While lighting a candle with a match or a lighter is what most people do, there might be times when you need to think outside the box. There might be plenty of scenarios where you don’t have a match or a lighter with you. How can you light the candle if that’s the case?
Luckily, there are many different ways in which you can light a candle without a match or a lighter. Some are pretty obvious such as using your stove whereas there are other creative methods such as using a battery. You can even go old school and light a candle using flint.
5 methods to light a candle without a match or lighter include:
- Heating appliances
- Glass lens
- Battery
- Battery and steel wool
- Flint
It’s important to know and practice how to go about the lighting so that you will be better prepared in the future. If you are ever stuck outdoors without a match or a lighter, you need to know how to light a candle. The same goes for when you are indoors too.
Let’s take a look at some of the interesting and uninteresting ways of lighting a candle without a match or a lighter.
Table of Contents
5 Interesting Ways to Light a Candle without a Match or Lighter
Here are some of the interesting ways through which you will be able to successfully light your candle without a match or a lighter.
#1 Heating Appliances
This method is useful only if you are indoors and don’t have any matches or a lighter lying around. Do note that you do need power for this technique to work and so make sure there is no power outage. Some of the appliances you can use for this are heaters, toasters, and ovens. All you need to do is turn them ON until they get red hot and you can ignite the candle in a few seconds. You can then use the lit candle to light other candles.
#2 Glass Lens
If you are stuck outdoors and need to light a candle to build a fire, then having a glass lens comes in very handy. You can even use a broken lightbulb filled with water to do this. In this case, do note that only transparent bulbs will work. All you have to do is hold the magnifying glass or lens between the sun and dry paper.
Tissue paper is the most convenient to use as it quickly catches fire. Within a few seconds, the tissue will catch on fire and you can use it to light the candle. Why use the candle if you have already set the paper on fire? A candle allows you to preserve fire for a longer time and you can build a bigger fire with it.
#3 Battery
While a glass lens is very useful in the day, what can you do if you need to light a candle at night? Here is where a battery and a strip of tinfoil comes in. You need three things to do this, namely; a battery, tinfoil, and scissors. First, you must cut two strips of tinfoil that are twice as long as the battery (AAA, AA, C-cell, or D-cell). The next step is to fold the individual two pieces of foil in half and shape one end of each strip into a sharp tip.
Keep the wider ends on the top and bottom terminals of the battery and both the tips towards each other. The current will then travel through the foil into the tip and heat it. Do remember to remove the foil and the battery as soon as the candle gets lit.
#4 Battery and Steel Wool
To use this method, you will need steel wool, a 9V battery, and some dry wood. Do note that the wood needs to be completely dry. So if it was raining earlier, you need to chop some wood and then peel the outer layers until you get some dry wood. Not all woods catch fire easily, so make sure you chop the right type of wood. If you don’t have access to dry wood, you can also use paper or dry grass.
You should then take the battery and rub the top where the terminals are on top of the steel wool. The current from the battery gets transferred to the wool and heats it. Once you see a few sparks on the wool, keep it on a surface and gently blow it to grow the flame. Place the wool on the dry wood or grass to raise the flame to the point where you can easily light your candle.
#5 Flint
Whenever you go outside into the wilderness, always have a piece of flint with you. If nothing else works, it can make all the difference in the world when it comes to survivability in the woods. You need to also have a few paper towels too. Take the flint out and rub it against any object that is made of iron such as an axe blade or a tent stake. Make sure that the paper is securely kept on the ground or a surface.
You must vigorously rub the flint on the iron object and make sure that the paper is near it. Shards of iron will fly towards the paper and the friction will turn it into small sparks that set the paper on fire. You can then light the candle using the fire.
Conclusion
There are many different ways to light your candle without a match or a lighter. The easiest way is of course to use a stove or a toaster but the other methods require a bit of practice. Using flint or a battery does take a little bit of skill and so it would be wise if you first practice and get the hang of it before you go camping in the wilderness.
Always carry extra toilet paper, a few pieces of flint, a battery, dry wood twigs, and a piece of steel wool with you when you step out of your home. You might never know when you need to build a fire. Out there in the wild, you might lose your matches and lighter to rain but you still need to know how to get by without them.