Torches can add drama and excitement to ceremonies but...Open fire of any kind is dangerous! Never allow children to handle your torches or the fuel -- even when unlit! Be sure your camp director knows about any plans you have to use torches. If conditions are unusually dry, limit your use of torches or forego the torches entirely.

A poorly constructed torch is a dangerous torch. If a torch falls apart during use it will endanger the person carrying it, others nearby, and create a general fire-hazard. The design presented here has evolved from experience, but nothing is perfect. Use your judgment. Be careful during the construction.

1. Pine 1" x 2" construction studs are inexpensive and make good handles. The studs typically come in 8 foot lengths. Create four-foot handles by cutting them in half.
2. Reinforce the top of the handle to prevent the head from burning through and falling off during use. Fashion a u-shaped reinforcement from stout coat hanger wire. Bend the wire into double strands as illustrated above. Be sure the reinforcement is long enough to extend about a foot below the bottom of the torch head. Slip the reinforcement over the end of the handle and staple it into place, using four or five staples on each side, along the entire length of the reinforcement.
3. Slide a toilet-paper roll over the reinforced end of the handle.
4. Wrap medium gauge wire around a nail several times and twist it to secure it to the nail. Nail the head in place.
5. To assure that the roll does not unravel in use, pull the medium gauge wire taut and wrap several turns tightly around the toilet roll.
6. Secure the free end of the wire by wrapping and twisting it around a second nail Hammer the second nail into place opposite the first nail.

I have always used kerosene for fuel. Gallon cans can be obtained anywhere that sells paint. Diesel fuel should also work well. Place several torches head-down in a plastic bucket and douse the heads with fuel. Be generous, but not excessive. (If fuel runs down the handle during use it might pose a danger to the person holding the torch.) Allow the torches to stand head-down for about 5 minutes to be sure any excess fuel drains off before the torches are used.