material, unlike gouache and watercolor. These dyes are created on a water-soluble base.

It is impossible to distribute them evenly in paraffin. Illuminating elements are required exclusively on a fat-soluble basis. Interestingly, lipsticks are one of these. Therefore, some craftsmen use old, unnecessary lip samples when making candles.

Among children's candle crayons, soft samples are ideal. Specialized stores and creative salons also sell tablet dyes. The granules are specially created for those who think how to make candles with your own hands. Tablets have a much wider range of colors and shades than wax crayons. True, store-bought supplements are more expensive.

Pouring a candle

Typically used to melt wax tin cans. They are washed well and flattened a little. A trench is formed, from which the paraffin then flows in a thin stream into the mold for pouring. A canned food container is convenient, but, in principle, any container except glass will do.

In addition to a container for melting paraffin shavings, you will need a saucepan. Water is poured into it and brought to a boil. A jar of paraffin is placed in the seething solution. The scraps of unnecessary candles should be approximately the same in quality.

The molten material is poured into a pre-selected mold with a wick installed. First, the bottom is filled. If you pour everything at once, a lot of wax flows out through the hole in the bottom. When pouring in layers, the “escaped” material is collected and again sent for remelting. This is the answer to the question how to make a candle at home with minimal costs.

After pouring, the candle cools and hardens at room temperature. Placing it in the refrigerator can cause the material to harden unevenly.

If the candle comes out a little rough, place it under hot water for a few seconds. This way the contour is leveled and melted. But sometimes roughness is the author’s idea. Deciding how to make your own candle, many craftsmen deliberately choose forms with a ribbed surface.

The most convenient way is to fill it upside down. That is, the head of the candle ultimately becomes the wick tied at the bottom of the container. The top of the fill becomes the base of the product. In this case, you do not have to separately fill the recess next to the wick at the top of the bowl. It almost always forms during the process of settling and hardening of the wax.

In addition to standard ones, they also fill scented candles. In this case, odorous mixtures and ethers are added to the melted material. They are thoroughly mixed with paraffin before forming the product. Regular coffee beans, cloves, or cinnamon with home cooking. Dried slices of lemons, oranges, and limes are also placed in paraffin.

Someone is trying to acquire skills that will help them survive in a global catastrophe. Someone just found a new hobby. And someone managed to turn this hobby into a profitable business, creating real works of art. What are we talking about? About DIY From this article you will learn how to make a wick from threads.

Required part

If you can still achieve some variations in the material for creating a candle, then you will not be able to exclude one of its components. We are talking about the wick. We will talk about how to do it at home later. Now let’s just look at what this important thread is.

Origin of the wick

It may seem logical that the wick should be contemporary with the candle, but this is not the case. Candles appeared a little later. About fifteen centuries later. At first, wood chips were used as a wick. Later we decided to use pieces of fabric. This was in those days when candles had not yet been invented, and for lighting they used small bowls with a liquid flammable substance (mostly fat), which mercilessly smoked and smelled disgusting.

However, if you think that a wick is the simplest particle that can be made from anything, then you are deeply mistaken. It's not as simple as it might seem. In order to know how to make a wick with your own hands, you must understand how and why it burns.

Processes in the wick

For a wick to be of high quality, it must consist of several interconnected fibers. This is important so that capillary forces come into play, which lift the liquid fuel to the combustion source. At the molecular level, a candle wick serves as a kind of pumping substation, which allows, among other things, to better saturate the liquid with gas. As a result, the vapor pressure increases and the flash point decreases. All these processes, of course, take place at the microscopic level, but this does not make them any less interesting. And understanding them will help you make a high-quality wick that is most suitable for a particular product.

What can a wick be made from?

Throughout history, people have tried to make a wick with their own hands from everything that burns. Thin wood chips, pieces of fabric, woven threads and even compressed poplar fluff - this is an incomplete list of materials.

