I was watching a movie the other night, and the people were carrying torches for light - the kind that always seem to have a strong, steady flame burning around some sort of rounded element at the tip of the torch. How do they do that? Why doesn’t it burn out quickly? Whenever I tried to make a torch at the beach or in the woods, all I got was a scorched piece of wood. I might need this information when I go to California.
What you made by lighting a piece of wood was a “brand”, not technically a torch. (Oh, a torch is a torch, of course…)
To make a “movie torch” get a piece of preferably greenish wood, some rags, and an accelerant like gas, acetone, or kerosene. Wrap rags around stick. Saturate with accelerant. Light rag-ball. Storm castle for monster.
Oh, and if you’re smart enough to post here, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that you won’t burn yourself up of use it for mischief.
Are you asking how the movie people did it, or how the characters in the movie would have done it (depending on time period)? Either way, the basic process would be to take some flammable material (say, old rags) and soak it in some even more flammable substance (say, kerosene). That will keep the flame burning longer. The idea is that your are burning what is attached to the wood rather than the wood itself.
Tips:
Use wire, rather than string to attach the rags to the stick, then you won’t have burning rags falling on your head.
using anything as volatile as petroleum is probably unwise, the thing will still work nicely, and burn slower if you dip it in melted wax.