Oil / Fat Lamps

[Assassin Pilot]

I think this deserves a thread because it is something primitive that we can all make and use, and has no threads yet (I searched and found nothing)

So I'm curious, do any of you guys use homemade (or possibly store-bought if you are like that) oil / fat lamps while camping? I've tried a few simple ones and I think they can be pretty useful. What do you guys make them out of? I generally use small metal containers like tins so I was wondering if there are any better ideas.

[Rick]

Actually, AP - There is a thread buried somewhere in here. It's on paraffin candles I think. I have a shoe polish can that I took a piece of cardboard and cut into a coil. I then melted paraffin into the can and the cardboard acts like a wick. I did a write up on it. Let me see if I can find it.

[Assassin Pilot]

Alright, I tried searching for oil lamps mainly so I could have easily missed that one.

[Rick]

Here it is. My post is post 17:

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1230&highlight=shoe+polish

You wouldn't have found it. I did a search on shoe polish to find it. No way you would have known to do that. Beyond the candle, I carry tea candles as a back up heat source. I also have kerosene lamps at home as well as candles.

[Assassin Pilot]

Ahh, that is a pretty informational thread. I'll need to find some time later to read it. Now I plan on watching some tube (tv)

[Sourdough]

Some burn candle fish here. Really proper name is a hooligan fish. I have never done this. We use Coleman two mantle White gas lanterns.

[Rick]

I've actually heard of them. I seem to remember they dry them out and use them like candles or something like that. It's been a while.

Oh, yea. There are the natural enemy of the Kodiak Island Brown Bear Bore Cub.

[Assassin Pilot]

I've never heard of these hooligan fish, can someone please clarify?

[Rick]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oolichan

[Assassin Pilot]

Sounds like the bacon of fish

[FVR]

I read how to make an oil lamp in an emerg. situation. Little container, poke a hole in the bottom, allow drop of oil to drain and flow down a little channel and right into a little fire. Looked cool.

Also read in Maxim mag., they have a how to, and a few issues back it showed how to make an alcohol stove out of two beer cans, a piece of fiberglass insulation, a pin, and alcohol.

Pretty neat, yeh and the trick is you drink the alcohol first, then try it.

[Rick]

Whew! I thought we were into burning alcohol there for a moment. My heart palpi...papa....skipped.

[FVR]

No, no, no, drink the alcohol, then make the little stove and add rubbing alcohol. My bust...............

Let's see, drink Turkey or burn Turkey. I'll let it burn..................going down.

[Rick]

(wink). Granny was 100 the day she died and in all that time never had to use glasses. Straight from the bottle.

[Assassin Pilot]

hahaha, nice one

[Rick]

AP - If you are interested, olive oil, extracts from fish, nuts, and plants have all been used to fuel lamps. Castor oil was used by the ancient Egyptians. In India oil of sesame, groundnut/peanut, and mustard is used. Oil from whale meat and blubber is another fuel. Denatured alcohol is a modern fuel for alcohol stoves as is kerosene for heaters.

[BraggSurvivor]

In the summer while sitting on the back porch, we take dryer lint and roll it between your hands to create a wick. We use a small old teapot and fill it with cheap Canola oil. Put the lint wick in the spout and light er up. Lasts about a month with great light and keeps the skeeters away too.

[Assassin Pilot]

Rick: thanks for the ideas. I'll have to try some of them of hose

Bragg: A whole month?! That's one efficient lamp. How thick do you make the wick?

[BraggSurvivor]

Rick: thanks for the ideas. I'll have to try some of them of hose

Bragg: A whole month?! That's one efficient lamp. How thick do you make the wick?


I try to make the wick as small as possible but as it starts to relax it ends up being about 1/4 - 3/8 inch in dia. About every couple nights you have to pull a bit more outta the spout.

[Rick]

I really think survival is being able to retain all these little bits and pieces we feed each other. You have to know the basics, sure, but Canola oil and dryer lit. Who'd a thunk it? Good post.

[BraggSurvivor]

When I go pheasant hunting in the fall with the boys, my wife makes and makes sure I have fire starters made from dryer lint and paraffin wax fire starters for just in case. They work the best out of any thing Ive tried.

What else would dryer lint be good for? :D

Cheers,

[Rick]

I stuff it inside a half roll of paper towel holder or empty toilet paper holder and use it for fire starter for the fireplace. Try cotton balls soaked in vaseline for your next outing. Super quick and easy to make. You can stuff six inside a 35 mm film can. Half a cotton ball burns for a couple of minutes. A full cotton balls burns for about five. As a bonus, if you have some chapped lips just a touch of the cotton ball gives you some vaseline for your lips.

I'm going to make some dryer lint and paraffin wax fire starters and try them. Do you use a cardboard egg carton as a mold?

[Assassin Pilot]

I just bring a small lighter rather than a fire starter (I know, it's cheating). But have any of you tried using one of those pencil sharpeners for large pencils to make tinder? The idea came to me yesterday while having to shade in parts of a map for science w/ a colored pencil and I figured the shavings from the sharpener could easily be lit.

[Rick]

Nothing that starts fire is cheating. I carry a BIC lighter as well. It just won't work very well or not at all when it gets really cold.

The pencil shavings is a great idea!!

[BraggSurvivor]

I stuff it inside a half roll of paper towel holder or empty toilet paper holder and use it for fire starter for the fireplace. Try cotton balls soaked in vaseline for your next outing. Super quick and easy to make. You can stuff six inside a 35 mm film can. Half a cotton ball burns for a couple of minutes. A full cotton balls burns for about five. As a bonus, if you have some chapped lips just a touch of the cotton ball gives you some vaseline for your lips.

I'm going to make some dryer lint and paraffin wax fire starters and try them. Do you use a cardboard egg carton as a mold?


Thats exactly what she uses. Whats nice about the paraffin/lint combo is it is completely waterproof. Seems like it burns forever and when the wax melts it spreads all over the place starting the fire even better.

[Rick]

Same with the cotton and vaseline. It's water proof. I'd seen the lint and paraffin starters somewhere on the net and thought they were a pretty good idea. I would think you could even add some sawdust to them when you make them. that should improve the fire starter...seems to me.

[Assassin Pilot]

Sawdust is always a good idea. Some people just don't have it as readily accessible. If you use my idea of pencil shavings those would work as well with it because they light easily and can help light other pieces of wood on fire as well.

[Two Rivers]

I've kept a pencil sharpener in my kit for years. Just another way to make tinder. Sharpening a stick with it.

[bulrush]

If you notice the designs on ancient oil lamps they are very shallow. Why?

In my testing with olive oil lamps the oil seems to be too thick, so that it will only travel up a wick 1 inch from the oil surface. If the wick is too high, the oil will simply not go up to where the flame is. Yes they work, there is a slight olive oil odor, somewhat pleasant, but you have to move the wick about every hour or so to account for lower oil levels, hence the usage of an often attached "pick". A metal pick to move the wick keeps your hands from getting carbon on them.

Corn oil tends to produce more smoke. As far as odor, I much prefer an oil lamp over a kerosene lamp.