Today, the most reasonable option seems to be to use cotton thread or fiberglass. The fundamental difference between these materials is that cotton burns completely, while the fiberglass wick remains. If suddenly you have a legitimate question about who needs this and why, then perhaps you don’t know something new fashion trend- production of figured candles with frames. For example, you bought a candle in the shape of a cute cat, and when it burned down, you find a frame in the shape of the skeleton of this very animal. Some connoisseurs are simply delighted with such ideas.

When considering how to do it, pay attention to the fact that its size and diameter must be selected in accordance with the size of the candle itself. If it is too thin, it will simply fade. And if it’s too thick, it will smoke mercilessly. On automated production These parameters were calculated long ago. But when you make a wick for candles with your own hands, most often you have to achieve the desired proportion through trial and error.

Another trick is that a long wick also produces smoke. And as the fat, wax or paraffin burns, it inevitably lengthens. This problem had to be dealt with manually. Houses always had scissors to cut off the ends of the wicks. That's what they were called - wick scissors.

Nowadays, this problem has been solved quite in an original way. The candle wick (which in the vast majority of cases is a thread woven from thin fibers) began to be made using an asymmetric weaving technique. As a result, the tip bends to the side and completely burns out completely on its own.

How to make a wick at home

If your candle will be made from wax, you will need a thick wick with a loose (not tight) weave. If the starting material is paraffin or various fats, the diameter of the wick should be small, and the individual threads should be twisted quite tightly.

This is done because these substances have different viscosities. In order for the wax to successfully rise through the capillaries of the wick, fairly wide passages will be required. If the same ones are left for less liquid paraffin, then it will simply lack the necessary traction, and the candle will burn dimly, unevenly, or even go out altogether.

Required impregnation

When you make your own candle wick, remember to soak it before direct use. This process is not particularly labor intensive. However, it will take time, since the soaked wick must be thoroughly dried.

Impregnation is carried out so that the wick burns better and less wax or paraffin deposits are formed.

Various solutions can be used. Here are a few options.

• For 500 ml of water: 5 grams of ammonium chloride, 10 grams of borax, 5 grams and 5 grams of calcium chloride.
• For 550 ml of water: 30 grams of slaked lime and 8.5 grams of sodium nitrate.
• For 700 ml of water: 1 gram and 1 gram of sodium nitrate.

The wick is immersed in the solution for at least 15 minutes. And then they hang it out to dry. It is recommended to dry the workpieces for at least five days.

Among home craftsmen, a solution that requires fewer specialized tools is popular. chemicals. And although it is somewhat inferior in quality to the mixtures described above, since we are still talking about how to make a wick at home (trying, as far as possible, not to turn the house into a branch of a chemistry room), we will consider this option.

It is done as follows: take 2 tablespoons of regular table salt (not iodized), add 4 tablespoons of borax and stir it all in one and a half liters warm water. When the solution becomes homogeneous, you can send the wick blanks there for soaking.

For better preservation of the wicks, after complete drying, you can additionally impregnate them with molten wax. To do this, you need to dip them in pre-melted wax three to four times. After this procedure, the wicks must be dried again. However, wax impregnation is only needed if you want to prepare the material for future use. The wick will be able to perform its direct function in the candle you have made without this final touch.

Wide field of activity

Once you have already figured out how to make a wick at home, think about where you can use it. In truth, working with candles is a very exciting activity. And from a cute hobby, it may well transform into a decent source of income.

There are candles different types. The simplest ones are household ones. Their only function is very mundane - to provide light in case of a power outage. They have the simplest cylindrical shape and a boring translucent white color.

Table candles are already more attractive. Various dyes are used in their production. Their shape varies from cylindrical to twisted. Such candles may well serve as an important element in creating the atmosphere for a romantic dinner.

Made with the addition of substances that have a pleasant odor. In some cases, they can also be used in aromatherapy. This way you can not only lift your mood, but also improve your health.

They are very popular nowadays and gel candles. Firstly, because they are unusual, secondly, because they are beautiful and, thirdly, because they burn absolutely without any odor. They are easy to make. All you need is a transparent container (preferably in the shape of a bowl), some colored sand, beads or decorative figurines (this depends on your imagination), a wick and a melted gel mass, with which the composition is poured.

So go for it! Everything is in your hands.