I make mine this way, with center hole then an air hole below it. I only use seasoned pine though. Ash ones I tried didn't go as well.
I quit using them and moved over to tinypics. It is the same parent company but for some reason they don't demand a high ransom to let you show the pictures you store on tinypics.
I have been thinking about making a few swedish candles by simply noodling a few rounds from one end and then doing a final cut to get everything to the same depth. I have some very old but not so very dry ash rounds to work with. The noodles would even make good tinder.
We did 6 of them one night they worked great, but we made 2 more top cuts/slices then you did. Think smaller slices of the pie!
I like to make the Swedish candles out of standing dead maple rounds. Works very well. Cut the round like a pizza, squeeze a glob of hand sanitizer down into the void, stuff some wood noodles down into the gaps and light. Easy peasy. Just make sure the round is really dry....
Hmmm i usually split most of my wood. This thread tells me I need to let some dry, as is.. I'll need to locate and put aside some pine... maybe, cut the slots and let it dry that way
I tried a 8 slice pizza with dry pine and it burned kinda fast. Next one I try will be just 6 slices/slots. HD got rid of the last of their vegetable starts and had some in their stead. This year's are about half the height of last year's for $9.99.
hand sanitizer contains alcohol. put a match to some and see what happens. it's also great for cleaning a white board.
Did one of my larger pine Swedish torches last night, still burning when I left party after about 2.5 hours
Very nice. I need to look around for some pine rounds big enough to be suitable to make one of those.
Never made one of these. I'm going to take some rounds of various species and noodle the slots in, and then let them dry in my shed for a year or two. Should be fun to bring a couple on scout camping trips. I'm going to try red pine and white birch for starters, although I would imagine that nearly anything that's dry would work, right?
Haven't had much luck with anything but pine, and don't have much Birch around here the size you would want. But really dry is the best feature. I use little cedar fire starters to drop down in, some people use wax, some hand sanitizer, etc. Good luck
I will agree that pine works the best. Cedar is also fantastic, but don't light the town on fire. We use the cedar ones in the winter on atv runs or at the outside hockey rink. Incredible for that cedar smell. I do have a few big shagbark hickory ones made up. I cut them and the pine all the way through the sides....the pine burned best/longest with 6 pieces this way.....
When my son was still living here, we made a few different versions of these. A few roofing nails tapped in the right place holds your pot of beans up just perfect.