$1 Homemade Signal Flare

I am going to show you an incredibly easy to build and extremely cheap signal flare that could save your life one day (or really impress your friends).

Warning! The flare gets very hot once lit. Make sure you wear gloves when holding it. In a survival situation where you don't have gloves you could stake it on a hill or attach it to a long stick. Never point this at anyone or anything flammable!

All you need to make the flare is some small eight inch sparklers (the kind used on cakes) and some electrical tape. I used a package of twenty from the dollar store for this flare. You can use more for a more powerful effect, but keep in mind the more sparklers the more heat and therefore you will need thicker gloves to hold it.

Bunch all of the sparklers together into a tight bundle. Locate the centre sparkler and pull it out about a half inch further from the others. This will be the fuse for the flare. The other sparklers should all be flush with each other.

Now for the actual construction of the flare. Start at the bottom of the sparklers (the handles) and tightly wrap them all around with electrical tape. When you get to the top, cover the sparkler heads but leave the fuse exposed so you have something to light. Then double layer the whole thing by wrapping it again from top to bottom. In the last picture you can see how the fuse is exposed.

Here is the finished product. You can use a bunch of these in a survival situation as easy signal flares or just as a way to impress your friends. Make sure you follow safety when using this flare. Thanks for reading!