I made and tried out one of those tunacan candles today. I put it in my barbeque with the grill a few inches above it. I laid a match on it, and once it was burning nicely (it takes a while for the flame to spread) I put a Sierra cup of water over it.

It boiled the water in a reasonable amount of time. When I slid the cup over to try some other food, some water sloshed over the rim of the cup. A HUGE BALL OF FIRE FLASHED UP ! It was pure luck that my hair didn't catch on fire.

From now I am never gonna use one unless its under a hobo stove (upside down #10 can w/ holes in the sides), so that nothing can spill on it.

That would also keep all that waxy soot off my pots.

-- biker (y2kbiker@worldnet.att.net), August 02, 1999

Answers

When in doubt follow directions. You wouldn't try cooking on half an electric range or wood stove, would you. And that is a hobo stove, not a Tunacan candle. They are vastly differnt in their making. good thing you learned now. That was just like throwing water into a pan of hot grease.

Taz....who strongly recommend that you don't wait for the lights to go out before trying to do things.

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), August 02, 1999.

Biker,

I hear you.... I re-read the "buddy burner" instructions around and there was no mention of that risk and it mentions using it as a heater without the #10 can over it. Thanks for the info.

-- Kristi (securxsys@cs.com), August 03, 1999.

I saw a post that called it a tunacan candle and didn't mention putting a can over it. Now that I think of it, there is a lot more liquid wax there than in an ordinary candle. Shoulda thought of that first.

I have seen people do some remarkably dangerous things with fire. I once saw (from a distance) someone throw gasoline on a fire. Now that was scary.

-- biker (y2kbiker@worldnet.att.net), August 03, 1999.

you know some fun people,Jeanne.

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), August 07, 1999.

Not to be picky gang, but I understand tuna candles to be wax-filled cans with a few cotton string wicks sticking out. Presoaking the wicks in a borax & water mix is helpful. These are usually used as a light source.

Buddy burners that you use in hobo stoves are the ones filled with corrugated cardboard and wax.

Anything with a fuel source and a flame is a potential fire hazard.

--got sand?

-- flora (***@__._), August 07, 1999.

Perhaps I should clarify - It wasn't a friend of mine who threw gas on a fire, it was a total stranger at a public party.

I don't have the kind of friends who would do that, but I have gone to those kinds of parties....

-- biker (y2kbiker@worldnet.att.net), August 08, 1999.

Hey biker,

No need to apologize. I'm still trying to break one of my beloved scouts from his can of PAM & flame fixation. Yipes! No adult supervision at home, ya know. Great kid, great neighborhood, stoopid behavior.

-- flora (***@__._), August 08, 1999.

Hey biker:

I used to throw gasoline on brush piles when I lived out in the country. I filled cans with gas and quickly flung the gas straight into the fire. I always stayed at least ten feet away when I did this.

Cheap entertainment!

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), August 08, 1999.

Ever watched your dearly beloved squirt lighter fliud directly into the flaming coals to get them 'going better'? Sheesh!

Got nerves of steel?

-- flora (***@__._), August 08, 1999.