Thanks for all the advice. I am not worried about burning the shop down as this question is purely about what I should use for inletting parts whilst I am at living history events where I am working outside. In the shop I use inletting black or Jim Kibler's method of soot and oil. At an event it is messy to use soot and oil and historically inaccurate to use inletting black so I am wondering what is historically accurate that burns the most soot for blacking.
Beeswax candles are used in the Williamsburg shop... As such you'd be safe doing so at a living history event. If you are working outside where you have to deal with breezes it can be challenging regardless. Some kind of wind screen would be helpful.
With this thread as a prompt I asked George Suiter about sooting to see if he had any other suggestions. He responded that the beeswax candles work great though he also heavily smokes a pewter porringer over a candle, adds 2 drops of mineral oil, and mixes it to make a paste. He applies it with a small paint brush. He stated that "it is a bit faster, you get a very even coat of soot and less burned fingers."
Me, in the privacy of my own shop I've used beeswax candles and a carbide sight blackener. I've had the carbide device for at least 40 years... used it to blacken sights on handguns for bullseye shooting. Depending on what I was working on it was great or a pain... this due to the varying duration of the gas created. In that respect, the candle can burn as long as there is candle left so starting with a long candle should get you through any gun related task with no problem.
The calcium carbide is available in quart cans and as long as you keep it sealed tightly it will last a very long time. I found a video showing a device like mine. The video echoes my experience in that you have to play around a bit to figure out what works best.
